Volume 88: Issue 6 · September 2010
A Prolonged Slump for “Plaintiff-Pitchers”: The Narrow “Strike Zone” for Securities Plaintiffs in the Fourth Circuit
This article focuses on the narrow “strike zone” that plaintiffs must overcome in private securities actions instituted in the Fourth Circuit. Based on empirical data generated over a fourteen-year span, there emerges a clear finding that during that time period defendants were victorious in almost all cases, either on the merits of the case or due to procedural obstacles. The authors posit that this pattern of difficulty for plaintiffs arises,… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 1923 (2010)
Revisiting Eve’s Law: Suggestions for Improving the North Carolina Anti-Gang Statute
When state social policies and social realities conflict, state legislatures need to focus upon the problem to try to fix it. Gang activity in a community is such a problem. Since 1998, the Governor’s Crime Commission in North Carolina has studied the problem of gang proliferation and gang violence within the state. The state legislature did not act. Then, in the spring of 2008, Eve Carson, the president of the… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 1995 (2010)
The Racial Justice Act and the Long Struggle with Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina
In August 2009, the North Carolina Legislature enacted the Racial Justice Act (“RJA”), which commands that no person shall be executed “pursuant to any judgment that was sought or obtained on the basis of race.” One of the most significant features of the RJA is its use of statistical evidence to determine whether the race of defendants or victims played a significant role in death penalty decisions by prosecutors and… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 2031 (2010)
Politicizing the Courts and Undermining the Law: A Legal History of Colonial North Carolina, 1660-1775
This Article is the first monographic history of the legal output of colonial North Carolina courts. Based on an examination of voluminous manuscript court records, it concludes that a fragile legal system developed during the first half-century of the existence of an initially small colony on the banks of the Albemarle Sound. Just as that legal system was gaining solid footing in the late 1720’s however, it was destroyed when… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 2133 (2010)
What’s Brewing in the Old North State: An Analysis of the Beer Distribution Laws Regulating North Carolina’s Craft Breweries
As North Carolina’s craft beer industry has developed and gained a national reputation, the North Carolina General Assembly has recognized the promotion of the craft brew industry as a desirable and worthy goal. Despite this recognition, many craft brewers in the state feel that the laws can be improved to better promote the growth of the craft brew industry. This Comment seeks to explore ways possible modification to the laws… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 2198 (2010)
Coastal Federal Credit Union v. Hardiman: You Can Still “Ride-Through” the Eastern District of North Carolina
From its biblical and constitutional roots, American bankruptcy law has developed to provide important and necessary protection to financially overextended debtors. In the nineteenth-century Congress repeatedly responded to national economic difficulty by passing bankruptcy legislation. In the last quarter of the twentieth-century, Chapter 11 bankruptcies frequently prevented the disappearance of major airlines, curbing massive employment losses and the resulting impact on the national economy. Events of recent years, such as… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 2249 (2010)
Down The Drain: How North Carolina Municipalities Lost Immunity for Storm Drains in Jennings v. Fayetteville
When a high school student falls into a city-owned drainage ditch, will the city’s prospects of facing expensive wrongful death litigation hinge on the origin of the water in the ditch? If this scenario happens in North Carolina, the answer might be yes. As the law currently stands after the North Carolina Court of Appeals case Jennings v. City of Fayetteville,TT if the ditch carried storm water, the municipality will… READ MORE
88 N.C. L. Rev. 2272 (2010)