North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
In this alienation of affection action, plaintiff (Mary’s ex-husband) presented evidence that, during plaintiff’s marriage to Mary, the Florida-resident defendant (Mary’s new husband) communicated with a telephone number registered in North Carolina. However, the evidence does not support a ...
Read More »Civil Practice – Personal Jurisdiction – Domestic Relations – Tort/Negligence – Alienation of Affection
Civil Rights – Color of Law – Virgin Islands Court – Magistrate’s Coaching – Jury Instructions – Proximate & Intervening Causes – Attorney’s Fees 
In this lawsuit claiming that defendants violated plaintiff’s civil rights when they obtained a default judgment against him in small claims court in the U.S. Virgin Islands, deposition testimony by defendant Jureidini described repeated instances where USVI small claims ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Necessity of pepper spray a jury question
A jury will decide if a prison official’s decision to pepper spray an inmate after he head-butted an officer and was lying on his back in handcuffs was “clearly necessary” to respond to a threat to officer safety or to ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Complaint fails to show pat down was not consensual
Where a man voluntarily left a restaurant with a police officer to be patted down outside, the officer did not brandish a weapon, use restraint, accuse him of wrongdoing or make a show of authority, and thus the man failed ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Summary judgment wrongly granted in jail segregation case
Where the inmate plausibly suggested he was placed in administrative segregation for impermissible reasons the day after he accused a correction officer of sexual assault and argued his segregation was arbitrary, it was improper to grant summary judgment to the ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Speeding officer not entitled to immunity
Where a police officer who was no longer responding to an emergency but continued to drive on a dark, curved road at nearly twice the speed limit without emergency lights or siren when he struck another vehicle, causing severe orthopedic ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Police reasonably ordered mental health evaluation
Where the police had a reasonable belief that the plaintiff posed a danger to herself and others, they were entitled to qualified immunity against claims arising from her detention for a mental health evaluation. Background Kerrin Barrett brought this action ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Public Records Act – First Impression – Corporate – State-Owned Company
Even though the State of North Carolina is the sole shareholder of the defendant North Carolina Railroad Company, given the General Assembly’s treatment of the NCRR as a private corporation, the court determines that the NCRR is not subject to ...
Read More »Civil Rights – State lawyers acted reasonably in calculating inmate’s release date
Where an inmate whose prison release was delayed brought a suit claiming Eighth Amendment violations, two attorneys with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, or SCDC, acted reasonably in interpreting a state statute regarding calculation of the inmate’s work and ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Indicia of innocence support malicious prosecution claim
A jury will decide if a police officer’s arrest of a 62-year-old man for congregating on the sidewalk and maintaining the charge for three years before dropping it before trial, together with other circumstantial evidence, support a claim for malicious ...
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