North Carolina’s unfair and deceptive trade practices statute reaches a wide variety of “unfair” or “deceptive” conduct. Litigants are more frequently tripped up by the requirement that the conduct be “in or affecting commerce.” Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen recently relied on this requirement in dismissing a section […]
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1 applies only to conduct “in or affecting commerce.” And under the statute’s plain language, “commerce” doesn’t include professional services rendered by a member of a learned profession. This exemption has a broader reach than might initially be apparent. This is because a variety of conduct […]

Today’s post continues our “traps for the unwary” series. In Bryant v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a claim under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1 arising from alleged impropriety in connection with a foreclosure. In Bryant, a homeowner brought a 75-1.1 claim […]
We’ve discussed before the challenges that a business might face if it files a lawsuit after a data breach. This post focuses on one particular challenge: the economic-loss rule. That rule prevents plaintiffs who suffer economic losses stemming from a contract from trying to recover those losses through non-contract claims. […]
