East Bay Co. v. Baxley Commercial Properties, LLC Even though a party need not formally object and except to a discovery ruling in order to preserve the issue for appeal, the record must show that the appealing party made his objection known to the trial court. Since the record does not show that defendant objected to the trial court’s order compelling discovery, and since defendant did not refer to the order in the notice of appeal, we lack jurisdiction to consider the order compelling discovery. We dismiss defendant’s appeal in part and affirm in part.

Tagged with: appeals Attorney’s Fees Banks & Banking Civil Practice Contract promissory note

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority v. Talford When the plaintiff-hospital moved for summary judgment and relied only on affidavits from its own employees to show that its charges were reasonable, the defendant-patient forecasted sufficient evidence to go to trial on the issue of the reasonableness of the charges when his affidavit disputed the employees’ assertions and set out the amounts the hospital charged him for certain items and the amounts he paid for the same items elsewhere. We reverse summary judgment for the hospital.

Tagged with: Contract Quantum Meruit

Waters Edge Builders, LLC v. Longa Where the parties did not have an express contract or one implied in fact but only one implied in law, the plaintiff-contractor was not entitled to place a lien on the defendant-owners’ real property. We affirm the trial court’s finding that the owners owed the contractor $5,000; we reverse the trial court’s order granting the contractor a claim of lien; and we vacate the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees to the contractor.

Tagged with: Contract Liens Quantum Meruit Real Property

Stunzi v. Medlin Motors, Inc. Shortly after plaintiff bought a used car from defendant, defendant asked plaintiff to sign a disclosure form which noted at the top in bold and all capitals, “Important: This vehicle was repurchased by the manufacturer because it did not conform to the manufacturer’s express warranty and the nonconformity was not cured within a reasonable time as provided by Pennsylvania law.” Even if defendant’s agent did not explain the document and told plaintiff that the paper indicated that “some work had been done to the vehicle” (which was correct), plaintiff had a duty to read what he was signing.

Tagged with: Civil Practice Contract Statutes of Limitations

Parson v. Oasis Legal Finance, LLC Even though the parties’ contract did not go into effect until plaintiff received his $3,000 advance in North Carolina, the last act necessary to execute the contract was defendant’s signature - which took place in Illinois. Therefore, the contract was made in Illinois. Despite the small amount at issue, it does not violate public policy to require plaintiff to obey the contract’s forum selection clause and to file suit in Illinois.

Tagged with: Contract Forum-Selection Clause

Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. v. Rush Industries The defendant-borrowers failed to plead or argue to the trial court the affirmative defenses that they put forward in this court; therefore, defendants waived those affirmative defenses. Since those affirmative defenses were defendants’ only way around the merger clause in their contract with the plaintiff-bank, the merger clause applies, and the trial court correctly refused to consider any oral agreements between the parties.

Tagged with: Civil Practice Contract pleadings

Central West Va. Energy Inc. v. Bayer Cropscience LP An arbitration panel did not exceed its powers when it considered the validity of a 2008 agreement between Central West Virginia Energy Company and an industrial park in Kanawha County, W.Va., for CWVE to supply coal to the park for a two-year period, and the 4th Circuit upholds a $10.5 million award to the industrial park.

Tagged with: Arbitration Contract

Smith v. EVB A district court erred in granting summary judgment to a lender on a borrower’s suit for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, on the ground that a debt was commercial, not personal; the 4th Circuit vacates the summary judgment order and the court’s award of over $22,000 under the FDCPA against an attorney who was acting pro se.

Tagged with: consumer protection Contract promissory note

Dunn v. Dart The parties are attorneys who represented some of the plaintiffs in a class action in federal court. Even if the attorneys had reached a final agreement as to how they would split fees - which they did not - any such agreement would be unenforceable because the clients never agreed to it in writing. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted.

Tagged with: Attorneys Contract fee-splitting

Rodgers v. Preferred Carolina Realty, Inc. When plaintiff released the defendant-attorney’s clients in a state-court lawsuit, plaintiff also released the attorney with regard to the actions the attorney took within the scope of his agency, i.e., his representation of the clients in the settled lawsuit. The court grants the defendant-attorney’s and the defendant-law firm’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Tagged with: abuse of process Agency Attorneys Contract Tort/Negligence