Volume 370 — North Carolina Reports

Appeal from final judgment of N.C. Business Court dismissing plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a claim.

Appeals from 2013 and 2016 orders of the North Carolina Business Court interpreting pertinent provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the North Carolina Revenue Act and denying a tax deduction for Market Discount Income to Fidelity Bank whether the North Carolina Business Court erred by dismissing Fidelity Bank's 2015 petition for judicial review of an Amended Final Agency Decision.

Interlocutory appeal from N.C. Business Court order denying partial summary judgment for defendant application of N.C. Seed Law and Uniform Commercial Code to plaintiffs' complaints that defendant sold them mislabeled seed whether defendant is allowed to limit plaintiffs' recovery of damages to the sale price of the seed or whether standard UCC remedies can apply.

Motion to suppress evidence obtained from a warrantless traffic stop whether the arresting officer had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant's vehicle.

Admissibility of prior bad acts testimony against defendant under Evidence Rule 404(b) whether the trial court's failure to give a limiting instruction on the Rule 404(b) evidence was prejudicial error.

Whether governmental immunity bars a former employee's declaratory judgment complaint against the City seeking relief based on an employment contract between the parties.

Condemnation proceeding filed under Article 9 of Chapter 136 to take defendant's leasehold interest in property for highway improvement purposes whether, because defendant had a nonconforming billboard on the property under a long-term lease, the value of the property interest taken from defendant should have been determined under N.C.G.S. 136-131, defining 'just compensation' for a condemnation proceeding under the Outdoor Advertising Control Act, rather than under Article 9, governing DOT condemnation actions in general whether certain evidence is admissible to help the trier of fact determine the fair market value of the condemned leasehold.

Whether the trial court's findings of fact supported its conclusion of law that respondent father's parental rights should be terminated under N.C.G.S. 7B-1111(a)(1).

Direct review of trial court's new order on remand denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence when defendant was questioned by police while he was involuntarily committed, whether he was 'in custody,' required to receive Miranda warnings, and told he was free to end the questioning.

Whether the trial court committed gross prejudicial error by not intervening ex mero motu in the prosecutor's closing argument implying that defendant's paid counsel and paid expert witness assisted defendant in committing perjury.

Whether an indictment intended to charge defendant with robbery with a dangerous weapon was fatally defective.

Whether attorney-client relationship existed among several parties arising from indemnity agreement, and if so, whether certain communications were protected by attorney-client privilege.

Whether the indictment charging defendant with habitual misdemeanor larceny was fatally defective.

Appeal from trial court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence found during a traffic stop whether the police officer unconstitutionally prolonged the stop beyond the time reasonably required to complete the stop's mission under the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Rodriguez v. United States.

Workers' Compensation Act application of N.C.G.S. 97-10.2, which states the rights and obligations of an employer and employee regarding payment of benefits under the Act when the employee recovers a settlement in a common law action for damages against a third-party tortfeasor.

Whether the trial court erred in giving a disjunctive jury instruction on one of the elements of first-degree sexual offense whether the error was prejudicial to defendant.

Conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor under N.C.G.S. 14-190.16 whether the trial court abused its discretion in overruling defendant's objection to the prosecutor's closing argument and denying defendant's request for an instruction defining 'oral intercourse' as requiring penetration.

Whether defendant received adequate notice of his probation revocation hearing pursuant to N.C.G.S. 15A-1345(e).

Interlocutory appeal from N.C. Business Court order allowing plaintiffs' motion to disqualify defense counsel under Rule 1.9(a) of the N.C. Rules of Professional Conduct.

Constitutional challenge to 2017 law replacing State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission with Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

Civil complaint filed by various medical practices to recover damages and other relief for the State's failure to properly implement a new electronic payment system to reimburse plaintiffs for their services to Medicaid-eligible patients whether the trial court erred in dismissing plaintiffs' complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs did not exhaust their administrative remedies before filing a civil suit.

Whether North Carolina recognizes a first-party claim for dram shop liability if so, whether that claim is barred by the contributory negligence of plaintiff's decedent.

Medical malpractice action on behalf of minor child for birth-related injuries whether, after the complaint was dismissed under Rule 41 and refiled six years later, N.C.G.S. 1-17(b) extended the three-year statute of limitations for professional malpractice actions established in N.C.G.S 15(c), thus preventing the refiled complaint from being time barred.

Condemnation proceeding under Chapter 136 to take a portion of defendants' property for highway improvement purposes whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding expert opinion testimony on valuation offered by defendants because the trial court did not consider admissibility of the testimony under Evidence Rule 702 rather than N.C.G.S. 93A-83 whether it was improper for the trial court to instruct the jury that the jury should not consider the taking and use of adjoining lands of others for the same undertaking in determining just compensation.

Sufficiency of evidence that defendants constructively possessed marijuana found growing on their property.

Direct appeal from trial court's order denying defendant's motion for postconviction DNA testing following this Court's opinion finding no error in defendant's conviction for first-degree murder and his sentence of death.

Whether, during a trial for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the trial court properly admitted testimony regarding defendant's prior possession of a firearm under Rule 404(b) whether that testimony was unfairly prejudicial and therefore should have been excluded under Rule 403 whether the Court of Appeals erred by reviewing for prejudicial error as opposed to plain error.

Action by City employee alleging that the City acted arbitrarily in failing to follow its established personnel policies when denying him a promotion appeal from trial court's grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of the City whether plaintiff sufficiently alleged claims under Article I, Sections 1 and 19 of the state constitution.

Action for inverse condemnation pursuant to N.C.G.S. 40A-51 based upon the flooding of plaintiffs' property by water from an adjacent City-owned lake.

Whether the trial court erred in dismissing an action brought by plaintiff homeowners' associations seeking to invalidate the City's rezoning of adjacent property whether the failure of plaintiffs' boards of directors to comply with association bylaws authorizing them to initiate litigation on behalf of the members deprived plaintiffs of legal standing to sue.

Whether the Asheville Civil Service Law governing appeals of decisions of the Asheville Civil Service Board to superior court gives a respondent the right to a jury trial.

Review of recommendation for public reprimand.

Interlocutory appeal from N.C. Business Court order granting defendants' motions to dismiss certain claims under Civil Procedure Rule 12(b)(6).

Kidnapping and first-degree sex offense whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss the kidnapping charge on grounds that no restraint apart from that involved in the sex offense occurred.

Whether, after defendant's sentence for committing a Class 1 misdemeanor violation of the Controlled Substances Act was punished as a Class I felony under N.C.G.S. 90-95(e)(3), the trial court erred in sentencing defendant, an admitted habitual felon, as a Class E felon.

Whether Rule of Evidence 412, the 'Rape Shield Law,' generally excludes evidence of an alleged victim's sexually transmitted diseases whether the exception provided in Rule 412(b)(2) allows admission of such evidence in this case.

Whether, at defendant's murder trial, the court committed plain error by declining to give certain jury instructions requested by defendant regarding 'no duty to retreat.'