IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA No. 165A22 Filed 16 June 2023 W. AVALON POTTS, derivatively on behalf of STEEL TUBE, INC., plaintiff v. KEL, LLC, and RIVES & ASSOCIATES, LLC, defendants; STEEL TUBE, INC., nominal defendant; and LEON L. RIVES, II, defendant/counterclaimant/third-party plaintiff v. AVALON1, LLC, third-party defendant/counterclaimant

Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a)(2) from the trial court’s order and opinion on defendants’ Rule 59 motion for a new trial and Rule 50(b) motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict entered on 5 November 2021 by Judge Adam M. Conrad, Special Superior Court Judge for Complex Business Cases, in Superior Court, Iredell County, after the case was designated a mandatory complex business case by the Chief Justice pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(b). Heard in the Supreme Court on 25 April 2023.

Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, by Mark A. Nebrig, John T. Floyd, and Benjamin E. Shook, for plaintiff-appellee W. Avalon Potts, derivatively on behalf of Steel Tube, Inc., and third-party defendant-appellee Avalon1, LLC.

Tuggle Duggins P.A., by Richard W. Andrews, Jeffrey S. Southerland, and Daniel D. Stratton, for defendant-appellants Rives & Associates, LLC, and Leon L. Rives II.

No brief filed for defendant-appellee KEL, LLC.

POTTS V. KEL, LLC Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

For the reasons stated in the trial court’s 5 November 2021 order and opinion, we affirm the denial of defendants’ motion for a new trial and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

AFFIRMED.1

1 The order and opinion of the North Carolina Business Court, 2021 NCBC 72, is available at https://www.nccourts.gov/assets/documents/opinions/2021%20NCBC%2072.pdf.

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