» Judicial Decisions

Pursuant to authority given it by the General Assembly, our state Court of Appeals has had the power to sit as a full 15-judge en banc court, in addition to its typical three-judge panels, since December 2016. One could have been forgiven for wonderi… Read More

“The issue in this case is whether a driver is ‘seized’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when he is tailed by a marked police cruiser down empty streets at 3 a.m., followed into an empty parking lot, and then hailed down by the office… Read More

Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor a plaintiff filing suit over a racially hostile work environment. The opinion contains an important discussion of employers’ responsibility to combat hostile work environments create… Read More

Earlier this week, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Patterson Harkavy’s clients, finding that the state’s 2013 repeal of teacher tenure violated the North Carolina Constitution and the United States Constitution. For over for… Read More

Yesterday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a published opinion in favor of Narendra Ghosh’s client Kenneth Leak. The Court vacated Mr. Leak’s conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon, finding that it was obtained in a… Read More

Yesterday afternoon, the Fourth Circuit issued an en banc decision supporting the rights of workplace harassment victims. See Boyer-Liberto v. Fountainebleau Corporation, No. 13-1473 (May 7, 2015). The opinion offers important insight into what level… Read More

In Hammond v. Saini, __ N.C. ___, 766 S.E.2d 590 (2014), the North Carolina Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Patterson Harkavy’s client, Plaintiff Judy Hammond. Ms. Hammond suffered severe injuries from an operating room fire while u… Read More

At a hearing today in Raleigh, Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood declared that North Carolina’s recently-enacted private school voucher program violates various provisions of the North Carolina Constitution, and issued a permanent injunction prev… Read More