A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals reversed a lower court this morning in ruling that the N.C. Department of Revenue can assess Food Lion’s parent company a penalty of more than $1.1 million in a tax dispute. The appeals court upheld the portion of the state Business Court’s ruling that already forced Food Lion to pay the rest of nearly $10 million in overdue taxes and interest owed because of forced “combined reporting.”
In other opinions released this morning:
- A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed most of a lower-court ruling in favor of Nash County and against the City of Wilson in a rezoning dispute involving a poultry processing plant. While most of the ruling favored Nash County, appellate judges did vacate the part of the order awarding attorneys’ fees to the county.
- A unanimous three-judge panel ruled in favor of IBM and against Durham County in a long-running tax dispute that had made two previous trips to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
- Appellate judges split 2-1 in reversing a lower court and ruling in favor of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board in a suit involving a student sexually abused by her South Mecklenburg High School band teacher.
- A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a lower court and favored Pitt County Memorial Hospital in a dispute with a former staff nephrologist.
