Recent blog posts

Civil lawsuits, regardless of their eventual complexity, all begin the same way: with the filing of the complaint. North Carolina Rule of Civil Procedure 8 requires that the complaint contain a “short and plain statement” of the events that form the basis of the claims for relief. G.S. 1A-1, Rule 8(a)(1). Courts and scholars have often referred to this requirement as notice pleading.

With the school year now in full swing, questions are surfacing regarding law enforcement communication with schools about juvenile involvement in the justice system. The reality that School Resource Officers […]

In March 2026, the court of appeals issued an opinion that involved property stored at a self-storage facility. Yurk v. Terra Center, LLC, __ N.C. App. __, 929 S.E.2d 371 […]

An agent acting under a power of attorney (POA) may spend substantial time and effort managing the principal’s financial affairs. Is the agent entitled to be paid for that work? […]

The 2026 Appropriations Act created a new district court district, effective January 1, 2027, by splitting current District 5, a four-county district consisting of Duplin, Jones, Onslow, and Sampson Counties, into Districts […]

Probable cause (PC) hearings play a unique role in delinquency cases. They are required only in the subset of cases that are potentially eligible for transfer to superior court, and […]

Imagine you are a litigant in a civil case and the trial court has entered an order that leaves you unhappy. Let’s say that you cannot appeal this order. What are you, the aggrieved litigant, to do?

Section 16.19 of the 2026 Appropriations Act establishes special procedures for the disposition of matters designated as complex family financial cases. Those special procedures include the creation of a new […]

A party in a civil proceeding may offer into evidence third-party records (meaning those created by nonparties), like the records of a company, hospital, school, or bank. If the records […]

Effective beginning with offenses committed on or after December 1, 2025, Part V. of Session law 2023-114 significantly revised North Carolina’s law governing capacity to proceed in delinquency cases. The […]