North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Covers Decision on Counterclaim Procedures

In a recent North Carolina Business Court decision, Judge Michael Robinson evaluated an important procedural issue that flies under the radar for most judges and lawyers. The question at hand was which of two procedural rules governing the amendments of pleadings and counterclaims takes precedence over the other. In his decision, Judge Robinson ruled in favor of a solar energy company represented by Robinson Bradshaw attorneys John Wester, Doug Jarrell and Fitz Barringer, holding that the defendant could amend its answer to add a counterclaim as a matter of right under Rule 15(a). 

“You may need to be really geeky to find this a very interesting question,” Wester said. “When the Court found that Rule 15(a) trumps Rule 13(f), the Court drew on federal case law and the historical fact that Rule 13(f) departed from the federal rules in the last overhaul of Rule 13.”

A North Carolina Lawyers Weekly article featured Judge Robinson’s decision. Read “Leave of court not necessary to add counterclaim” here.