North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

After petitioner was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act and after Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015), declared the residual clause of the ACCA unconstitutional, petitioner was allowed a second collateral attack under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Under North Carolina law, the intent element of assault may be proven by showing culpable negligence, which is insufficient to qualify an assault as a “crime of violence” under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. However, North Carolina’s crime of assault by strangulation ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Where the plaintiff-police officers showed that the defendant-director of public safety (1) fired the officers, (2) prepared separation affidavits falsely stating that claims had been filed against the officers for creating a hostile work environment when no such claims had ...

Tagged with: Tort/Negligence

Where the teacher of a special education class abused plaintiff’s autistic son by, for two examples, putting him and keeping him in a trash can and spilling hot grease on his head, public official immunity protects the defendant-school administrators from ...

Tagged with: Tort

While plaintiff’s surgeon said he would expect to see the same degenerative conditions in anyone’s 58-year-old shoulder regardless of occupation, this does not undercut his expert opinion that plaintiff was “at a little bit greater risk because of her job” ...

Tagged with: Workers Compensation

Plaintiff argued that opioid medications should continue to be prescribed and paid for by defendants. Defendants raised the issue of whether some prescriptions were related to plaintiff’s compensable work-related injury. However, neither party raised the issue of treatment for opioid ...

Tagged with: Workers Compensation

Evidence from the plaintiff, a Walgreens employee – that the defendant-customer came to plaintiff’s place of work, called her incompetent and incapable of doing her job, and subsequently video-recorded plaintiff, expressing her displeasure with the service she was receiving at ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice

Minors “Mel” and “Jon” were removed from respondent’s care because of domestic violence taking place in the children’s presence. Despite entering into a case plan, respondent refused to submit to drug screens; failed to produce a work schedule; and did ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The defendant-county changed the zoning of a 12-acre parcel to match the zoning of an adjacent 150-acre parcel, both owned by defendant Terra Equity, Inc. Plaintiffs challenge the rezoning of the 12-acre tract as illegal spot zoning; however, only one ...

Tagged with: Real Property

An announced NASCAR rule change and defendant’s ranking of its crew members had caused plaintiff to lose his tire-carrier position before he was injured, and, once the rule went into effect, plaintiff and other employees who had held the eliminated ...

Tagged with: Workers Compensation