Show: 1 day 1 week 1 month All

Sort: Newest first A–Z

Coverage since June 3, 2026

North Carolina

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.

North Carolina Probate Statutory Interpretation Trusts & Estates

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re Greenamyer — Attesting Witnesses Must Sign Wills Personally; Third-Party Proxy Signatures Barred Under N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3

/ June 19, 2026

In a first-impression decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3 bars attesting witnesses from having a third party write their signatures on a will, applying the expressio unius canon to the statute’s express testator proxy-signing provision and affirming summary judgment invalidating a revised will whose two witnesses never physically touched the pen.

North Carolina Civil Rights Constitutional Parental Rights

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Happel v. Guilford County Board of Education — State Constitutional Claims Over Unconsented COVID Vaccine Survive PREP Act; Medical Non-Profit Adequately Alleged as State Actor

/ June 19, 2026

On remand from the North Carolina Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals held that Plaintiffs’ state constitutional claims arising from an unconsented COVID-19 vaccination administered to a minor at a school-based clinic may proceed: the private medical non-profit operating the clinic was adequately alleged to be a state actor under a joint-engagement theory, and the PREP Act’s immunity over tort claims leaves no adequate state remedy, satisfying all elements of a Corum claim.

North Carolina Family Law Juvenile Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

In re: J.E.S., P.K.S., P.E.S. — Termination of Parental Rights Affirmed Where Psychological Evaluation Shows Persistent Incapacity and Prior History Predicts Future Neglect

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed termination of parental rights on neglect grounds as to three children removed after a nighttime car accident left two infants with traumatic brain injuries, holding that the mother’s extensive CPS history, prior criminal conviction for a child’s death, psychological diagnosis showing parenting incapacity, and continued unsafe conduct during supervised visits established the likelihood of future neglect required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-1111(a)(1).

North Carolina Family Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Raburn v. Cook — Trial Court Has Discretion to Award Primary Custody to One Fit Parent Without Finding the Other Unfit

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a custody modification that maintained primary physical custody with the mother during the school year and equal summer custody, holding that a trial court has broad discretion to award primary custody to one fit parent without finding the other unfit, and that findings linking communication difficulties and the children’s need for a stable school-year routine rationally supported the arrangement.

North Carolina Breach of Contract Civil Procedure Municipal Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Outer Banks Ventures, Inc. v. Currituck County — Developer’s 1986 Water and Sewer Reimbursement Agreement Not an Installment Contract; Claims Against County Time-Barred

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment dismissing a developer’s twelve-year-old breach-of-contract claim against Currituck County under an assumed water and sewer reimbursement agreement, holding that the 1986 developer agreement was not an installment contract because the county’s payment obligation was contingent on its own decision to connect customers, making the consideration unified and all claims time-barred under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53(1)’s two-year limitations period.

North Carolina Administrative Law Evidence Municipal Law

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Hall v. Henderson County — Board of Adjustment Properly Permitted Addiction-Recovery Facility as Assisted Living Residence; Quasi-Judicial Body Not Bound by Rules of Evidence

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the superior court and reinstated Henderson County’s grant of a special use permit for a residential addiction-recovery facility, holding that the Board of Adjustment properly classified the facility as an Assisted Living Residence because the county code’s use table enumerated ALR but not Mental Health Facility, and clarifying that a quasi-judicial body’s evidentiary rulings are reviewed for due process violation (on exclusion) or competent-evidence support (on admission)—not as errors of law under the Rules of Evidence.

North Carolina Civil Procedure Civil Rights Constitutional

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Doe v. Fulton — SAFE Child Act Revival Window Applies to School Board Sexual Abuse Claims; Ten-Year Repose Period in § 1-52(16) Limited to Latent Injuries

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed denial of a school board’s motion to dismiss a SAFE Child Act revival claim, holding that the ten-year repose period in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16) applies only to latent injuries (not sexual assault) and that governmental immunity is not established at the pleading stage when the record leaves an unexplained gap in insurance coverage for any year in which the alleged abuse occurred.

North Carolina Municipal Law Real Estate Standing

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Daedalus, LLC v. Mecklenburg County — County Cannot Sue for Homeowner Damages, Owners Who Never Pleaded Their Own Claims Lose Damages Award

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a trebled-damages award in a Mecklenburg County building-code enforcement suit, holding that a county lacks standing under Dillon’s Rule to recover monetary damages on behalf of private homeowners and that intervenors who never pleaded their own claims cannot collect from the county’s judgment, while remanding the underlying duplex-vs.-townhouse liability issue for re-evaluation under the 2012 and 2018 code editions that governed at the time of construction.

North Carolina Appellate Procedure Real Estate Real Property

North Carolina Court of Appeals

Alston v. Jacox — Prescriptive Easement Over Decades-Old Pathway Upheld Even After Third-Party Permission Grant

/ June 9, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a prescriptive easement over a rural pathway that had been used for ingress and egress since the 1950s, holding that the required twenty-year period need not immediately precede the dispute and that an easement already vested by adverse use cannot be destroyed by a later permission grant to a third party.