Members of the Sports & Entertainment Law Section found the following recent third party articles to be of potential interest to the Section
Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos. That’s a Problem for Video Game Developers.
California Sports Betting Faces Tough But Not Impossible Road
This is the second of two installments of this article. Read the first installment here.
I. Charitable Deduction Fails Where Tax Basis Not Shown on Form 8283.
Belair Woods, LLC v. Comm., TC Memo 2018-159, involved a taxpayer who tried to claim a conservation easement deduction under Section 170. Originally, Belair acquired an interest in certain property with a carryover tax basis of approximately $2,605 per acre. A little more than a year later, Belair granted a conservation easement to Georgia Land Trust. On Belair’s tax return, it claimed a charitable contribution deduction of $33,707 per acre.
My dental hygienist recently brought her father to consult with me to discuss filing bankruptcy. We will call him Steve. Steve had approximately $75,000.00 of credit card debt. He had retired from the State of North Carolina, at age 58, after working as a school teacher for thirty years. He had health issues that prevented him from working more than a part-time job. His wife did not work due to health reasons and had no income. He was supporting himself and his wife on his $3,500.00 State pension and $750.00 of take-home pay from his part-time job. He had accumulated $50,000.00 in the State’s optional 401-K plan. He and his wife had $50,000.00 equity in their jointly-owned residence.
As the Division’s Technology Chair, in addition to helping maintain the Paralegal Division webpage, I try to share technology tips and applications (usually free) that can make your work lives a little easier. If you find today’s “Tech Tip” useful, let us know. If you have a technology concern at work and you want to see if there’s a software or process that can make things easier, email [email protected] and we’ll try to address it in a future blog post.
By Dan Morton
Hairston v. Harward, N.C. Supreme Court, No. 416A17 Dec. 7, 2018
In Hairston v. Harward, 821 S.E.2d 384 (N.C. 2018), the Court held that an underinsured motorist was not entitled to a credit against a judgment for payments made by the plaintiff’s underinsured motorists carrier. The case is interesting on many levels, including its discussion of the collateral source rule, what the reasoning in this opinion portends regarding the current Court’s proclivities in coverage disputes and what was not addressed concerning the “500-pound gorilla in the room.”
The General Practice Hall of Fame will now be known as the Legal Practice Hall of Fame following formal approval of the name change by the North Carolina Bar Association Board of Governors at the winter meeting on Jan. 17.
The deadline for nominations for the Legal Practice Hall Of Fame is March 22. Click here to access the nomination form.
Two key factors led to this important decision.
First, the General Practice Section, which established the General Practice Hall of Fame in 1989, recently merged with the Law Practice Management Section to form the Small Firm & Technology Section. In conjunction with the establishment of this combined section, the Senior Lawyers Division has assumed responsibility for administering the hall of fame.
Second, by changing the name to the Legal Practice Hall of Fame, the pool of eligible inductees expands significantly, as stated in the proposal, to now include “North Carolina attorneys who have engaged in any aspect of law practice principally in North Carolina for 30 years or more and whose actions evidence a lifetime of exemplary legal practice and high ethical and professional standards as a practitioner of the law and for serving as a role model for all lawyers in North Carolina.”
Erwin Fuller and Ed Gaskins, current and immediate past chairs of the Senior Lawyers Division, respectively, expressed their excitement over the Division’s new responsibility and the hall of fame’s new name.
“The Senior Lawyers Division is delighted to become the North Carolina Bar Association’s sponsor group for the newly renamed hall of fame award,” Fuller and Gaskins stated. “Having this award become the NCBA Legal Practice Hall of Fame instead of the General Practice Hall of Fame dramatically increases the number of potential award recipients.
“But, going forward, the same long-established high standards for award recognition will remain basically unchanged. We look forward to recognizing a maximum of six exemplary North Carolina attorneys from all across the state in 2019, and we welcome award recipient nominations.”
The Senior Lawyers Division, they added, is grateful for the legacy of the General Practice Section for creating the award and entrusting it now into the hands of the Senior Lawyers Division.
Gaskins and former NCBA Director of Sections and Divisions Jane Weathers are coordinating selection of new inductees, working in concert with Emily Poindexter, NCBA Communities Manager and staff liaison to the Senior Lawyers Division.
Nominations are now open for the 2019 Legal Practice Hall of Fame induction class, which will be honored at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville, scheduled June 20-23 at Biltmore. Honorees will be recognized at the Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 20. The new inductees and all past recipients of the award will also be invited to and be recognized at the fall meeting of the Senior Lawyers Division (date and location to be determined).
The deadline for nominations is March 22.
Click here to access the nomination form. Questions should be directed to Emily Poindexter via email ([email protected]) or phone (919-659-1449).
Future listings of Legal Practice Hall of Fame recipients will include all 160 attorneys listed below who were recognized as General Practice Hall of Fame recipients.
Previous Hall of Fame Inductees
1989
Harold K. Bennett, Asheville
Joseph W. Grier Jr., Charlotte
Kenneth R. Hoyle, Sanford
Harvey A. Jonas Jr., Lincolnton
Lindsay C. Warren Jr., Goldsboro
Claud R. Wheatly Jr., Beaufort
1990
Murchison Biggs, Lumberton
Weston P. Hatfield, Winston-Salem
Martin Kellogg Jr., Manteo
Herbert H. Taylor Jr., Tarboro
Richard A. Williams Sr., Newton
1991
Lewis Alexander, Elkin
Heman R. Clark, Raleigh
E.P. “Sandy” Dameron, Marion
Fred B. Helms, Charlotte
Frank H. Watson, Spruce Pine
1992
Wade Edward Brown, Boone
William A. Dees Jr., Goldsboro
Louis W. Gaylord Jr., Greenville
Robert Leroy McMillan, Raleigh
William E. Poe, Charlotte
Oscar Edwin Starnes Jr., Asheville
1993
Edwin Osborne Ayscue Jr., Charlotte
William Lamont Brown, Pinehurst
Robert B. Byrd, Morganton
John R. Haworth, High Point
James W. Mason, Laurinburg
Ralph M. Stockton Jr., Winston-Salem
1994
Irvin Boyle, Charlotte
Landon B. Roberts, Asheville
William A. Johnson, Lillington
Grady B. Stott, Gastonia
1995
Louis A. Bledsoe Jr., Charlotte
Walter F. Brinkley, Lexington
James B. Garland, Gastonia
John R. Jordan Jr., Raleigh
Edward L. Williamson, Whiteville
1996
Stacy C. Eggers Jr., Boone
Annie Brown Kennedy, Winston-Salem
K. Powe, Durham
1997
Robert H. Burns Jr., Whiteville
Max O. Cogburn, Asheville
Lunsford Crew, Roanoke Rapids
Wright T. Dixon Jr., Raleigh
Thomas Shull Johnston, Jefferson
Brian Scott, Rocky Mount
Gerald F. White Sr., Elizabeth City
1998
Garret Dixon Bailey, Burnsville
Julius L. Chambers, Charlotte
Herbert S. Falk Jr., Greensboro
Worth H. Hester, Elizabethtown
Dewey W. Wells, Elizabeth City
1999
John J. Burney Jr., Wilmington
Herbert L. Hyde, Asheville
Richard S. Jones Jr., Franklin
William A. Marsh Jr., Durham
Charles W. Ogletree, Columbia
David L. Ward Jr., New Bern
2000
James D. Blount Jr., Raleigh
Everette C. Carnes, Marion
William A. Johnson, Newland
William Russell, Asheville
2001
James M. Baley Jr., Asheville
George S. Daly Jr., Charlotte
Robert Epting, Chapel Hill
Tommy W. Jarrett, Goldsboro
Michael D. Levine, Chapel Hill
William A. Powell, Shallotte
2002
William Owen Cooke, Greensboro
Roy W. Davis Jr., Asheville
Walter Lewis Hannah, Greensboro
Wilber Morton Jolly, Louisburg
Mark West Owens Jr., Farmville
Horace E. Stacy Jr., Lumberton
2003
John W. Campbell, Lumberton
Charles D. Dixon, Hickory
Daniel W. Fouts, Greensboro
Troy Smith Jr., New Bern
Sydnor Thompson, Charlotte
Henry M. Whitesides, Gastonia
2004
John E. Davenport, Nashville
Samuel H. Johnson, Raleigh
William R. Rand, Wilson
George Rountree III, Wilmington
Russell E. Twiford, Elizabeth City
Marshall V. Yount, Hickory
2005
Henson P. Barnes, White Lake
Stephen E. Culbreth, Wilmington
Thomas G. Dill, Rocky Mount
M.H. Hood Ellis, Elizabeth City
John C.W. Gardner Sr., Mount Airy
Richard M. Hutson, II, Durham
William R. Sigmon, Hickory
Lonnie B. Williams Sr., Wilmington
2006
Robinson O. Everett, Durham
Clifton L. Moore, Burgaw
William G. Pfefferkorn, Winston-Salem
Rudolph G. Singleton Jr., Fayetteville
Robert Charles Soles Jr., Tabor City
Murray Tate Jr., Hickory
2007
Charles M. Davis, Louisburg
William Joslin, Raleigh
Malvern F. King Jr., Durham
George B. Mast, Smithfield
Cressie H. Thigpen Jr., Raleigh
Sharon A. Thompson, Durham
2008
Charles E. Burgin, Marion
Roy A. Cooper Jr., Nashville
Walter H. Jones Jr., Mooresville
James M. Kimzey, Brevard
Edward Knox, Charlotte
Sally Scherer, Raleigh
2009
Mac Boxley, Raleigh
Charles E. Clement, Boone
William Henry Holdford, Wilson
William P. Mayo, Washington
Bobby Burns McNeill, Raeford
Meyressa H. Schoonmaker, Winston Salem
Henry P. Van Hoy II, Mocksville
2010
P.C. Barwick Jr., Kinston
David Reece Cockman, Raleigh
Orville D. Coward Sr., Sylva
James F. Morgan, High Point
Harold Lee Pollock, Burgaw
Eugene C. Thompson III, Warsaw
2011
John L Holshouser Jr., Salisbury
Richard M. Lewis Jr., Fayetteville
Ray C. Vallery, Fayetteville
Frederic E. Toms, Cary
Benjamin R Warrick, Clinton
2012
Eura D. “Ed” Gaskins, Raleigh
Thomas M. Grady, Concord
Houston Groome, Lenoir
John G. Ludlum, Warsaw
Charles H. McGirt, Lexington
Harold Seagle, Asheville
2013
Thomas H. Morris, Kinston
John S. “Jack” Stevens, Asheville
Allen G. Thomas, Wilson
Diane A. “Dee” Wallis, Raleigh
Thomas H. “Tom” Wellman, Roanoke Rapids
Charles R. Young Sr., Hickory
2014
Edmund I. Adams, Sparta
John Robert Hooten, Oriental
Boyd B. Massagee Jr., Hendersonville
Thomas C. Worth Jr., Raleigh
2015
Sheila M. Lambert, Asheville
John H. Vernon III, Burlington
Richard M. Wiggins, Fayetteville
2016
Lloyd Franklin Baucom, Charlotte
Charles Palmer Brown Sr., Albemarle
Robert J. Deutsch, Asheville
Ralph “Bo” McDonald, Raleigh
2017
Leto Copeley, Durham
Charles David Gantt, Asheville
Bobby Harold Griffin, Monroe
Thomas J. White III, Kinston
2018
Wesley Bailey, Winston-Salem
Nancy Black Norelli, Charlotte
Gary Vannoy, North Wilkesboro
The 2017 Tax Act includes a new deduction for qualifying pass-through entities codified as Section 199A. Taxpayers other than corporations operating a business are generally allowed the deduction, subject to complex limitations, which require thoughtful planning to ensure taxpayers fully benefit. Certain classes of businesses deemed a “specified service trade or business” are subject to severe restrictions. However, for taxpayers not operating a specified service trade or business, use of the magic number equation explained below provides a simple and effective approach to maximize the deduction.
Pro Bono Project: NC Free Legal Answers
Many people don’t have the finances or time to meet with an attorney. While most attorneys’ provide legal advice on a daily basis, some go the extra mile and answer legal questions for people who cannot afford an attorney or consultation fees through programs, such as NC Free Legal Answers.
Robin Stinson has practiced in Winston-Salem and surrounding counties for more than 34 years. Robin joined Bell, Davis, & Pitt, P.A. in 1997, focusing her practice in family and alternative dispute resolution including mediation, arbitrations, and parenting coordination.
Her passion for family law led her recently to begin work with NC Free Legal Answers. Robin spends her free time answering questions related to family law, i.e., the procedure for filing and prosecuting a pro se complaint for child custody or visitation for lower middle class and indigents who cannot afford legal services in the general market.
The following excerpt is reprinted with the permission of and with credit to North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.
Smoke has long been used for sending signals, but the North Carolina Supreme Court has sent some clear signals to stock owners while resolving a spat over smokes.
On Dec. 7 a narrowly divided court stubbed out a shareholders’ revolt over Reynolds American’s purchase of Lorillard Tobacco and reversed a Court of Appeals decision holding that a minority shareholder could owe a fiduciary duty to other shareholders. See Corwin v. British American Tobacco PLC, 2018 WL 6437701, Lawyers Weekly No. 010-093-18. But the court nevertheless strongly implied that it was inclined to accept the reasoning of Delaware courts that such a duty could exist under the right circumstances.
By Kevin Pratt
In 2019, BarCARES will release monthly blog publications highlighting its offerings and featuring attorneys who, notwithstanding the rigors of the profession, find ways to live their passion. The purpose: to reimagine BarCARES, to repurpose its role in the wellness conversation, and to change the wellness message from one that focuses on how to avoid known dangers, to a liberating message empowering lawyers to identify and pursue their passion. Big goals. Let’s get started.
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