The North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ), along with the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation, North Carolina Association of Educators, and North Carolina Troopers Association, have submitted an amicus brief to the N.C. Court of Appeals in Adkins v. Stanly County Board of Education.  The brief argues that the school board violated the plaintiff’s right of access to the courts, in violation of the Open Courts provision of the State Constitution, by firing her because she had filed a lawsuit in state court against the board and defendant Talley.   Burton Craige and Narendra Ghosh represented the NCAJ on the brief.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Amicus, Appeals, Briefs, Burton Craige, Constitutional Law, Labor and Employment, Narendra Ghosh, NC Court of Appeals, NCAJ

Burton Craige and Narendra Ghosh spoke at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice 2009 CLE on Medical Malpractice.  Burton spoke on the topic of “Defense Counsel’s Communications with Treating Physicians,” and together they spoke on the topic of “What’s the Next Step in Applying Agency Principles to Hospitals.”  They presented a paper entitled What’s the Next Step in Applying Agency Principles to Hospitals?

Summary: In Diggs v. Novant Medical, Inc., 177 N.C. App. 290, 628 S.E.2d 851 (2006), the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a hospital could be liable under apparent agency principles for the acts of an independent contractor physician. The North Carolina appellate courts have not yet addressed the related issue of whether a hospital could be vicariously liable because the non-employee physician was performing the hospital’s non-delegable duty. This paper discusses the law regarding these theories of liability in North Carolina and other jurisdictions, as well as their potential application to a range of medical negligence cases.

Categories: General News Tags: Agency Law, Articles, Burton Craige, Medical Malpractice, Narendra Ghosh, NCAJ, Negligence, Personal Injuries, Presentation

Burton Craige has written an article, entitled Reforming and Clarifying the Products Liability Statute of Repose, for an issue of Trial Briefs, the publication of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. The article discusses possible reform of the time-limit law for lawsuits about defective products that injure people.

Summary: If Elaine had lived anywhere else in the United States, she could have brought suit against the SUV manufacturer. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have no statute of repose for products liability actions. Four states establish a presumptive ten- or twelve-year statute of repose that can be rebutted by evidence that the “useful safe life” of the product is longer or shorter. Two states establish a rebuttable presumption of no negligence if the product was first sold more than a certain period of time before the injury. Ten states have a fixed statute of repose that is significantly longer than North Carolina’s, ranging from ten to fifteen years. That leaves North Carolina as the lonely outlier. Saddled with an inflexible six-year statute of repose, North Carolinians have less protection against defective products than any other United States citizens.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Articles, Burton Craige, NC Legislature, NCAJ, Personal Injuries, Products Liability, Statute of Repose

Burton Craige has written an article, entitled Should North Carolina Enact the Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act?, for an issue of Trial Briefs, the publication of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. The article discusses possible reform of contributory negligence, and related laws for personal injury and negligence cases.

Summary: North Carolina is one of only five jurisdictions that retain the antiquated doctrine of contributory negligence. Here, as in Alabama, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, a plaintiff whose negligence makes the slightest contribution to his injury is barred from recovering any damages against the tortfeasor. The other 46 states, either by judicial decision or by statute, have adopted some form of comparative fault, allocating damages based on the degree of fault among the plaintiff and the defendants. In 2007, four Republican state legislators introduced a bill to adopt UATRA in North Carolina. The proposed legislation would revolutionize North Carolina tort law by ending contributory negligence, adopting a system of comparative fault, and modifying joint and several liability. Legislators are likely to reintroduce the bill in 2009. If North Carolina adopts UATRA, it will be the first state to do so.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Articles, Burton Craige, Contributory Negligence, NC Legislature, NCAJ, Personal Injuries

Michael Okun has written an article, entitled In Concert: A Beginner’s Guide to Labor and Employment Law’s Old and Well-Kept Secret, for an issue of Trial Briefs, the publication of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. The article discusses the NLRA’s protection for workers who act “in concert” regarding workplace issues.

Summary: The right to act “in concert” is the “principal source of legal protection for employees who engage in workplace protests.” This article attempts to provide a basic understanding of the substantive and procedural law surrounding the law.  The first of six sections provides a brief history and overview of the Section 7 right found in the NLRA.  The second explains the requirements of the three elements necessary to claim the right.  The third section describes how to prove causation between activity protected by the statute and retaliatory action by an employer.  The fourth section explains briefly the categories of employers and employees who are not covered by the statute.  The fifth section explains how to enforce an employee’s rights under the Act.  The final section describes the three best concerts this author has attended.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Articles, Concerted Activity, Labor and Employment, Michael Okun, NCAJ, NLRA, Union