De Luca v. Stein

TYSON, Judge.

*119Plaintiffs' appeal asserts the trial court erred in concluding, as a matter of law, that payments specified in an agreement between the Attorney General of North Carolina and Smithfield Foods, Inc., and its subsidiaries are not civil penalties required to be used to fund public education pursuant to Article IX, § 7 of the North Carolina Constitution. The trial court's order granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment and denying the plaintiffs' cross-motion for summary judgment is reversed in part and remanded for trial.

I. Background

On 25 July 2000, Michael F. Easley, in…