A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of former UNC-Chapel Hill physics professor Bruce Frampton in his lawsuit against the university. Frampton was the professor arrested in an Argentina airport in 2012 and charged with trying to smuggle two kilograms of cocaine. The university put Frampton on unpaid leave, rather than follow standard policies for addressing problems with tenured faculty.
The three appellate judges agreed with Frampton that the university’s actions violated his rights as a tenured professor. “Therefore, we must reverse the trial court’s order and remand for the trial court to determine the date on which Frampton’s employment was terminated and to determine the amount of salary and benefits which were withheld and should be paid to Frampton,” Judge Lucy Inman wrote for the Appeals Court.
Among other N.C. Court of Appeals opinions released this morning:
- A unanimous three-judge panel rejected a free-speech constitutional challenge against the state’s Cyber-Bullying Statute. The case stemmed from an Alamance County case in which the defendant intimidated a fellow high school student through Facebook posts.
- A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a trial court ruling favoring Wilmington in a dispute over the new hotel planned for property near the city’s convention center.
- In an unpublished opinion with limited precedential value, a unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a trial-court ruling favoring High Point University in a negligence suit involving a fraternity hazing death.
- In another unpublished opinion, a unanimous three-judge panel dismissed an appeal and ruled in favor of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in a dispute involving a 16-year-old high school student who had engaged in sexual intercourse with a 27-year-old athletic trainer.
