Wallace & Graham, P.A., by Cathy A. Williams and Mona Lisa Wallace, Salisbury; Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP, by K. Edward Greene, Raleigh; and Shipman & Wright, L.L.P., by Gary K. Shipman, Wilmington, for plaintiff-appellants.

Smith Moore LLP, by Sidney S. Eagles, Jr., Raleigh and Allison O. Van Laningham, Greensboro and Bush Seyferth Kethledge & Paige PLLC, by Raymond M. Kethledge, Troy, MI, for defendant-appellee.

Jonathan Wall, Counsel for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, amicus curiae.

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, by Burley B. Mitchell, Jr. and Sean E. Andrussier, Raleigh, for the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Tort Reform Association, amici curiae.

*462 PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED.

Justice MARTIN did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.