In October 2018, I gave a CLE presentations with (now recently sworn in) Judge Allegra Collins: “Life Preservers on the Titanic: Issues Not Properly Preserved for Appellate Review.” Part
Continue Reading Supreme Court Reaffirms That Non-Constitutional Sentencing Arguments Are Automatically Preserved for Appellate Review
Last Friday was a blockbuster appellate day for the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Not only did it effectively declare an appellate jurisdiction statute unconstitutional (see Matt’s blog post
Continue Reading Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals Application of Appellate Rule 2
On Wednesday, the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto of House Bill 239. Against opposition from the bench and the bar, the legislature pushed the court-shrinking bill through on
Continue Reading Court of Appeals Downsizing Bill Becomes Law & More Jurisdictional Changes for Supreme Court
On occasion, the Supreme Court of North Carolina will grant a petition for discretionary review and then later decide that the grant was “improvidently allowed.” See, e.g., here and
Continue Reading An “Improvident” Decision
Last week I wrote about the Court of Appeals’ holding in SED Holdings, LLC v. 3 Star Properties, LLC regarding the jurisdiction of the trial court while an interlocutory appeal
Continue Reading More On Jurisdiction and SED
A Petition for Writ of Certiorari continues to be the most powerful tool in the Supreme Court’s arsenal. Last Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court used its certiorari authority
Continue Reading A Tool For All Seasons—Supreme Court Deploys Writ of Certiorari to Resurrect State Bar Dispute
No tattling allowed if someone buys scalped tickets to attend this event. For the first time since the Civil War era, the Supreme Court of North Carolina is preparing a
Continue Reading Westward Bound: Supreme Court to Hold Two Sessions of Court in Morganton (Psst! A Showdown on an Important Issue of Appellate Procedure Could Occur)
In October 2015, I blogged about In re Pike, a single Business Court order that resolved four consolidated actions. Because the actions were designated on different dates, the right
Continue Reading Supreme Court Uses PDR Bypass Petition to Calm the Storm
A party has an appeal of right to our Supreme Court from certain decisions of the Court of Appeals under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-30. The overwhelming majority of those
Continue Reading Yes, Virginia, Substantial Constitutional Questions Do Exist!
Sometimes the juiciest info is found in the comments. In October, I blogged about State v. Biddix—a Court of Appeals’ opinion that appeared to significantly limit the Court of
Continue Reading The Writ of Certiorari: A Somewhat Less Powerful Tool (Part II)?