Title: Griffin v. Absolute Fire Control, Inc

State: north-carolina

Issuer: North Carolina Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA 
2021-NCSC-9 
No. 29A20 
Filed 12 March 2021 
STACY GRIFFIN, Employee 
 
 
v. 
ABSOLUTE FIRE CONTROL, INC., Employer, and EVEREST NATIONAL INS. 
CO. & GALLAGHER BASSETT SERVS., Carrier 
 
Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of 
the Court of Appeals, 269 N.C. App. 193 (2020), affirming in part and reversing and 
remanding in part an opinion and award filed on 25 January 2019 by the North 
Carolina Industrial Commission. On 29 April 2020, the Supreme Court allowed 
plaintiff’s petition for discretionary review and defendants’ conditional petition for 
discretionary review as to additional issues. Heard in the Supreme Court on 16 
February 2021. 
 
Sellers, Ayers, Dortch & Lyons, PA, by Christian R. Ayers and John F. Ayers 
III, for plaintiff-appellee. 
 
Brotherton Ford Berry & Weaver, PLLC, by Demetrius Worley, for defendant-
appellants. 
 
Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC, by E. Stewart Poisson; and Erwin Byrd for 
North Carolina Advocates for Justice, amicus curiae. 
 
Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo LLP, by M. Duane Jones and Linda 
Stephens; and Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham, LLP, by Bruce Hamilton, 
for North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, North Carolina 
Association of Self-Insurers, North Carolina Chamber Legal Institute, North 
GRIFFIN V. ABSOLUTE FIRE CONTROL, INC. 
2021-NCSC-9 
Opinion of the Court 
 
 
 
Carolina Retail Merchants Association, North Carolina Home Builders 
Association, North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association, North Carolina 
Restaurant and Lodging Association, National Federation of Independent 
Business, Employers Coalition of North Carolina, North Carolina Farm 
Bureau Federation, American Property Casualty Insurance Association 
Insurance Federation of North Carolina, and National Association of Mutual 
Insurance Companies, amici curiae. 
 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
AFFIRMED. 
¶ 1 
 
Plaintiff’s petition for discretionary review is dismissed as improvidently 
allowed. Defendants’ conditional petition for discretionary review is dismissed as 
improvidently allowed. Defendants’ petition for writ of certiorari is dismissed as 
moot. 
Justice BERGER did not participate in the consideration or decision of this 
case.