North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Many of the state’s large firms posted double-digit growth in 1990 while others lost attorneys or simply held the line, a Lawyers Weekly survey has found. In Lawyers Weekly’s third annual survey of large firms, four of the 25 largest ...

Stacking of two medical payment coverages in the same Nationwide auto policy is not allowed where language in the policy placed a cap on the insurer’s liability, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 19. The opinion is Tyler ...

A physician who was an on-call supervisor of medical residents at a teaching hospital is facing malpractice liability over a patient he never actually treated, according to a Feb. 19 Court of Appeals decision. The case is Mozingo v. Pitt ...

In a time of stepped-up prosecution of drunk drivers and stiffer penalties for offenders, lawyers representing DWI defendants must be aggressive in attacking breathalyzer results, says one scientific expert. ‘The breathalyzer is 20 years out of date,’ according to Dr. ...

Family member exclusions in auto insurance policies cannot be used to defeat UM/UIM stacking, according to a Feb. 7 North Carolina Supreme Court opinion. The case is Smith v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (North Carolina Lawyers Weekly No. NS0228 – ...

Four years after its inception, the specialization program is suffering from lawyer apathy, and Bar officials are countering with several proposals aimed at expanding the program’s appeal. “Too many qualified lawyers are shunning the program,” says State Bar president Tommy ...

A landowner who misrepresented rental property when advertising a public auction must pay treble damages to the buyer under the state’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Supreme Court ruled Feb. 7. The case is Bhatti v. Buckland (North ...

A finance company that sued a borrower to collect a 10-year old debt must pay the defendant’s attorney fees for violating a statute prohibiting futile claims, the Supreme Court has ruled. The Feb. 7 decision is SunAmerica Financial Corporation v. ...

An insurer must pay $225,000 in punitives for its bad faith dealings with the family of a teenage girl killed in an automobile accident on prom night, a Mecklenburg Superior Court jury has ruled. The case is Estate of Allison ...

In what is apparently the first state court application of Rule 11 against a pro se litigant, a doctor who pressed a groundless defamation suit has been hit with $13,450 in sanctions. In an unpublished opinion, Ward v. Roy H. ...