According to a recent opinion of the North Carolina Supreme Court, reversing a unanimous panel at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, a phone call to someone in North Carolina, when you were unaware that person was in North Carolina, and had no reason to know they were in North Carolina, is not sufficient to subject you to the jurisdiction of North Carolina Courts.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson discuss What to Expect if Your Case Goes to Trial.
Once a lawsuit is over and judgment has been entered, North Carolina law requires a creditor to take additional steps to begin the process of attempting to collect the judgment. Knowing how to navigate the particulars of this process can improve a creditor’s chances of recovering money from the judgment debtor.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson discuss 10 Things To Do and 10 Things Not To Do If You are Sued.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Video LegalPad, Ian Richardson discusses Demand Letters: To Send or Not to Send
In this session of Vann Attorneys Video LegalPad J.D. Hensarling discusses “You’ve Received a Subpoena. Now What?”.
In North Carolina the legal rate of interest on a judgment is 8% per year. Parties are also permitted to contract for a rate of interest in excess of the legal rate. At the time of this writing, the effective prime interest rate is 3.25%. As a result of this disparity between the legal interest rate in North Carolina (which was established when prime interest rates were in excess of 10%) and the current prevailing interest rates, there are currently calls for the legislature to revise the legal interest rate in North Carolina. To be clear, this has not happened.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson kick off Season 2 with a discussion surrounding subpoenas, who is likely to receive a subpoena, what to do if you receive a subpoena, and your options when things get complicated.
A deposition is a discovery tool wherein a witness is placed under oath and required to respond orally to questions from one or more lawyers. Depositions are frequently requested of parties. Other times, depositions are requested of non-parties who may have knowledge regarding the facts and circumstances surrounding a particular case. If you are not a party to a lawsuit and are asked to provide a deposition, you should not panic, but instead you should determine what information you have and how to best share that information in a way that is minimally invasive to your schedule.
Often when potential clients call our office it is because they are owed money by someone else. Commonly these situations involve suppliers of building materials or contractors who are owed money related to a construction project. Other situations involve people who have loaned money on a promissory note. We must first determine the reason that someone is owed money in order to best assess how quickly we might be able to help recover that money. In other words, the answer to “how long will it take me to collect?” is almost always the classic lawyer answer of “it depends.”
In this session of Vann Attorneys Video LegalPad, J.D. Hensarling discusses “Considerations When Hiring an Attorney”.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson bench trials, jury trials, and the basics of judgments.
We often get phone calls from perspective clients who have either filed suit in small claims court, or who have been sued in small claims court. The good news for the perspective client is that in theory, the matter about which they are calling should be a low dollar amount dispute as the jurisdictional limit in small claims court is $10,000.00. This means, only matters involving disputes less than $10,000.00 may be brought in small claims court.
Effective December 1, 2020, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) was amended to include the following added language: Before or promptly after the notice or subpoena is served, the serving party and the organization must confer in good faith about the matters for examination. A subpoena must advise a nonparty organization of its duty to confer with the serving party [and to designate each person who will testify].
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson discuss serving a defendant after a lawsuit has been filed. Topics what is service of process, why is it necessary, and how can it be achieved on individuals, corporations, and public bodies.
In this episode of the Vann Attorneys Legal Pad Podcast Attorneys James Vann and Ian Richardson discuss when, how, and against whom lawsuits are filed in North Carolina. Topics include: verified pleads vs. unverified pleadings, and choosing the best venue to bring a claim.
What constitutes a contract and when is a contract formed is a great question to consider. We look at a lot of contracts and issues for our clients surrounding contract questions. Many of our business clients have a great understanding of what a contract is and how it is formed. As we all continue to learn, some facts can change what appears to be a straightforward looking transaction.
On September 30, 2020 the 10th Judicial District, which encompasses Wake County, North Carolina, released its Jury Trial Resumption Plan (“the Plan”). A fully copy of the plan is available here. The plan is quite comprehensive and deals with matters ranging for jury duty to the mechanics of jury trials during COVID-19 for practitioners. The plan states in its preface, “This plan sets out the baseline for the resumption of jury trials; policies implementing the measures set out herein will continue to be reviewed and adjusted by the Wake County Court Emergency Response Team, in consultation with state and local health officials.”
Often I get phone calls where a potential clients wants to share with me a conversation that they had with a party they are involved in a dispute with. Sometimes, the conversation which is being recounted to me sounds as though it was in the context of settlement. An analysis must then to be done as to what extent, if at all, the conversation might be admissible in a courtroom one day.
Lawyers often hear the question, “Where should my lawsuit be filed?” Or someone might ask, “Was this lawsuit filed in the correct court?” These are important questions, the answer to which should inform your next steps in a legal matter.
