It’s been nearly a decade since the New York Times profiled the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond—the court of last resort for the vast majority of cases filed in federal courts in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia —as “the most aggressively conservative federal appeals court in the nation.”

The ex-players who are suing the national football league for concussion-related ailments have put together their legal team, and it’s packed with mass tort all-stars.

Just a little under a year ago, Patrick Collins Inc., a California-based film company, sued 44 people for copyright infringement in federal court in Raleigh, accusing each of illegally downloading its movie, “Cuties 2.” The defendants, whose identities were unknown, all were listed as “John Doe.” Five months later, without serving a single summons, the company dismissed the case against 42 of the defendants, some of whom presumably agreed to pay a settlement. At this point, only one defendant remains: a grandmother in her 60s who hasn’t a clue about downloading files on her computer.

A late night stop for a suspected DWI. The driver out of the car, stumbling through sobriety tests. A heated exchange and loud refusal to participate in breath or blood tests.

It had to be done. That’s what North Carolina state Rep. George Cleveland thought last April when he introduced a bill barring courts from applying foreign law in instances where such law would lead to a violation of constitutional rights.

In late January, Texas-based Smart Start Inc. proudly announced its entrée into North Carolina as the first provider of breath alcohol interlock ignition devices to be certified under new Division of Motor Vehicle standards and procedures. The devices, known by the acronym BAIID, disable a car’s ignition if the driver blows a breath alcohol concentration above a set limit.

When Paula Smith and her husband put their house in Winston-Salem up for sale nine years ago, they had plenty of lookers, but no buyers. They couldn’t figure out why, until they learned that the state planned to route the eastern loop of the Northern Beltway close to their neighbor’s house.

In late December, Circuit Court JudgeRoger Couch finalized a $327 million verdict against pharmaceutical giantJohnson & Johnson for the way it marketed its antipsychotic drug, Risperdal.  On or about the same day, he also gave another drug maker, AstraZenecaPharmaceutical, the green light to move forward with a challenge to SouthCarolina’s action against the company for the marketing of its own antipsychotic drug, Seroquel, on the grounds that the state attorney general’s office had compromised its independence in pursuing the case. 

Lawyers for Wilmington and four other North Carolina cities challenging the constitutionality of new provisions of the state’s annexation laws are due back in Wake County Superior Court on Thursday, when they will ask Special Superior Court Judge William Pittman to block enforcement of the new laws pending a hearing and ruling on their claims. While the challenge is based on a specific legal question – whether only property owners should have a say in a proposed annexation – there’s a larger play here.