Comments on General Principles of Negligence in North Carolina
Serge Semirog
North Carolina generally follows the traditional common law rules of negligence. Negligence, essential to liability for unintentional injury, is an outgrowth of the action of trespass on the case and does not include any harms that are intentionally caused.
Negligence is not to be presumed or inferred from the mere occurrence of an accident or injury. Negligence may be based upon conduct that amounts either to acts of commission (when an actor is under a duty to act in a certain way or not to act at all) or acts of omission (when an actor is under a duty to act or to act in a certain way).