North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

By SYLVIA ADCOCK, Staff Writer [email protected]   After narrowly losing his Court of Appeals seat to Doug McCullough, Judge Cressie Thigpen Jr. said last week that he was “open to having discussions with the governor” about filling the seat that ...

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Elections Instant runoff Judicial Elections

Law firms across the state tightened their belts in 2009 after a year of recession-forced layoffs and cutbacks. This year, although the slow economy is still staring the profession in the face, some firms decided to loosen up the purse strings a little, while others continued to scale back. At Smith Moore Leatherwood's Raleigh office, Brad Risinger said the firm wanted to be frugal. "The emphasis is to protect a nice bonus for the staff," said Risinger, the managing partner of the Raleigh office. At the firm's Greensboro office, employees are traditionally treated to a catered lunch. But one of the real hits of the holiday season was attorney Kent Auberry's (pictured) portrayal of Santa Claus.

Tagged with: economy Large Firms law firms Recession

A recount of votes requested by Judge Cressie Thigpen Jr. was completed late Monday, with the results showing that Doug McCullough is the winner of the Court of Appeals seat, with the gap between the two widening slightly. McCullough, a former Court of Appeals judge, narrowly edged out Thigpen when the second- and third-place ballots were counted in the instant-runoff election. In the 13-way race to determine the top two vote-getters, Thigpen was in first place with 20.3 percent of the vote compared to McCullough's 15.2 percent.

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Elections Instant runoff Judicial Elections

Attorney General Roy Cooper has issued an alert to lawyers across the state to be on the lookout for check scams that are targeting law firms. The scams involve what appear to be authentic checks for large sums for money. Although such scams usually start with an e-mail, in two recent cases, counterfeit checks have been sent directly to attorneys in North Carolina, including one for $295,500 sent by FedEx from a phony New York address. Lawyers in Oxford and Gastonia have reported to the AG's office that they have received checks.

Tagged with: Attorney General Scams

It was a cold day in December 2008 when Mike Sprinkle backed his tanker truck up to the loading dock at an asphalt plant in Greensboro and, like he had done many times before, climbed a ladder to the top of the truck and guided a pipe into an opening for a refill. An employee of the plant, Hammaker East, told Sprinkle that the pipes were clogged and it would be a short while before the asphalt started flowing. But when the clog was dislodged, the burst of asphalt was so strong it caused the pipe to fly out of the truck, spraying asphalt all over Sprinkle and knocking him to the ground, shattering his knee in the process.

Tagged with: Contributory Negligence Forsyth County personal injury third-party Truck Driver Trucking

Last year, the board members of IOLTA - the fund that comes from interest on trust accounts - sat around a U-shaped table in downtown Raleigh and did something they didn't want to do: Withdraw $1 million from reserves. One year later, at their annual grant-making meeting earlier this month, they did it again. It wasn't an easy decision, board members said. But in the current economic climate it was the only way to hold somewhat steady on the grants that fund Legal Aid and other organizations that provide help in civil actions for those who can't afford attorneys.

Tagged with: Interest Legal Aid of North Carolina Recession

It's one thing for a client to exercise Fifth Amendment rights in a criminal case. In a civil case, it's another thing altogether. An opinion from the N.C. Court of Appeals last week reiterated in no uncertain terms that a party in a civil case can refuse to answer questions from opposing counsel during discovery, but not without consequences. The issue is relatively rare in civil cases. "But you do encounter it from time to time," said David W. McDonald, one of the plaintiff's lawyers in the case. "I'm surprised it's not used more often in personal-injury cases."

Tagged with: auto accident Contributory Negligence fifth amendment motor vehicle wreck

In a surprise turnaround, former Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough has narrowly edged out Judge Cressie Thigpen Jr., apparently winning the seat. With all 100 counties reporting the results of a second round of ballot-counting, McCullough has a 5,988-vote lead over Thigpen. A spokesman for Thigpen said his campaign will ask for a recount, with a letter being delivered to the state Board of Elections this afternoon.

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Elections Instant runoff Judicial Elections

In a negligent-entrustment case that took a turn when discovery revealed new evidence, the U.S. government has agreed to a $6.675 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by families involved in a fatal car crash caused by a Camp Lejeune marine who was high on ether from the base. Plaintiffs' attorney Joseph Anderson said the case took a dramatic turn earlier this year when discovery revealed "an unexpected cache of documents" and he learned that one of the witnesses he was set to depose had evidence showing that military officials knew the marine, Pvt. Lucas Borges, was a habitual substance abuser and had questioned his ability to serve in the military.

Tagged with: auto accident Camp Lejeune Marines wreck Wrongful Death

Court of Appeals Judge Cressie Thigpen Jr. is maintaining his lead over challenger Doug McCullough as workers at county elections boards across the state continue to count second- and third-place votes to determine the winner of the seat that went up for grabs when Judge James A. Wynn Jr. was confirmed to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. As of Thursday evening, elections officials in 52 of North Carolina's 100 counties had completed their counting. But state elections board officials said they didn't have a good breakdown on which counties were reporting, and it would be impossible to project a winner.

Tagged with: Court of Appeals Instant runoff Judicial Elections