State v. Forte (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-020-18, 17 pp.) (Donna Stroud, J.) Appealed from Pitt County Superior Court (Wayland Sermons Jr., J.) N.C. App. Holding: In more than one face-to-face conversation, Mr. Oliver, an admitted drug dealer, gave a police ...

Tagged with: Cell Phones

U.S. v. Vaughan A police officer who stopped a car for speeding had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity when he determined between six and nine minutes after a stop for speeding that the driver and his passenger, whom he had separated, had conflicting stories about their travels; the 4th Circuit says the totality of the circumstances allowed the officer to continue his investigation until a drug dog arrived on the scene 13 minutes after the stop and alerted on the trunk two to three minutes later.

Tagged with: Cell Phones

The medical-malpractice reform bill backed by business interests and opposed by plaintiffs’ lawyers was quickly voted out of the Senate Judiciary I Committee last week. By a 36-13 vote, it passed the Senate and now goes to the House. The ...

Tagged with: Cell Phones Exclusionary Rule General Assembly Good-Faith Exception Judicial Elections Medical Malpractice

"Reasonable and prudent." That was the daytime speed limit in Montana for a breezy four years after Congress in 1995 lifted its draconian, federally mandated limits, which first imposed the pokey "double-nickel" 55-mph limit that was later softened to 65. Does that mean that there was an American Autobahn in Big Sky Country in the late '90s? Not exactly.

Tagged with: Cell Phones Distracted Driver speeding Traffic Law

With texting behind the wheel already outlawed in North Carolina for more than a year, two new bills have been introduced in the legislature this year to ban cell phone use while driving. H. 31, titled "An act to make using a mobile phone unlawful while driving a motor vehicle on a public street or highway or public vehicular area," sponsored by Reps. Garland E. Pierce, D-Hoke, and Charles Graham, D-Robeson, was filed in the house on Feb. 2 and passed first reading on Feb. 3. It was referred to the committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House.

Tagged with: Cell Phones Distracted Driver Driving General Assembly Legislature