North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

News October 7, 2011

LegalZoom says Bar’s delays, not new law, is reason for lawsuit

LegalZoom sued the N.C. State Bar one day before a new law went into effect that allows a new cause of action against unauthorized practitioners. But the company says that was coincidence – not the impetus for the suit. LegalZoom general counsel Chas Rampenthal (pictured) said the new cause of action doesn’t apply to LegalZoom because the company is not engaged in the unauthorized practice [...]

News October 7, 2011

Failure to provide title to plane leads to $8.7 million verdict

A jury in Buncombe County awarded Venezuelan native Wilson Aponte and his company $8.7 million after finding that Dove Air Inc. and its president breached a contract with Aponte for the purchase of a Cessna jet. The jury awarded Aponte $2,922,353. The damages were trebled because the jury found that Aponte was damaged by the fraud of Dove Air and Joseph W. Duncan, the company’s owner and pres[...]

News October 3, 2011

LegalZoom sues State Bar for recognition

LegalZoom has sued the N.C. State Bar, demanding that the agency register two of its prepaid legal services plans and publically withdraw statements it says have disparaged its name and caused “incalculable” economic harm. The Glendale, Calif.-based company filed the suit in Wake County Superior Court on Sept. 30, over three years after the Bar ordered LegalZoom to cease and desist from act[...]

News September 23, 2011

“Loan discount” not actually a discount, court rules

A proposed class action that Travis Bumpers brought against Community Bank of Northern Virginia in 2001 involving a fake loan discount rate has been given new life by the N.C. Court of Appeals. In a Sept. 6 opinion, the court upheld Wake County Superior Court Judge John B. Lewis’ 2008 summary judgment in Bumpers’ favor on his unfair and deceptive trade practices claim. The court sent the ca[...]

News September 23, 2011

Columbia economist the go-to guy when money comes up at trial

If you’re a lawyer in South Carolina and you’ve had a case involving economic issues, chances are you’ve already made the acquaintance of Dr. Oliver Wood. It was a good day or bad day, depending on whether he was working with or against you. Wood, who taught banking and finance courses at the University of South Carolina for 29 years, is now the economist-in-residence at the Charleston Sc[...]

News September 23, 2011

Spouses must separate before filing for support, S.C. court holds

The S.C. Supreme Court has ruled that spouses must separate and live apart before one can bring a claim for “separate maintenance and support.” In a Sept. 19 opinion, the high court upheld Greenville County Family Court Judge Robert N. Jenkins’ order dismissing Eileen Theisen’s claim for support from Clifford Theisen. Eileen Theisen should have alleged that she was living separate and a[...]

News September 23, 2011

Charlotte School of Law, UNCC team up to offer joint degree program

The Charlotte School of Law is planning to offer a dual program that will enable students to simultaneously obtain law degrees and master’s degrees in business administration beginning in the fall of 2012. The school will partner with the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte, said Charlotte School of Law President Dennis Stone (pictured). Stone said student admissions surveys showed i[...]

News September 23, 2011

Developer’s counterclaim against SunTrust nets $2.1 million

A Winston-Salem developer has been awarded $2.1 million by a Forsyth County jury after asserting counterclaims against SunTrust Bank in a lawsuit brought by the bank on a promissory note. Donald H. Sutphin wasn’t any stranger to the construction business and he wasn’t any stranger to SunTrust Bank. Sutphin had been involved in residential construction and development for 30 years and had a [...]

News September 16, 2011

Alcohol monitoring devices poised to spread in wake of new law

Bill Powers is a tech geek. That may set him apart from other lawyers, but he thinks his Bar comrades need more than a passing interest in the evolving technology of alcohol detection to adequately defend their clients in court. Not that continuous alcohol monitoring, or CAM, is anything new. It’s been used sporadically in North Carolina since 2005. What’s new is a recent legislative push t[...]

News September 2, 2011

Bank’s time is money for plaintiff

The S.C. Court of Appeals has upheld a $1.5 million punitive damages award against Bank of America after a Williamsburg County jury found the bank negligent for allowing a boy’s aunt to misappropriate life insurance proceeds from his father’s estate. Cody Powell stood to receive $252,000 in life insurance proceeds after his father’s death. The money was to be held in a conservatorship acc[...]

News September 2, 2011

The diminishing value of equitable subrogation Court of Appeals decision latest rejection of lender’s remedy

Lenders who plead the remedy of equitable subrogation are scratching their heads after the Court of Appeals’ latest rejection of its use in an Aug. 16 unpublished opinion in Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, LP v. States Resources Corp. Equitable subrogation allows a lender to leapfrog ahead of an intervening lien holder to assume the position of first lien holder. The leading North Carolina [...]

News September 2, 2011

CMPD officer pleads guilty in DWI testimony case

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who allegedly gave false testimony in a driving-while-impaired case in April has pleaded guilty to criminal contempt. Officer B.D. Grimes entered the guilty plea on Aug. 23 before Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Richard Boner. Boner had appointed Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell to handle the case because Grimes’ prosecution by the M[...]