North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

News June 10, 2011

Sex offender gets no reduction in child support

A father said he couldn't afford to pay child support because he lost his job after being convicted of sexually abusing his daughter, but that excuse foundered because he should have foreseen that the abuse would lead to his job loss. The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that Michael Metz, who once made $18,867 a month as a nurse anesthetist, must pay $2,627 per month for support of hi[...]

News June 10, 2011

House, Senate agree on ER medical malpractice cap

Both chambers of the North Carolina Legislature recently approved legislation that would limit liability for emergency room physician malpractice to $500,000 for a patient's death, disfigurement, permanent injury or loss of use of parts of the body. The bill, S33, does not cap noneconomic damages when a defendant acts "in reckless disregard of the rights of others," with gross negligence, fraud[...]

News June 3, 2011

Foreclosure practices and COA rulings spark debates, lawsuit threats

Home-mortgage lenders' paperwork problems are touching off a series of conflicts, from courtroom challenges over proving who really owns a home to arguments about whether people who took out mortgage loans should suddenly enjoy payment-free shelter. Even the North Carolina Court of Appeals appears conflicted, having issued two recent opinions on different sides in the banks-v.-borrowers dispute[...]

News June 3, 2011

Legal malpractice checkup

Charles Putterman and Tommy Odom disagree on requiring attorneys to report whether they carry malpractice insurance, but both agree that attorneys should carry it. "Absolutely," Putterman, of Raleigh, said. Both lawyers have seen firsthand the harm clients can suffer as a result of malpractice, and both have represented clients suing uninsured lawyers. Dan Zureich, (pictured) president and CE[...]

News May 27, 2011

Does the Missouri Plan strip politics from the process or power from the people?

While the North Carolina Legislature wonders whether a massive change in how the state chooses judges is a good idea, John Johnston, a Kansas City, Mo., attorney, has no doubts. Johnston, president of the Missouri Bar Association, is a strong supporter of the judicial election system that bears his home state's name: the Missouri Plan. That's the kind of plan that reform-minded North Carolin[...]

News May 27, 2011

Should NC trust voters to elect the best judges?

If the North Carolina Bar Association has its way, voters in 2012 will be presented with an opportunity to create a drastically new, and complex, system of selecting the state's judges. But some attorneys say North Carolina's current system is fine, and the power to select judges should be left where it is: in the hands of voters. The NCBA is pushing Senate Bill 458, which would establish th[...]

News May 20, 2011

Judge takes setback case to the streets

A judge will decide as early as this week whether a Charlotte homeowner has to demolish a half-million dollar addition to her Queens Road home. Before deciding, Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell (left in photo) said he wanted to see the structure with his own eyes. "Seeing something in person does put a different perspective on it," Caldwell said last Tuesday morning while viewing the stru[...]

News May 13, 2011

FTC, Dental Board tussle may land in highest court

As the collision between the Federal Trade Commission and the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners unfolds in legal slow motion, Ron Haynes sells teeth-whitening supplies and insists he doesn't understand the fuss. It's a fuss that is taking two routes toward the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and appears bound for the U.S. Supreme Court. The Board of Dental Examiners says non-dentist[...]

News May 13, 2011

IDS official blames appointed-lawyer mess on DAs’ group

A "totally inappropriate" presentation on March 30 at the North Carolina Legislature touched off the turmoil in North Carolina's indigent-defense system, an official with the state's Indigent Defense Services said. Angered by the prospect that the Legislature will cut their pay, court-appointed lawyers across the state have removed their names from the appointment lists, an action that could up[...]

News May 13, 2011

Phony indigents may be draining defense funds

While dozens of North Carolina lawyers have stalked away in protest from the state's indigent-defense system in the last two weeks, a few voices are asking whether the protesters are targeting the wrong enemy. The lawyers who have left are upset that state lawmakers, facing an unrelenting budget squeeze, are considering cutting the appointed-lawyer fee, which stands at $75 an hour.

News May 6, 2011

False testimony

Beneath the surface of what appeared to be a routine driving-while-impaired case in Mecklenburg District Court lay what defense attorneys say is an ugly flaw in the justice system. In an April 15 hearing in front of Judge Sean P. Smith, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Barry D. Grimes testified that he had administered two field sobriety tests, and the driver flunked both. But that wasn'[...]

News May 6, 2011

Foreclosure reversed because servicer can’t produce note

A party seeking to foreclose on a note and deed of trust in North Carolina doesn't have to show much. But at the very least, it must show it is the holder of the note evidencing the debt secured by the property upon which it is seeking to foreclose.