Supreme Court Opinions (11/10/11)

On Thursday, November 10, 2011, the Supreme Court issued three opinions:

• In State v. Yencer, the Supreme Court held that an arrest by the Davidson College campus police force, pursuant to North Carolina's Campus Police Act, did not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• In Amward Homes v. Town of Cary, an equally divided Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' opinion which held that local governments do not have the authority to impose a fee on residential builders to fund the construction of local schools without explicitly authority from the General Assembly.  Justice Barbara Jackson did not take part in the consideration or deliberation of the case.  While the opinion does not provide the reason for Justice Jackson's recusal, it is most likely because she wrote a dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals opinion that was under review by the Supreme Court.  Womble Carlyle represented the Town of Cary in this matter.
• Finally, in Dobson v. Substitute Trustee Services, Inc., the Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion affirming the Court of Appeals' decision dealing with the evidence that is necessary to establish that a financial institution is the holder of a promissory note and the amount owed by a debtor in a foreclosure proceeding. A more detailed post on this one is forthcoming.

While the Supreme Court has not indicated when it will issue its next set of opinions, the Court's practice over the last few years would indicate that there will be one more set of opinions released in December.  While you await this year's final set of opinions, take some time to review our post on which justices have authored opinions this year.