North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Although we conclude that G.S. § 6-19.1(a) would allow an award of attorney’s fees to a licensee who is brought before a licensing board for a disciplinary action, since the board’s action in this case was substantially justified, the ...
Read More »Administrative Attorney’s Fees – Licensing Board – Disciplinary Action – Substantial Justification
Administrative – Licensing – Insurance Agent – ‘Conviction’ – Reporting Requirement – PJC 
G.S. § 58-2-69(c) required petitioner, as a licensed insurance agent, to report any criminal conviction to the respondent-agency. Since the statute says that a “’conviction’ includes an adjudication of guilt, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere,” ...
Read More »Administrative – Tobacco Settlement – Nonparticipant’s Escrow Fund – Refund – Statutory Amendment
Plaintiff, a tobacco manufacturer that declined to participate in the 1998 master settlement agreement (MSA) between states and participating tobacco manufacturers, is not entitled to have its market share “grandfathered” to its pre-MSA market share. Such grandfathering was an incentive ...
Read More »Administrative – Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Retirement Fund – Anti-Pension Spiking Statute – Rulemaking Requirement
When the General Assembly passed G.S. § 135-5(a3) to protect the state Retirement System from pension spiking (i.e., pensions that would be significantly greater than the retiree’s contributions to the system), the legislature did not relieve the Retirement System’s Board ...
Read More »Administrative – Public Employees – Retirement Fund – Anti-Pension Spiking Statute – Rulemaking Requirement
We affirm the Court of Appeals’ decision for the reasons stated in Cabarrus Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Dep’t of State Treasurer, No. 369PA18 (N.C. Apr. 3, 2020) (Lawyers Weekly No. 010-040-20: When the General Assembly passed G.S. § 135-5(a3) ...
Read More »Administrative – HVAC Contractor – Incompetence – Passing Inspection – Expert Witnesses Unnecessary – License Peddling
Even though petitioners’ installation of an HVAC system passed inspection, petitioners had set the new unit on top of a pre-existing pad and curbing, which were visibly cracked and not properly sealed; subsequently, a water test showed that the ...
Read More »Administrative – Board erred in awarding permit for Union Hill compressor station
Where the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board failed to provide a rational explanation as to why it awarded a construction permit for a compressor station in the historic community of Union Hill, reasons offered during litigation were insufficient as a matter ...
Read More »Administrative Denied benefits, woman challenges expert’s testimony
Although a woman argued her residual functional capacity, which limits her to “simple, routine, repetitive tasks,” conflicted with the vocational expert’s testimony about the category of tasks she is able to perform, there is no inconsistency between her capacity and the ...
Read More »Administrative Pipeline thwarted by bee, clubshell, bat and isopod
For the third time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will attempt to determine whether construction of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline will threaten four endangered species after the conclusions in FWS’s prior opinion were found arbitrary and capricious. ...
Read More »Administrative – CON – Deference to Agency Decision – ALJ Review – MRI Machine
Even though there was evidence that petitioner’s MRI machine was superior to the machine that respondent Duke University Health System would use, it was within the respondent-agency’s discretion not to consider this criterion. We reverse the administrative law judge’s ...
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