The other day I visited the North Carolina Supreme Court with High Point's Pre-Law program. The case we sat in on was between the DMV and private car manufacturing companies. The companies had failed the inspection check; because of this they were put on suspension and brought to court for a trail. The first hearing just to discuss the suspension the companies showed up without lawyers, asking to represent themselves. When the companies were given further penalties they appealed saying they didn't have their lawyers present and therefore a new trial must me heard in order to be fair. The case before the NC Supreme Court was whether lawyers would be mandatory for all hearing cases.The discussion we had on the bus afterword suggested that the NC Supreme Court took this case to set a precedence for the future. Like the US Supreme Court, the NC Supreme Court can pick and choose cases as they wish and they only choose cases that will change legislation in a way. We believed that it was their intention to mandate all hearing include lawyers. The complication of this is what if you couldn't afford an attorney? Would one be appointed to you? Would tax dollars be used to pay for these attorney's? These questions are why we thought the courts would rule in favor of the DMV dictating attorneys not be mandatory.
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