The N.C. Court of Appeals weighs in this morning in a legal dispute involving the State Health Plan’s long-term care benefits. A unanimous three-judge panel upholds part of the trial court’s ruling and reverses part of that same ruling.
The dispute involves a premium increase for LTC benefits that was tied to a change in providers in 2005. The state claimed sovereign immunity against the suit, but the trial court disagreed. The appeals court sided with the trial judge, except in the case of rejecting the plaintiffs’ claim that the suffered from an unconstitutional “taking.”
In other cases, the appeals court:
- ruled that a firm called Defendant Legal Bucks violated the Consumer Finance Act by loaning money to car-accident victim without proper credentials.
- ruled against a Halifax County couple that sued over the forced quarantine of a dog after a possible rabies exposure.
- upheld a ruling that the widow of John W. Pope Jr. is not entitled to inherit $50 million from her husband’s estate.
- vacated a DWI conviction because of questions about the constitutionality of the traffic checkpoint that led to the arrest.
