A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals upheld this morning a 2013 trial-court ruling favoring a group of retired state employees led by former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly Lake. The retirees are challenging State Health Plan changes in a breach-of-contract complaint. Today’s ruling means the suit will be able to move forward, since appellate judges rejected the state’s attempts to dismiss the suit.
Among other Court of Appeals opinions released this morning:
- A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a trial-court ruling favoring Duke University in a lawsuit involving the shooting death of a man panhandling outside the Duke Hospital entrance in 2010.
- A unanimous three-judge panel overruled a trial court and will force the New Hanover County school board to reconsider its 2012 decision not to renew the contract of an assistant principal who had documented run-ins with some superiors.
- A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a ruling favoring the N.C. Department of Transportation in a dispute over attorney’s fees linked to a long-running court battle over access to a 190-acre Davidson County subdivision.
- A unanimous three-judge panel reversed the N.C. Industrial Commission and ruled against the Department of Correction in a dispute involving a former Correction worker who’s been collecting disability benefits since the mid-1990s.
- A unanimous three-judge panel, in an unpublished opinion with limited precedential value, dismissed Clayton’s appeal of a court order favoring a recycling company in a dispute with the town over a temporary-use permit issued to a competitor.
- A unanimous three-judge panel, in an unpublished opinion with limited precedential value, reversed a trial-court ruling and favored the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles in a dispute over license suspension and civil penalties assessed against a company that performed vehicle emissions tests.