Court Upholds NC Utilities Order

Debt Cancellation Statute Not Preempted

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 7, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Consumer Protection, Judge Andre M. Davis

A consumer who bought a car from a local Maryland dealer on a retail installment contract that included debt cancellation protection that did not comply with a Maryland statute did not lose that protection when the contract was assigned to another lender; the 4th Circuit vacates the district court decision holding that the Maryland statute [...]

Differing Stories Prompt ‘Reasonable Suspicion’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 4, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Search & Seizure

A police officer who stopped a car for speeding had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity when he determined between six and nine minutes after a stop for speeding that the driver and his passenger, whom he had separated, had conflicting stories about their travels; the 4th Circuit says the totality of the circumstances allowed the [...]

Judge orders a 20-year ban in trade secrets case

By Peter Vieth
Published: September 17, 2012
Tags: Federal Courts, Intellectual Property, Judge Albert Diaz, Judge Andre M. Davis, Judge Dennis W. Shedd, Judge Robert E. Payne

In a rapid volley of court actions, a Korean company fighting a $920 million judgment for theft of trade secrets was hit with a “devastating” 20-year ban on sales of its body armor product, and then promptly won a stay of that injunction from a federal appeals court. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne, [...]

Temp Agency Must Give Job Records to EEOC

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 30, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Employment Discrimination, Judge Andre M. Davis

The EEOC can obtain five years’ worth of job assignment records from a temporary staffing agency that allegedly discriminated by refusing to reassign a temporary worker who could not read and write English; the 4th Circuit says the district court should defer to the EEOC’s assessment of relevance. Complainant Kevin Morrison lives in Maryland but [...]

Business Sale Not Illegal Tax Shelter

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Taxation

Four former owners of a trucking business who sold their stake to a company that in turn sold it to another buyer, without following through on an agreement to pay taxes the former owners owed on the sale proceeds, do not have to pay the back taxes to the IRS; the 4th Circuit upholds a [...]

Cookware Case Nets Treble Damages

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Intellectual Property, Judge Andre M. Davis

Meyer, a manufacturer of “Anolon Advanced” cookware, wins its suit alleging trade dress infringement and violation of North Carolina unfair trade practices law against defendant Belk department store, which sold a private-label cookware that was “deceptively similar”; the 4th Circuit upholds a $1.26 million damage award for plaintiff. Defendant Meyer supplies cookware marketed under the [...]

No Violation of Statute by Lawyer Solicitation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 10, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Consumer Protection, Judge Andre M. Davis

Lawyers who used FOIA requests to the South Carolina DMV to find plaintiff car buyers for a potential class action against car dealers for collection of unlawful fees did not violate a federal privacy statute that protects drivers’ personal information; the 4th Circuit upholds summary judgment for the lawyers who satisfied the “litigation” exception to [...]

Court repudiates AG’s method of setting lien on settlements

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 5, 2012
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Andre M. Davis, Personal Injury

The state’s share of a personal injury settlement with expenses paid by Medicaid must be based on evidence of those medical expenses and not on a commonly used one-third allocation, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The decision in a North Carolina case could change how the Virginia attorney general’s office determines [...]

State Lien on Med-Mal Settlement Vacated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 2, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative, Judge Andre M. Davis

North Carolina’s third-party liability statutes, under which it asserts a lien for one-third of an infant Medicaid recipient’s $2.9 million med-mal settlement, do not comply with federal Medicaid law, which limits a state’s recovery to past medical expenses, and the 4th Circuit vacates judgment for the state and remands for further proceedings consistent with the [...]