Reporting on Judicial Decisions of Significance to Business & Shareholders
The individual defendants were personally liable for the judgment obtained by plaintiff under the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act. The Court refused to award liquidated damages, however, finding that the defendant had acted in good faith and had a reasonable basis for believing that their refusal to pay bonuses was not in violation of the Act.
Full OpinionContinue Reading Kornegay v. Aspen Asset Group, LLC, February 5, 2008 (Diaz)(unpublished)
Following a thorough discussion of the elements of a valid contract, the Court found a question of material fact whether the parties had agreed on all the material terms of the contract which plaintiff claimed entitled him to a significant bonus. Plaintiff was not required to show that the bonus had actually been paid in prior years in order to recover. The Court dismissed, however, plaintiff’s claim for an additional bonus because it found that the parties had never agreed, during their negotiations over additional compensation, how it would be…
The Court began this final installment of the Maurer (2005 NCBC 1; 2005 NCBC 4) saga with a bit of ominous poetry: "O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive."
The first issue it addressed was whether bonus payments which the company had withheld from a terminated shareholder/employee were "wages" within the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act. If they were, the Court was entitled to award liquidated damages as a result of the company’s failure to pay. The Court rejected a blanket rule that…
Continue Reading Maurer v. Slickedit, Inc., 2006 NCBC 1 (N.C. Super. Ct. Feb. 3, 2005)(Tennille)
Plaintiff’s former employer had violated the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act by failing to pay her bonuses when due. The Court granted summary judgment on this claim in favor of the plaintiff.
The Court granted summary judgment against plaintiff on her slander claims, finding that she had neither pled nor proven the alleged slander with specificity. Plaintiff furthermore had no evidence of special damages.
Full OpinionContinue Reading Maurer v. Slickedit, Inc., 2005 NCBC 4 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 12, 2005)(Tennille)