North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

In early May, hackers used malicious ransomware to shut down the oil pipeline that carries gasoline to North Carolina and South Carolina, causing long lines at gas stations lucky enough to have any gas to sell at all. The attack ...

Tagged with: ransomware

  A federal jury has awarded $4.6 million to a father and daughter after finding that Cherokee County and several of its Department of Social Services’ employees created and executed a fraudulent document to remove the girl from her father’s custody.  Dozens of families have alleged that Cherokee ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights

  A federal jury has awarded $75 million to two men who were wrongfully convicted and spent nearly 31 years on death row.    Brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were convicted in 1984 and sentenced to death for the murder and rape of an 11-year-old girl. But in 2014 DNA evidence finally set them free, and in 2015, ...

Tagged with: Death Row

  Rooftop solar panels have become an increasingly popular source of clean, low-cost energy for homes across the country, aided both by generous tax credits and by “solar access” laws that limit the ability of homeowners’ associations to block their ...

Tagged with: solar panels

  A 20-year-old who was injured while he was working on a roadway maintenance crew has settled his workers’ compensation claim for $1.35 million, his attorney reports.   Ben Whitley of Whitley Law Firm in Raleigh reports that his client, who works for a company based in North ...

Tagged with: Workers Compensation

  The right of indigent defendants to make arguments and present evidence during proceedings that jeopardize their liberty interests extends to satellite-based monitoring (SBM) hearings, the state Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled in a matter of first impression.  The May 18 decision overturns an order ...

Tagged with: Indigent Defense

  One of the few silver linings of the pandemic has been the discovery that so many things that were traditionally done in person can now be done more quickly and easily online. Pro bono work may be another one of ...

Tagged with: Pro Bono

  In 24 years with the Raleigh Police Department, Capt. Tim Tomczak has gone from a rank-and-file beat cop to Southwest District commander. On May 7, he earned his law degree and took the next step toward becoming a prosecutor.   For as ...

Tagged with: police

  A little-known quirk of bankruptcy law in North Carolina is garnering national attention as courts across the country debate whether the different treatment afforded debtors in the state’s bankruptcy courts violates the U.S. Constitution.  The issue was placed front and center ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy

  A trial judge erred when he declared a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity without determining whether the defendant was capable to proceed, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled in a case of first impression.   After Erik Myrick was charged with assaulting a detention center employee, a ...

Tagged with: Insanity Defense