North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Although we have found no case addressing a trial court’s authority to place attorneys on disability inactive status, a trial court’s inherent authority to regulate attorneys before it must also include the authority to place an attorney on disability ...
Read More »Attorneys – Attorney-Client Privilege – Civil Practice – Discovery – First Contact
The date on which plaintiffs first contacted their attorney was not a communication to an attorney, made in confidence, that related to the matter about which the attorney was being professionally consulted, or made in the course of giving or ...
Read More »Attorneys – Creditor entitled to attorneys’ fees incurred after bankruptcy petition was filed
Where a debtor agreed to pay attorneys’ fees incurred in attempts to recover money owed under a loan in a contract signed prior to his filing for bankruptcy, the creditor was entitled to recover attorneys’ fees that were incurred after ...
Read More »Attorneys – Qui Tam Action – Relator – Conversations with Co-Workers
In this action under the False Claims Act, the relator’s counsel suggested that the relator take notes about his conversations with co-workers, and relator gave those notes to counsel. The court declines to infer from counsel’s receipt of information and ...
Tagged with: Relator
Read More »Attorneys – Fees – Breach of Contract – Additional Claims – Common Facts
The winner of a breach of contract claim can recover attorneys’ fees as set out in the contract. The winner can also recover the fees it incurred in successfully pursuing the related claims of breach of fiduciary duty and constructive ...
Tagged with: Fees
Read More »Attorneys – Fees – Corporate Merger – Supplemental Disclosures – Reduced Award
The claims in this challenge to a corporate merger could have been adequately and effectively prosecuted by North Carolina counsel experienced in complex litigation of this type. The materiality of the supplemental disclosures made as a result of this lawsuit ...
Tagged with: Corporate Merger
Read More »Attorneys – Georgia Lawyer – Unauthorized Practice of Law – Pro Hac Vice Application
The court suspects that a Georgia lawyer engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by ghostwriting the plaintiff-corporation’s proposed pretrial order and its trial brief. The court denies the lawyer’s last-minute application for pro hac vice admission and refers this ...
Tagged with: Unauthorized Practice of Law
Read More »Attorneys – Fees – Corporate Merger – Class Action Settlement – Disclosure Only – Expenses
Plaintiffs’ class action lawsuits challenging a merger between Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., and JAB Beech, Inc., resulted in supplemental disclosures to shareholders, and the court finds the materiality of those disclosures to be somewhere between nil and obvious. The court ...
Tagged with: Fees
Read More »Attorneys – Sanctions – Rule 11 – Improper Purpose – Attorney-Client Relationship – Increased Costs
The trial court’s findings support its conclusion that this Orange County lawsuit was filed for the improper purpose of driving a wedge between defendants and their attorneys in a previously filed Durham County lawsuit – e.g., by making one of ...
Tagged with: sanctions
Read More »Attorneys – Attorney-Client Privilege – Insurance – Bad Faith Claim – Claim Files – Certified Question
Because plaintiffs established a prima facie case of bad faith failure to insure, and because the defendant-insurer in its answer denied bad faith liability, the district court ruled that the insured waived the attorney-client privilege with respect to the ...
Tagged with: Attorney-Client Privilege Bad Faith
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