A plaintiff in a medical malpractice action must show that the defendant health care provider failed to meet the relevant standard of care, which failure caused injury to the plaintiff. G.S. 90-21.12(a) requires that in any medical malpractice action as defined in G.S. 90-21.11(2)(a), the defendant health care provider shall not be liable for the…
A plaintiff’s claim in a car accident is based in the law of negligence. To successfully recover damages in a negligence claim, a plaintiff must be able to show that 1) the defendant had a duty to exercise reasonable care, 2) the defendant breached that duty, 3) the plaintiff suffered physical harm, 4) the defendant’s…
In North Carolina, motorists and their passengers are required to wear seatbelts, and if the passengers are young children, those children must ride in child restraint seats. The same North Carolina statute provisions which contain these requirements also provide that the failure to wear a seatbelt or ride in a child restraint system is not…
The recent cold snap has led to some recent discussion about a polar vortex this summer. And although there was not actually a summer polar vortex, the talk about it pulled me out of my happy summer frame of mind and got me thinking about last winter’s ice and snow and cold. Ice and snow…
It was just another busy Thursday night at the popular BBQ restaurant Mac’s Speed Shop in South End, when the patrons and employees were disrupted by a car crashing into the side of the restaurant building. The car was driven by a 15-year-old boy who had recently received his learner’s permit. The boy’s father was…
If you are injured in a car accident in North Carolina, your claim against the other involved party will be based in negligence. One defense that the defendant may raise is that you were also negligent. In most states, your own negligence will not keep you from receiving damages, but it might reduce the damages…
A North Carolina man was killed Saturday afternoon while riding his motorcycle in South Carolina. According to news reports, the motorcycle ran off the right side of the road, hit a road sign and then a tree, and finally threw the man from the motorcycle. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. He was…
Rule 9(j) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure requires a heightened pleading for complaints alleging medical malpractice. Under Rule 9(j)(1), any complaint that alleges medical malpractice must be dismissed unless: (1) The pleading specifically asserts that the medical care and all medical records pertaining to the alleged negligence that are available to the…