North Carolina Civil Litigation Legal Questions

You can contact the police and/or you can sue her.  Assuming that you win your civil suit, and/or that she is convicted in any criminal proceeding arising out of your complant to the police and ordered to pay restitution, the money can be paid back out of her current assets and/or future earnings.... Read More

Anyone can "demand" anything they want.  An unconditional gift is irrevocable (except in unusual circumstances not present here).  The problem is that, with title never having been transferred, your friend may have a tough time convincing the court that his brother gave him an unconditional gift if the brother claims something different.... Read More

Anyone can sue, but I think your suit would be dismissed against the manager personally.  The resident company which you can sue, presumably owes you a contractual duty to take care of the noise and smoking problems, but the manager personally does not.  Any duty he owes is to his employer, the resident company.  Before you decide to sue, you may want to complain to the resident company that its manager is not handling his/her duties.... Read More

The rules may be different in North Carolina, but in general either side may demand a jury on all legal claims, but not on equitable claims.  As a general rule legal claims are those in which monetary redress is sought, i.e. he breached our contract by not paying me $500, I want to recover $500.   Equitable claims are those in which some other remedy is sought, i.e he reneged on our contract to sell me his car for $500, I want the Court to compel him to abide by the contract and sell me the car for $500.  The rules are generally different for small claims cases, however, where there may not be any jury trials.... Read More

The answer to "can I take so and so to court" is always "yes", but the real question is whether you are likely to win.  If the repair shop really did do the work wrong and damaged your wife's car, she would have a right to be reimbursed for her damages (absent a provision in your contract with the repair shop which limited that right), but I'm sure that won't be the shop's version of events, and it is possible that a judge or jury may believe the shop's version.... Read More

Once you signed the note, you became legally obligated to pay (the name doesn't matter; you admit that you signed the note).  The only way to avoid that obligation is to have the note invalidated by a court.  You may have a chance (not a good chance, in my opinion based on what littlle I know about the matter, but a chance) to do so if you file a lawsuit claiming that the note should be invalidated because you were under duress when you signed it.  If you succeed in getting the note invalidated, that doesn't mean that you owe no money,  You can still be charged with theft if the authorities think that such charges are warranted, and your mother (or someone appointed to act on her behalf) could sue you in civil court claiming that you stole it.  ... Read More

Anybody can sue anybody for anything, but some of the potential claims you raise appear meritless. First, if you negligently caused fire damage, the home owner can certainly sue you for his damages, i.e. the deductible on his insurance policy, and the insurance company can sue you for the money it laid out.  You may have a defense, or a partial defense, based on the lack of a working smoke detector Iespecially if NC law would consider you a tenant and requires smoke detectors in landlord/tenant situations, which I suspect it does) if you can show that, had the detector been working, there would have been no damage or less damage, and also if you didn't know that the detector wasn't working.  This would be a defense to his claim, not an affirmative claim of your own, unless you yourself suffered damages due to the detector not working  Also, the owner may not want to bring suit because you have evidence of what could be considered his insurance fraud - fooling the insurance company by putting a new battery in the detector after the fire. I don't see any basis for any claim based on monies you have given him during your time together, unless you gave him that money in contemplation of marriage.  Also, I'm not sure what contract he would breach by putting you out of the house.  I don't know if NC recognizes a claim for breach of a marriage contract; even if it does, a court may not be very sympathetic to such a claim in this day and age.... Read More

Anybody can sue anybody for anything, but in order to have an enforceable contract there must be mutual consideration.  You must have given your ex-sister-in-law something, or given up something, in exchange for her promise to pay you $30,000.  A promise to give a gift is generally not enforceable.... Read More

Not sure from your question if you are being threatened with a suit claiming that you were at fault in an auto accident, or with a suit to enforce a judgment already entered in an auto accident case.  If the first, hopefully, you are insured.  Part of an auto policy is the insurance company's agreement to provide you with a defense to liablity claims falling within the policy. Notify your insurance company ASAP and it should provide you with an attorney. If the second, and there is already a judgment against you for liability in an auto accident case which you can't pay, you should probably consult an attorney who represents debtors.  Given your financial circumstances, you should probably look into whether you can get some free help with your credit issues, either from a government agency or possibly from the local bar association.... Read More

Discuss this case with a family law attorney in North Carolina. Some states have a law that is known as the alienation of affection law which may entitle a spurned wife to sue the mistress. So contact a board certified North Carolina family law lawyer Asap to determine if North Carolina has such a law. I am sorry to hear of this and I wish u the best of luck... Read More

I don't know the specific statutes in North Carolina, but all jurisdictions have collection laws which allow you, once you have obtained a judgment against a debtor, to: (i) take post-judgment discovery to find out what assets and sources of income the debtor has; (ii( garnish the debtor's wages or other sources of income; (iii) restrain and collect from the debtor's liquid assets, such as bank accounts; and/or (iv) foreclose upon the debtor's hard assets, i.e. have them sold and the proceeds used (once certain fees are paid off the top) to satisfy the judgment.... Read More

It depends on the reason it was thrown out.  If for some reason not based on the merits of the case (for example, it you had failed to serve the defendant properly), yes.  If the dismissal related to the merits (for example, you alleged breach of an oral contract where the law requires that any contract be in writing), no.... Read More

If I understand you correctly, you had permission from the land owners (your mom and dad) to have your modular home on their property.  If so, you did not have adverse possession of the land, which requires (among other things) that you continuously occupy the land for a period of time (in most jurisdictions I believe the time period is 11 years, give or take) WITHOUT THE TITLE OWNER'S PERMISSION.... Read More

         The best type of lawyer for this sort of case is someone who is experienced in trying civil lawsuits. A will contest is typically tried and decided by a jury, so you want a lawyer who is comfortable picking a jury and presenting evidence to twelve strangers who do not know you or the sister.  Find out how much experience the lawyer has actually trying cases before a jury before hiring him or her.  There are a number of other ways that wills are attacked but here are the most common types of challenges:    1. The Testator (your best friend) lacked mental capacity to make and execute a will; or, 2. The will was procured by the exercise of undue influence, or,  3. The will was procured by duress.  Lack of capacity may be inferred from the fact that the person is old, is feeble, is eccentric, is intellectually weak, or is physically infirm. Often medical testimony is used to prove the existence of lack of testamentary capacity. There is an inference that the testator did have capacity to make a will if a lawyer drafted and supervised its execution.  Undue influence occurs when a person's professed act is not his own, but is in fact the act of the person exerting the influence.  Influence is undue when it causes a person to make a will which he would not have otherwise made.  The undue influence must act upon the free will of the person at the time he executes his will.  Duress occurs when a wrongful act, threat or coercion is used to force a person to make a will he would not have otherwise made. An extreme example of this would be someone signing a will with a gun pointed to his head.  I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions.   ... Read More