Free Newsletter
Looming loss of job won’t affect attorneys’ fee award
A family court judge shouldn’t have accounted for the fact that a plaintiff was about to lose her job before deciding whether she had the means to pay for her own attorneys’ fees in a child custody case, a divided North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled. Jamie Sherrill sought attorneys’ fees after Watauga […]
Civil Practice – Attorney’s Fees – Frivolous Claim – Contract – Vehicle Repair
Plaintiffs alleged that defendants had failed to make necessary repairs to plaintiffs’ vehicle and had actually damaged the vehicle, and the trial court relied on plaintiff Burton’s affidavit – saying the vehicle was undriveable and had sustained $22,750 in damages – when it denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. At trial, Burton admitted that the […]
No attorney fees for licensing board discipline
Where sentence structure and punctuation cause confusion, the state Court of Appeals stands ready to provide clarity. A three-judge panel did just that recently, unmuddling a comma-heavy statute and holding that state law does not authorize an award of attorney’s fees resulting from a disciplinary action by a licensing board. In the second round […]
Administrative – Attorney’s Fees – G.S. § 6-19.1 – Statutory Construction
Even though the respondent-board lacked the authority to discipline petitioner for his inspection of a swimming pool heater, G.S. § 6-19.1 does not authorize an award of attorney’s fees resulting from a disciplinary action by a licensing board. We reverse the superior court’s award of $29,347 in attorney’s fees to petitioner. G.S. § 6-19.1(a) provides […]
Fee orders in family law immediately appealable
Raleigh lawyer Jonathan McGirt waited nearly five years for an appellate court to clarify whether interlocutory orders for attorneys’ fees in family law cases were immediately appealable under the substantial right exception. The exception gives a litigant an avenue to appeal an order that doesn’t completely dispose of a case, but only if the order […]
Attorney’s fee award vacated for lack of comparables
A divided North Carolina Court of Appeals panel has vacated an attorney’s fee award because the attorney’s affidavit offered no evidence about comparable fee rates in his field of practice, saying that the trial judge who ordered the award should not have relied on his personal knowledge of customary fee rates when calculating the award. […]
Domestic Relations – Attorney’s Fees – Child Support – Arrearage – Civil Practice – Appeals
The plaintiff-father failed to pay child support from 2014 until 2016, resulting in an arrearage of $12,483.18 and in the defendant-mother hiring an attorney and filing a motion to show cause. Plaintiff purged himself of contempt by writing a check for $12,483.18; furthermore, defendant’s affidavit showed that her total expenses exceeded her income. These facts […]
Trusts & Estates – Attorneys’ Fees – Obstructionist Trustee – Egregiousness Unnecessary
Holding: A review of G.S. §§ 36C-10-1004, 6-21(2), and Belk v. Belk, 221 N.C. App. 1, 728 S.E.2d 356 (2012), convinces the court that no finding of egregious conduct is required for attorneys’ fees to be awarded under the Uniform Trust Code. In any event, the former trustee’s obstructionist conduct, leaving the trust’s primary asset […]
Court: Judges must offer chance to object to attorney fees
RALEIGH (AP) The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that convicted criminals can dispute the cost for their court-appointed attorney with a judge if they’re told to pay up. The court said Jan. 16 that trial judges must tell defendants they can challenge their attorneys’ fees. The court said defendants are told to let […]
Criminal Practice – Attorneys’ Fees – Defendant’s Right to Be Heard – Evidence – Interrogation Recording – Plain Error Review – Ineffective Assistance Claim
State v. Friend (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-021-18, 13 pp.) (Richard Dietz, J.) Appealed from Catawba County Superior Court (Robert Sumner, J.) N.C. App. Holding: When the trial court is contemplating a money judgment against a criminal defendant for attorneys’ fees incurred by appointed counsel under G.S. § 7A-455, the interests of the defendant and trial […]
Domestic Relations – Attorney’s Fees – Parties’ Estates – Trial Court Discretion
Schneider v. Schneider (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-332-17, 9 pp.) (Donna Stroud, J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County District Court (Christy Mann, J.) N.C. App. Holding: In ruling on the plaintiff-father’s motion for attorney’s fees, the trial court said that “the law doesn’t . . . provide for me to consider how much money” the defendant-mother makes; […]
State to pay $81K in attorneys’ fees for bungled investigation
When a Virginia police detective’s body and his submerged truck were discovered in a family fishing pond in North Carolina, the state’s chief medical examiner ruled that the manner of death was undetermined, despite overwhelming evidence that it was accidental, according to a judge who later considered the case. The investigation into George Tuggle’s […]
Top Legal News
- Catesha Hargro: Finding pathways forward
- Cooper vetoes bill over control of election boards
- Judge dismisses state lawmaker’s defamation suit
- 5th Circuit blocks Louisiana redistricting hearings
- Bonnie Keen: Charting her own course
- Courts’ work will continue amid government shutdown
- NC lawmakers to redraw district maps again
- Mississippi activists ask to join water lawsuit
- State judge blocks gender-affirming care ban
- Menendez pleads not guilty in wide-ranging corruption case
- Lawyer in Trump-Russia probe confirmed for Connecticut high court
- Commercial vehicle crash claims life of wife, mother: $3.99 million settlement
Commentary
- Amotion sees resurgence after almost a decade
- The flip side of generative AI in law and how to address it
- The fight for equal educational opportunity continues
- Court’s term was rough on big business
- Ex-president, bar association have made their choice
- Ruling sharpens boundaries in attorney-client privilege
- Lawyers Weekly debuts new and improved web experience
- US Supreme Court bites back at parody’s use of the First Amendment
- Supreme Court leaves key internet protection untouched
- Case study: North Carolina courts provide guidance on scope, limitations of attorney-client privilege
- A Different Ode to Pro Bono Work
- A roadmap to attracting, developing, retaining great associates
