North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
A qualified shareholder of the defendant-country club seeks to inspect corporate records to investigate whether a proposed renovation project is in the country club’s best interest, whether the board’s approval of the project complies with the country club’s bylaws, whether ...
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Corporate — Shareholder’s Records Request – Renovation Project – Business Judgment Rule
Corporate — LLC – Members’ Authority – Attorney’s Fees – Reconsideration 
Defendant Greater Greensboro Entertainment Group, LLC’s (GGEG’s) operating agreement requires a majority in interest of GGEG to agree on any expenditure exceeding $10,000, such as the contingency fee agreement the plaintiff-law firm seeks to enforce. After this court’s denial of ...
Read More »Contract — Uninsured Hospital Patient – Open Price Term – Class Action – Declaratory Judgment
When the uninsured plaintiff was admitted to the defendant-hospital for an emergency appendectomy, he signed a contract agreeing to pay all charges “in accordance with the regular rates and terms” used by the hospital. Although the hospital has mooted the ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Maintaining a Dwelling – ‘Resorted to’ – Residents Only – Constructive Possession
Where defendant was charged with maintaining a dwelling “that was resorted to by persons using controlled substances,” but where the state’s evidence showed only that defendant and his housemate used drugs at their home, the state failed to prove that ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Search & Seizure – Traffic Checkpoint – Programmatic Purpose – Speeding & Chapter 20 Violations
The state presented evidence that the primary programmatic purposes of a Salisbury traffic checkpoint were checking for speeding and all G.S. Chapter 20 motor vehicle violations. However, no one checked motorists’ speed, and we cannot sanction stops justified only by ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Statutory Sexual Offense – ‘Penetration’ – Touching – ‘Disclosure’
Defendant was convicted of statutory sexual offense and statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult, and both crimes require the state to prove a “sexual act” with a victim. In this context, “sexual act” is defined as ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Jury Instructions – Assault Conspiracy – Single Sentence
During deliberations on a charge of conspiracy to commit assault inflicting serious bodily injury, the jury asked the trial court, “If one person takes an action and then a second person takes an action for the same purpose, can that ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Registered Sex Offender – Change of Address – Notification Failure – Jury Instructions – Constitutional – Ex Post Facto Claim
In its final jury mandate, the trial court said the state was required to prove that defendant, a registered sex offender, “willfully changed the defendant’s address and failed to provide written notice of the defendant’s new address” to the sheriff. ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Impeachment Evidence – Witness Credibility – Restraining Order
Defendant sought to impeach the credibility of the victim—who testified that defendant’s wife was her friend and that she had not taken out a restraining order against the wife—by showing that the victim had in fact taken out a restraining ...
Read More »Criminal Practice — Reputation Evidence – Traffic Stop – Stipulation – Child Abuse – Fleeing to Elude Arrest
Even though defendant stipulated to the legality of his traffic stop, this did not prevent the state from presenting evidence of reasonable suspicion justifying the stop—including the fact that defendant had been seen talking to a known drug dealer. We ...
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