Generally speaking, an appeal stops all proceedings at the trial court level until the appeal concludes. However, as we have previously blogged (here, here, here, and here), there are limited circumstances where a trial court may move forward with a case during the pendency of an appeal. In Plasman v. Decca Furniture (USA), Inc.,… Continue Reading
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 is pending. See here. A few weeks prior, before the SED II opinion was released, Mack Sperling provided some excellent insight on his blog as to what was happening in the trial court in SED and how the court’s jurisdiction was impacted by the Petition for Discretionary Review that defendants had filed (and that was subsequently allowed) regarding the Court of Appeals’ decision in SED I. … Continue Reading
There are few concepts that are as important to our nation’s jurisprudence as that of jurisdiction. As stated by the Supreme Court of the United States, “Jurisdiction is the power to hear and determine the subject matter in controversy between parties to a suit, to adjudicate or exercise any judicial power over them . . . .” Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 37 U.S.… Continue Reading
Most attorneys have had a least one unfavorable final judgment entered before trial. The attorney may feel that the trial court completely misunderstood her argument. Perhaps the trial court entered a summary judgment order that missed a key appellate case. Or perhaps the trial court issued a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal that appeared inconsistent with an earlier ruling. The natural inclination is to devise a motion that will give the trial court the opportunity to fix its mistakes without having to take an appeal. … Continue Reading
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 to revive an appeal involving the State Bar and a sitting superior court judge. The Court did so six months after the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeals, and four months after it had declined to issue a PDR.… Continue Reading
Over the past few months, we have shared several potential problems created by the Business Court Modernization Act. Nonetheless, we held a few potential traps close to our vest because, frankly, we were unsure if any of the unique circumstances necessary to trigger the traps would arise. Recently, we changed our mind on the improbability of those scenarios based on an October 8 order from the North Carolina Business Court. … Continue Reading
In a decision that promises to have a substantial impact for counties and municipalities struggling to reconcile North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law and its Public Records Act, the Court of Appeals yesterday dropped a compelling footnote providing guidance to trial courts confronted with this issue in the future.
In Times News Publishing Co. v. Alamance-Burlington Bd. of Ed., the Court was confronted with a situation in which minutes of a public body’s closed session were sought pursuant to the Public Records Act and the public body objected to disclosure of such minutes because disclosure would “frustrate the purpose of the closed session” pursuant to the Open Meetings Law. … Continue Reading