North Carolina has long recognized that under the “right for any reason” rule, a trial court’s ruling can be affirmed even on a ground that was rejected or ignored below. Thus, it’s common to remark that appellees can argue any alternative basis for affirmance on appeal. While these rules sound…
Continue Reading Linger a Little Longer: Will Hickman Provide Additional Insight on Lingerfelt’s Affirm-for-Any-Reason Statement?Court of Appeals Clarifies When a Written Order May Differ from the Orally Rendered Decision
If you’ve been practicing in North Carolina long enough, you have undoubtedly encountered this fact…
Continue Reading Court of Appeals Clarifies When a Written Order May Differ from the Orally Rendered DecisionNormally, an appellate court will “limit appellate review to issues raised by the parties because…
Continue Reading Right for Any (Raised) Reason?Governor Stein signed a state budget into law today, triggering happy headlines about teacher pay…
Continue Reading State Budget Ushers In Modest Appellate ChangesRegistration for the best national appellate CLE program is now open.
Here’s the link: https://judges.org/appellate…
Continue Reading Appellate Judges Education Institute 2026Petitions for a writ of certiorari, particularly in criminal cases, are no stranger to this…
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North Carolina’s appellate lawyers enjoyed an hour chock-full of insights from Justice Dietz and Chief Judge Dillon this morning during the NCBA’s annual appellate-practice CLE. Did you miss it? …
Continue Reading Annual Appellate CLE: Tips from the BenchOn March 20, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in In re N.M.W., No. 159PA25, 2026 WL 796105 (N.C. Mar. 20, 2026). But as many of you know, I’m…
Continue Reading We need to talk about… In re Civil Penalty (again)Hitting the Ground Running: North Carolina Supreme Court Scheduling Oral Arguments Earlier Than You Might Expect
North Carolina appellate practitioners may want to sit down before reading this. Actually, maybe stand up—because you might need to spring into action sooner than you think.
The North Carolina…
Continue Reading Hitting the Ground Running: North Carolina Supreme Court Scheduling Oral Arguments Earlier Than You Might ExpectSometimes you fall headlong into a chorus you thought you knew by heart—only to discover the bridge is where all the action is. For appellate practitioners, that action seems to…
Continue Reading Complicated: Premature Oral Notices of Appeal & Writs of CertiorariWe Are One Step Closer to an En Banc Rehearing in the North Carolina Court of Appeals
As I forecasted two weeks ago, the State v. Hardaway case could present a clean opportunity for the North Carolina Court of Appeals to hold its first-ever en banc (re)hearing. …
Continue Reading We Are One Step Closer to an En Banc Rehearing in the North Carolina Court of AppealsYesterday, I posted on the State v. Hardaway case and the use of a “concurrence dubitante” by Judge Hampson to flag his concerns with the binding holding of the earlier-decided…
Continue Reading Could We Finally Have an En Banc Argument in the NC Court of Appeals?In 1904, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Robert M. Douglas wrote a separate opinion in a case called Westbrooks v. Wilson, 135 N.C. 400, expressing some reservations about the…
Continue Reading What is a Concurrence Dubitante?This blog has spent a lot of ink discussing file stamps. Indeed, two Halloweens ago we devoted an entire blog post to the ghoulish topic of missing file stamps and…
Continue Reading Belt and Suspenders, Appellate Rule 9(b)(3), and File StampsAppellate Rules Amended to Allow Retired Judges to Stay on North Carolina’s Beaches
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of North Carolina amended Appellate Rule 36(b) to conform with the General Assembly’s recent amendment to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-283. Both under the Appellate…
Continue Reading Appellate Rules Amended to Allow Retired Judges to Stay on North Carolina’s BeachesAbout this Blog
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