The Court denied a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order. The Motion sought enforcement of covenants not to compete executed by the Defendants, who were loan officers with the Plaintiff, a mortgage broker.
The covenants stated that the Defendants:
will not directly or indirectly, in any capacity work for any company, entity or individual, including
The person elected as liquidator to oversee the liquidation of the assets of two general partnerships was not entitled to limit his responsibility to the pursuit of a derivative action lawsuit against the auditor for the partnerships, as opposed to the general winding up of the affairs of the partnerships. The Court held:
the substantive problem
Plaintiff was entitled to discovery of documents relating to an arbitration proceeding involving similar claims, even though the legal issues were not identical, and also notwithstanding a confidentiality agreement entered by the arbitrator in the arbitration case.
The Court made this comment on the standard of relevancy for discovery purposes:
A fundamental requirement of Rule
Today, in Moody v. Sears Roebuck & Co., the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a decision of the Business Court which had refused to approve the dismissal with prejudice of a North Carolina class action. The Business Court had found that the settlement of the case, even though it had been approved by an Illinois court
Today, the North Carolina Business Court ruled in Hill v. StubHub, Inc. that the Communications Decency Act didn’t provide a defense to on-line ticket seller StubHub against claims that it had violated North Carolina’s anti-scalping laws.
In his opinion, Judge Tennille allowed Plaintiffs to proceed on their unfair and deceptive practices claims against StubHub. He dismissed, however, several other claims brought by the Hills, who were frustrated purchasers of Hannah Montana concert tickets for their eight year old daughter.
According to the Amended Complaint, the Hills’ daughter had repeatedly told her parents that she had a "sincere and strong" wish to see this show. Mrs. Hill tried buying tickets on-line when they went on sale, but they sold out in moments. The Hills, probably under unrelenting “sincere and strong” pressure from their daughter, bought four tickets to the concert on StubHub, at a price nearly $100 per ticket higher than the $56 face value of each ticket.
Then, the Hills sued, alleging that StubHub, along with the unnamed John Doe defendants who actually owned the tickets, had violated North Carolina’s anti-scalping law. The Hills sought class certification, not just for those who had to purchase tickets via StubHub for the Hannah Montana show, but also for the purchasers of tickets to the “many concerts, sporting events and other events and at numerous venues throughout the State of North Carolina” for which tickets had been sold through StubHub. The Hills made multiple claims: (1) violation of North Carolina’s anti-scalping statute (2) civil conspiracy, (3) tortious action in concert, (4) unfair and deceptive practices, and (5) punitive damages. Continue Reading Communications Decency Act Doesn’t Insulate StubHub From Scalping Lawsuit
North Carolina’s Business Court is a "model for the nation," according to Directorship Magazine’s Annual Guide to State Litigation.
In addition to complimenting the Business Court, the Annual Guide gave North Carolina’s litigation climate a green light, indicating that the "state’s liability climate encourages growth and job creation." It gave North Carolina a high national ranking
The Court allowed a motion to bifurcate in this shareholder dispute. Shortly before trial, the Court agreed to try first Plaintiffs’ claims for reasonable expectations, mismanagement, and breach of fiduciary duty; and after determination of those issues to try, if necessary, the issues of valuation and dissolution. The Order allowing bifurcation was entered with the consent
A North Carolina court has no authority to enforce a subpoena issued to an out-of-state non-party, even if the non-party has a registered agent in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has before it a number of the interesting issues decided by the Business Court over the past several months.
There are, by my count, fifteen Business Court decisions on appeal to the Court of Appeals. The cases involve class actions, derivative actions, forum selection clauses, motions to stay, and antitrust law, among other
An Order granting discovery sanctions in the Western District of North Carolina is the basis for a $107 million malpractice lawsuit against a New York law firm.
The discovery Order was entered two years ago in a multidistrict proceeding formerly pending in Charlotte. The case, just recently settled, involved the alleged price fixing of polyester staple fiber.