North Carolina Supreme Court Decisions 2017
Date: December 8, 2017
Docket Number: 22A17
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court modified and affirmed the decision of the court of appeals concluding that Defendant received adequate notice of his probation revocation hearing pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1345(e). The trial…
Date: December 8, 2017
Docket Number: 310A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court disqualifying Defendants’ counsel under North Carolina Rule of Professional Conduct 1.9(a), which balances an attorney’s ethical duties of confidentiality and…
Date: December 8, 2017
Docket Number: 386PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals vacating Defendant’s conviction for first-degree sexual offense and remanding the matter for a new trial on the charge and reinstated Defendant’s…
Date: December 8, 2017
Docket Number: 52PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals reversing the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s decision to award Plaintiff benefits arising out of a 2009 automobile accident. The court of appeals…
Date: December 8, 2017
Docket Number: 94PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from criminal convictions, the Supreme Court modified and affirmed the decision of the court of appeals concluding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by overruling Defendant’s objection to…
Date: November 3, 2017
Docket Number: 194A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals reversing an order denying Defendant’s motion to suppress and vacating Defendant’s guilty plea. Defendant moved to suppress the evidence derived from a…
Date: November 3, 2017
Docket Number: 244PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals vacating Defendant’s conviction for committing the felony of habitual misdemeanor larceny and remanding the case for resentencing based upon a misdemeanor…
Date: November 3, 2017
Docket Number: 248PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: An attorney-client relationship existed between Defendants and a non-party that contractually agreed to indemnify Defendants, but because Defendants failed to request that the trial court provide written findings of fact…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 152PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: A district court has jurisdiction to modify a child support order without a party filing a motion to modify asserting that there is a change in circumstances. Catawba County, by and through its Child Support Agency, ex…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 206PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the order of the Court of Appeals reversing the trial court’s order addressing the appropriate measure of damages in this condemnation action. The North Carolina…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 233PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The indictment returned for the purpose of charging Defendant with the offense of robbery with a dangerous weapon was fatally defective because it did not sufficiently allege all of the essential elements of the…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 277A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals reversing an order entered by the superior court removing a guardian of an estate and trustee under a special needs trust for breach of fiduciary…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 279PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court did not err by terminating Father’s parental rights to his minor child on the basis of neglect in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. 7B-1111(a)(1). The court of appeals reversed the trial court’s order…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 355PA15
Justia Opinion Summary: In this criminal case, the prosecutor’s comments in his closing argument were improper but did not amount to prejudicial error in light of the evidence against Defendant, and therefore, the trial judge did not err by…
Date: September 29, 2017
Docket Number: 389A15-2
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was subjected to a custodial interrogation as defined in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), when police questioned him while he was confined under a civil commitment order, and therefore, the failure of…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 132A16
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted, after a jury trial, of attempted first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense with a child, and kidnapping. Defendant appealed, arguing that his motion “for an instruction” was clearly a…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 141PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1999, Plaintiff and Defendants entered into an agreement. Defendants never performed any of their obligations under the agreement. For more than a decade, Defendants allegedly continued to be in breach of the…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 151PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The superior court correctly denied Defendant’s motion to suppress. Defendant was pulled over for driving at an unsafe speed given the road conditions and cited for driving while impaired. Defendant filed a motion to…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 187PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant may not enforce several limitation of remedies clauses against Plaintiffs, several commercial farmers in North Carolina, in defense of lawsuits premised on Defendant’s distribution of allegedly mislabeled…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 255A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals reversing the trial court’s order of dismissal that dismissed the attempts of Plaintiff, a former chief of police for the City of Greensboro, to obtain reimbursement from…
Date: August 18, 2017
Docket Number: 392A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the North Carolina Business Court’s substantive decision interpreting N.C. Gen. Stat. 105-130.5(b)(1) so as to preclude The Fidelity Bank from deducting “market discount income” relating to…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 113PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with violating N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-95(d1)(1)(c). Defendant filed a motion requesting the trial court to declare section 90-95(d1)(1)(c) unconstitutional on the grounds that punishing him for…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 167PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of driving while impaired. The court of appeals awarded Defendant a new trial, concluding that N.C. R. Evid. 702(a1) requires that a witness explicitly be found to be an expert before testifying…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 168A16
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed an action seeking equitable distribution of the parties’ marital assets and child support. Plaintiff and Defendant agreed to arbitrate the action under North Carolina’s Family Law Arbitration Act.…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 18A14-2
Justia Opinion Summary: The record should be further developed in this case before a reviewing court can adequately address Defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Defendant was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon. The…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 199PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-16.2(b) alone does not create a per se exception to the warrant requirement. At issue before the Supreme Court was whether section 20-16.2(b), which authorizes law enforcement to obtain a blood sample…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 208PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The court of appeals erred by determining the the trial court committed prejudicial error in instructing the jury concerning the right of self-defense. Defendant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with the…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 216A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the determination of the Industrial Commission that Plaintiff was not entitled to any compensation for permanent partial disability under N.C.…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 229PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: Borrowers executed a promissory note to purchase real property. The debt was secured by a deed of trust on the underlying real property. Bank, the alleged holder of note and subject deed of trust, filed a complaint…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 230A16
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 27PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Supreme Court was whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support Defendant’s conviction of felonious larceny. Defendant was overpaid because a payroll processor mistakenly typed “$120,000”…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 35PA16
Justia Opinion Summary: The evidence adequately supported the jury’s determination that Defendant committed the offense of attempted first-degree rape of a child in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-27.2A(a). Defendant was convicted, in addition…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 368PA15
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was injured while working for Defendant. The North Carolina Industrial Commission accepted Plaintiff’s claim as compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and Defendant began paying Plaintiff compensation…
Date: June 9, 2017
Docket Number: 97A16
Justia Opinion Summary: In two separate jury trials, Defendant was convicted of assault on a female, second-degree rape, second-degree sexual offense, and first-degree kidnapping. Defendant appealed, arguing that the second trial judge erred…
Date: May 5, 2017
Docket Number: 289PA15
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case concerning borrowers’ invocation of North Carolina’s anti-deficiency statute, the Supreme Court held that Defendants failed to forecast substantial competent evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of…
Date: May 5, 2017
Docket Number: 370A16
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court ordered that David Q. LaBarre, an Emergency Judge of the General Court of Justice, be censured for violations of Canons 1 and 2A of the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct and for conduct…
Date: March 17, 2017
Docket Number: 86A16
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, the General Assembly established the Eugenics Asexualization and Sterilization Compensation Program to provide compensation to any claimant who was asexualized or sterilized involuntarily under the authority of…
Date: January 27, 2017
Docket Number: 294PA14
Justia Opinion Summary: Robert King signed an arbitration agreement at the time of his initial appointment with Dr. Michael Bryant, who was to perform a bilateral inguinal hernia repair on King. In the course of the surgery, Bryant injured…
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