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North Carolina

North Carolina Contract Interpretation Employment

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Sepanski v. Ashleigh Fisher Consulting — ‘Monthly Retainer Fee’ Means Payment for Work Completed, Not Availability During Notice Period

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a $26,633 summary judgment for a consultant who claimed she was owed two months of “monthly retainer fees” during a sixty-day notice period in which she performed no work. Reading the contract as a whole, the court held that “retainer fee” does not mean availability payment; the early-termination clause—which conditioned payment on “work completed through the end of the notice period”—controlled. Because the consultant performed no work after termination, Fisher Consulting owed nothing. Summary judgment for the defendant was ordered on remand.

North Carolina domestic-violence Family Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Zubchevich v. Zubchevich — Grabbing Child by Neck to Place in Car Seat Constitutes ‘Intentionally Causing Bodily Injury’ Under NC Domestic Violence Statute

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a Domestic Violence Protective Order entered against a father who grabbed his seven-year-old son by the neck and hip and carried him to his car seat, causing the child to feel dizzy, experience difficulty breathing, and turn red in the face. A 2–1 majority held that competent evidence supported the finding of “intentionally causing bodily injury” under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-1(a)(1) even absent a visible mark. The court also held that minor children have standing to seek DVPOs against parents through a Guardian ad litem. Judge Wood dissented, arguing that routine parental discipline without lasting injury cannot constitute domestic violence.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Criminal

North Carolina Court of Appeals

State v. Simpson — Rule of Lenity Bars Two Concealed-Weapon Convictions for a Single Incident; Probation Period Also Vacated

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a consolidated judgment entering two counts of carrying a concealed firearm under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269(a1) arising from discovery of two guns in a single traffic stop. Applying the rule of lenity under the Conley line of cases, the court held that § 14-269(a1)’s “any pistol or gun” language is ambiguous as to unit of prosecution, permitting only one conviction per incident. The court also vacated a twenty-four-month probationary term imposed without the specific written findings required to exceed the statutory eighteen-month cap.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Legal Ethics

North Carolina Court of Appeals

N.C. State Bar v. Cummings — DHC’s Five-Year Suspension Vacated in Part; Hearsay and Willfulness Failures Undermine Three of Four Misconduct Findings

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a DHC finding that attorney Mark Cummings lied to Bar investigators about compensating a paralegal, but vacated three other misconduct findings—on failure to file 1099s (no willfulness finding by the DHC), a courtroom recording device (no evidence of an actual misrepresentation), and a residency misrepresentation (prior out-of-court statement inadmissible under Rules 804(b)(5) and 803(24) because the declarant testified live at the hearing). The case was remanded for the DHC to reconsider appropriate discipline based only on the violations that survived review.

North Carolina Civil Procedure Eminent Domain Real Estate

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Great Smoky Mountains R.R. v. Mach 2 Invs. — Third Parties Cannot Attack a Railroad’s Deed from NCDOT, Even If State Conveyance Procedures Were Not Followed

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal in a railroad trespass and quiet-title action, holding that Mach 2 Investments and adjoining property owners lacked standing under the jus tertii doctrine to challenge Great Smoky Mountains Railroad’s 1996 deed from NCDOT. Even if the conveyance did not strictly follow state-lands procedures, only the State can mount that challenge—and any defect would render the deed merely voidable, not void. On remand, the trial court must address necessary parties and examine the scope of a historic “farm crossing” easement whose claimed use Mach 2 may have overburdened through subdivision.

North Carolina Contract Interpretation Employment

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Se. Reg’l Physician Servs. v. Scott — Non-Compete Barring Any ‘Practice of Medicine’ Is Overbroad and Cannot Be Blue-Penciled

/ July 17, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the invalidation of non-compete agreements barring two nurse practitioners from “engaging in the practice of Medicine” for one year within Robeson County and a 35-mile radius. Writing for the majority, Judge Griffin held the covenants overbroad in their terms despite reasonable time and geographic limits, void against public policy, and not salvageable through blue-penciling under North Carolina’s strict severance doctrine. The 2–1 decision—Chief Judge Dillon dissenting—clarifies that healthcare non-competes must track the specific work performed, not broadly prohibit all medical practice.

North Carolina Evidence

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

State v. Fair — Guilty-Knowledge Instruction for Drug Trafficking Required Only When Defendant Contends Ignorance of Substance’s Identity

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals found no plain error in a heroin trafficking trial, holding that the additional guilty-knowledge jury instruction is triggered only when the defendant affirmatively contends he did not know the substance’s identity, and that evidence showing no drug terminology appeared in intercepted communications does not constitute such a contention absent any indication the defendant believed the substance to be something other than heroin.

North Carolina Child Welfare

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

State v. Sandi — AOC Interpreter Standards Create No Binding Legal Rights; Trapping Victim in Corner With Knife Supports Kidnapping Separate from Assault

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping, and multiple assault charges arising from a domestic violence attack, holding that the AOC’s interpreter Standards create no binding legal rights and that violations warrant only an abuse-of-discretion review; that trapping a victim in a corner with a knife constitutes confinement separate from the accompanying assault offenses; and that a parent’s armed attack on another adult in a young child’s presence creates a substantial risk of physical injury supporting misdemeanor child abuse.

North Carolina Restitution

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

State v. Thompson — Civil Settlement Does Not Offset Criminal Restitution; “Person Within the State” Is Not an Element of False Pretenses

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for obtaining property by false pretenses and uttering forged instruments, holding that a victim’s prior civil settlement does not reduce the criminal restitution award, that a pending Wake County scheme involving the same TSA funds was properly admitted under Rule 404(b), and that “person within the State” is not an essential element of the offense because the Supreme Court’s longstanding four-element framework controls over Court of Appeals dicta.

North Carolina Evidence

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

Biddle v. Biddle — Pretrial Stipulations Bind the Court in Equitable Distribution; Burden to Prove Investment Gains Were Passive Falls on the Spouse Claiming Separate Property

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated portions of an equitable distribution order, holding that a trial court is bound by the parties’ pretrial stipulation classifying the townhome as fully marital property and may not carve out a separate component, and that once the non-owning spouse shows marital-period gains in a premarital investment account (triggering a presumption of marital property), the burden shifts to the owning spouse to prove those gains were passive, not to the non-owner to prove they were active.

North Carolina Child Welfare Evidence Juvenile

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

In re: M.D., Jr. — DSS Cannot Prove Abuse Through Medical Records Alone Without Expert Testimony at Adjudication

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a Rule 41(b) dismissal of a DSS abuse and neglect petition at the close of DSS’s evidence, holding that nearly 1,500 pages of medical records admitted as business records cannot establish non-accidental injury causation without expert medical testimony, and that parental explanations introduced through DSS’s own witnesses that were consistent with accidental injury could not be rebutted by business records alone.

North Carolina Jurisdiction Juvenile Parental Rights

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

In re: D.A.S., E.D.S., U.J.R.S. — Permanency Planning Order Maintaining DSS Custody Confers Standing to File TPR Petition

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a permanency planning order expressly ordering that legal custody of the children “shall remain with” DSS constitutes a “custody order” under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1104(5), giving DSS standing to file termination-of-parental-rights petitions and conferring subject-matter jurisdiction on the district court.

North Carolina Child Welfare Indian Child Welfare Act Juvenile

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

In re: G.A.D., M.L.D. — ICWA Remand: Trial Court Must Inquire of Both Parents on Record

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals remanded a termination of parental rights order for ICWA compliance after finding that the trial court had conducted the required inquiry under 25 C.F.R. § 23.107(a) as to respondent-father only; an on-the-record inquiry of respondent-mother is required regardless of her absence from prior hearings, and the termination order remains in place pending the inquiry.

North Carolina Constitutional Criminal Criminal Procedure

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

State v. Wilder — Defendant Who Refuses to Answer § 15A-1242 Inquiry Cannot Establish Knowing Waiver of Counsel

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a defendant who clearly invokes the right to self-representation but then refuses to answer any of the trial court’s N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1242 questions cannot establish a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of counsel, and the trial court therefore did not err in denying the request to proceed pro se.

North Carolina Criminal Double Jeopardy Evidence

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

State v. Broadway — AWDWIKISI and AISBI Merge Under Double Jeopardy; Prosecutor’s Breath-Hold Demonstration Not Grossly Improper

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals arrested judgment on an assault-inflicting-serious-bodily-injury conviction as merging with AWDWIKISI under the double jeopardy clause when no distinct interruption in the assault was established, while affirming that a prosecutor’s one-minute breath-holding demonstration during closing argument was not grossly improper and that a lesser-included offense instruction on assault inflicting serious injury was not required where the State’s evidence of deadly-weapon use was uncontradicted.

North Carolina Administrative Law Real Estate Tax

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

In re: Nelson — Comparative Assessment Data Sufficient to Rebut Property Tax Presumption Without Expert Appraisal

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the Property Tax Commission’s dismissal of a pro se Wake County taxpayer’s appeal, holding that comparative assessment data showing identical land values applied to materially different lots — and a resulting per-acre value more than double neighboring properties — constitutes sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption of assessment correctness under N.C.G.S. § 105-283, without requiring an expert appraisal or formal sales-comparison analysis.

North Carolina Breach of Contract Construction Law Lien Law

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

K. Lee Builders, Inc. v. Barnes — Incorrect Furnishing Dates Render Mechanic’s Lien Fatally Defective

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a mechanic’s lien with incorrect (not merely omitted) dates of first and last furnishing is fatally defective under N.C.G.S. § 44A-12, regardless of actual prejudice, and that the cash bond posted to discharge the defective lien must be returned to the property owner even though the contractor prevailed on its breach-of-contract claim at trial.

North Carolina Family Law Juvenile Law Parental Rights

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re: J.Q. — Trial Court Lacked Authority to Cease Reunification Efforts at Review Hearing; Permanency Planning Hearing Required

/ June 20, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated an order ceasing a mother’s reunification efforts because the trial court entered that order at a review hearing rather than a permanency planning hearing, holding that N.C.G.S. § 7B-906.1(d1) does not authorize courts to cease reunification at review hearings—that authority belongs exclusively to permanency planning hearings under § 7B-906.2(b)—while also cautioning that missed 30-day permanency planning hearing deadlines must be challenged by writ of mandamus, not appeal.

North Carolina Probate Statutory Interpretation Trusts & Estates

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re: Greenamyer — Will Witnesses Must Sign in Their Own Hand; Third-Party Signature Adoption Not Permitted Under N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3

/ June 20, 2026

In a question of first impression, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3 does not permit attesting witnesses to adopt signatures written entirely by a third party: because the statute expressly allows the testator to have another sign on his behalf but omits any similar provision for witnesses, the legislature’s intent is that witnesses must physically sign the will themselves, rendering invalid a revised will whose two witness signatures were written by the notary at the witnesses’ verbal direction while the witnesses never touched the pen.

North Carolina Civil Rights Constitutional Parental Rights

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Happel v. Guilford Cnty. Bd. of Educ. — Private Medical Society Sufficiently Alleged as State Actor for Corum Claim After Unwanted COVID Vaccine

/ June 20, 2026

A divided North Carolina Court of Appeals held on remand that a private medical society that administered a COVID-19 vaccine to a fourteen-year-old over his objection and without parental consent was sufficiently alleged to be a state actor for a Corum constitutional claim, and that the PREP Act’s complete bar on tort remedies itself satisfies the “no adequate state remedy” element required to bring a direct claim under the North Carolina Constitution.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Criminal Evidence

North Carolina Court of Appeals

State v. Moore — Cross-Examination with Prior Flee-from-Police Incident Upheld Under Rules 404(b) and 403 as Proper Impeachment

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a DWI/fleeing-to-elude conviction, holding that the trial court did not err under Rule 404(b) when it allowed the State to cross-examine the defendant about a prior urban police encounter that contradicted his trial testimony that he “would have pulled over” if approached in the city, and that the Rule 403 determination did not rise to an abuse of discretion despite the evidence’s limited probative value and high prejudice potential.

North Carolina Criminal Criminal Procedure Evidence

North Carolina Court of Appeals

State v. Havens — Hidden Bathroom Cameras Convictions Upheld; 1978 Privacy-Intent Element Does Not Limit Current Secret Peeping Statute

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for secret peeping, second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor arising from hidden charging-block cameras installed in bathrooms, holding that the 1978 “intent to invade privacy” gloss from In re Banks does not apply to the elements of the current N.C.G.S. § 14-202(f) felony secret-peeping statute.

North Carolina Administrative Law Constitutional Employment

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Lemaster v. NC Department of State Treasurer — OAH Lacks Jurisdiction to Rule on Constitutional Challenge to TSERS Service-Repurchase Statute

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that the OAH lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over a TSERS member’s claim that the 2021 repeal of N.C.G.S. § 135-4(k)—which capped service-credit repurchases at five years—unconstitutionally impaired his vested contractual pension rights, because constitutionality questions are reserved for the judicial branch and fall outside the OAH’s statutory grant of authority.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Child Custody Juvenile Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re J.Q. — Trial Court Erred by Ceasing Reunification Efforts at Review Hearing; Only Permanency Planning Hearings Authorize That Step

/ June 19, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a review-hearing order ceasing reunification efforts, holding that N.C.G.S. § 7B-906.2(b) reserves that power exclusively for permanency planning hearings; the trial court’s failure to schedule a permanency planning hearing within the statutory thirty-day window was an error but not prejudicial on appeal, with mandamus the proper real-time remedy.