It’s Just Business

Analysis of North Carolina Business Court Decisions (and other musings)

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By: Fox Rothschild LLP

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Lisa W. Arthur
Matthew Krueger-Andes
Matthew Nis Leerberg
Kip D. Nelson
Whit Pierce
Bradley M. Risinger
Troy Shelton
Craig Turner
Jeffrey R. Whitley

Latest from It’s Just Business

The Business Court addressed the appropriate bounds for expert testimony proposed to establish damages, and perhaps to provide editorial guideposts for the jury, in W. Avalon Potts v. KEL, LLC, et al, 2019 NCBC 60, 2019 WL 4744646 (N.C. Super. Ct. September 27, 2019). See Order and Opinion. We discussed the case in an earlier post, here, but it involves a fractious leadership transition in a nearly 30-year old company, that led to an…
Business Court Holds North Carolina Arbitration and Choice-of-Law Provisions Insufficient to Exercise Personal Jurisdiction over England-Based Company In Curvature, Inc. v. Cantel Computer Servs. Ltd., 2019 NCBC 47 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 13, 2019), the Business Court considered whether it could exercise personal jurisdiction over the England-based defendant based on a contract that was neither executed in nor performed in North Carolina. The wrinkle was that the contract contained provisions requiring the dispute to be…
N.C. Business Court Considers When a  Private Company Can Be Deemed a State “Agency” for Purposes of the Public Records Act   In Southern Environmental Law Center v. Saylor et al., 2019 NCBC 59 (N.C. Super. Ct. Sept. 11, 2019), the Business Court considered whether the defendant North Carolina Railroad Company (the “Railroad”) was a State “agency” for purposes of the Public Records Act, N.C. G.S. § 132-1 et seq. If so, then the Railroad was…
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Following up on my post from earlier this week, the Mecklenburg County Business Court CLE concluded on Friday with the panel of Judges, Chief Judge Bledsoe, Judge McGuire, and Judge Conrad, sharing some practice pointers and personal preferences.  What follows is my summary and interpretation of what they said.  As with my recitation of the statistics provided, I have worked hard to be an accurate reporter, but this is not a verbatim recitation (hence why…
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares? He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes! -Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian, shoe sage. The N.C. Business Court might not be your first stop for tips on picking quality footwear, but in the spiritual homestead of Air Jordans, solid shoe advice lurks where you least expect it. So it was in Epic Chophouse, LLC v. Morasso, 2019 NCBC 54,…
This past Friday, the Mecklenburg County Bar held its 7th Annual North Carolina Business Court CLE.   If you regularly practice in the Business Court, this is a “must attend.”  There were a number of helpful, relevant, and informative presentations, but the highlight of the CLE was the day’s last session, when attendees heard directly from the Business Court Bench itself, with Chief Judge Bledsoe, Judge McGuire, and Judge Conrad sharing insights and practice pointers.  The…
The Business Court sorted through the drama of an affiliated outsider who wanted to buy a company, settled for half and became an insider, and then allegedly used that perch to benefit himself and his family in W. Avalon Potts v. KEL, LLC, et al, 2019 NCBC 29, 2019 WL 2058599 (N.C. Super. Ct. May 9, 2019). See Order and Opinion. The story has a common backdrop: a nearly 30-year old company (founded by…
N.C. Business Court Addresses the Scope of a Judicial Appraisal Proceeding In Reynolds American Inc. v. Third Motion Equities Master Fund Ltd. et al., 2019 NCBC 35 (N.C. Super. Ct. June 4, 2019), the Business Court considered the scope of a judicial appraisal proceeding under G.S. § 55-13-30. The defendants, who owned stock in the plaintiff company, dissented from a merger involving the plaintiff and sought to have their interest bought out at fair value.…
Sometimes when seeking a trail of breadcrumbs to help unwind a twisty problem, one finds the whole loaf, instead. So it was for the N.C. Business Court in granting a preliminary injunction on a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets in Biesse America, Inc. v. Dominici, 2019 NCBC 50 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 19, 2019). See Order and Opinion. Takeaways: Trade Secret Misappropriation cannot be remedied by return of confidential information. N.C. Gen. Stat.…
N.C. Business Court Refuses to Allow Member-Managers to Assert Contract Claims Belonging to their LLC. In its second opinion in Bennett v. Bennett, 2019 NCBC 45 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 6, 2019), the Business Court denied Plaintiff Bert Bennett’s motion to dismiss a breach of contract claim by an LLC, but granted his motion to dismiss the same claim by three of its member-managers for lack of standing – even though the individuals were parties to the…