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Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Identity of Parties – Privity – Individual & Corporation – Control
Williams v. Peabody In a prior quiet title action, the individual plaintiff was sued and lost title to four properties. In this action, the individual plaintiff and the corporate plaintiff seek to estop defendants from selling the four properties. Defendants have failed to show privity between the individual and corporate plaintiffs because defendants have not shown that the individual pl[...]
Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Teacher – State-Court Action
Whitaker v. Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education Even though the EEOC’s right-to-sue letter was not issued until after the conclusion of plaintiff’s state-court action, since defendants’ termination of plaintiff’s employment was the basis for both the state-court action and this Title VII action, this action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Defendants’ motion to dism[...]
Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Florida Default Judgment – Personal Jurisdiction – Service of Process – Inadequate
B. Kelley Enterprises, Inc. v. Vitacost.com, Inc. In an earlier Florida lawsuit, the lessee should have followed Florida law and asked the Forsyth County sheriff to serve process on the lessor. Since the lessee instead had a private individual serve process on the lessor, the Florida default judgment against the lessor does not bar the lessor's present case against the lessee.
Workers’ Compensation – Motion to Reconsider – Res Judicata
Spears v. Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital. In her original workers' comp claim, plaintiff asserted that numerous medical conditions were caused by her compensable injury; however, the deputy . . .
Bankruptcy – Civil Procedure – Res Judicata
The Neighbors Law Firm, P.C. and Patrick E. Neighbors v. Highland Capital Management, L.P. and Hysky Communications, LLC. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-02-0060, 7 pp.) (Fox, J.), USDC, Eastern District of North Carolina, Western Division, No. 5:09-CV-352-F, December 28, 2010. Click here for the full text of the opinion. The United States District Court for […]
Arbitration – Vacating Award – Modification or Correction of Award – Estoppel – Res Judicata – Federal Arbitration Act
Regale, Inc. v. Thee Dollhouse Productions N.C., Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-02-0092, 16 pp.) (Louise W. Flanagan, Ch.J.) E.D.N.C. Holding: The court cannot find that an arbitration panel manifestly disregarded the law or that its award failed to draw its essence from the parties’ agreement. The court cannot find that the arbitrators manifestly disregarded the […]
Real Property – Non-Exclusive Easement – Res Judicata – Attorney’s Fees – Sanctions – Rule 11 – Administrative
Barris v. Town of Long Beach. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-07-1211, 9 pp.) (Barbara Jackson, J.) Appealed from Brunswick County Superior Court. (Ola M. Lewis, J.) N.C. App. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: The plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies in challenging the town’s permit application; therefore, the trial court […]
Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Grievance – Civil Rights Claim – Individual & Official Capacities
Brooks v. Arthur. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-01-1114, 16 pp.) (King, J.) No. 09-1551, Nov. 19, 2010; USDC at Lynchburg, Va. (Moon, J.) 4th Cir. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: Three Virginia correctional officers are not barred from pursuing 42 U.S.C. § 1983 retaliation claims against two defendant supervisors by earlier […]
Contract – Commercial Lease – Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Option Contract – Lease – Summary Judgment
Bear v. Exotic Imports, Inc. Res judicata bars a plaintiff's claim for past-due rent under a lease with an option contract that was previously the subject of a suit between the parties. The issue of past-due rent was repeatedly raised by the plaintiff in the prior proceeding and denied by the trial court.
Res judicata no bar to bad-faith claim against Allstate
An Allstate customer's unfair-trade-practices and bad-faith claims have been reinstated by the N.C. Court of Appeals in an unpublished decision. The case - Lee v. Allstate Insurance Company (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-16-0779 pp.) - may now go to trial in Cumberland County. An attorney representing the plaintiffs, Brenton D. Adams (pictured) of Dunn, said he doesn't anticipate a settlement [...]
Civil Practice – Res Judicata – Different Causes of Action – No Privity – Appeals – Interlocutory
Farlow v. Farlow. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-16-0771, 13 pp.) (Linda Stephens, J.) Appealed from Guilford County Superior Court. (A. Moses Massey, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Where prior litigation between one plaintiff-brother and the defendant-parents involved different lands, this litigation does not involve the same cause of action as the prior litigation; moreover, the second […]
Arbitration – Res Judicata – Collateral Estoppel – Summary Judgment
Whitlock v. Triangle Grading Contr'rs Dev., Inc. Because the defendants failed to point to any evidence suggesting that the plaintiff was a party to the arbitration agreement between insurers, or that he adopted the agreement, sought to benefit directly from the arbitration [...]
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