Updated Feb. 18

early $6 million in taxpayer money will be coming back to Haywood County after Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Gov. Josh Stein announced that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Pactiv Evergreen had violated the terms of a decade-old economic development grant agreement when it closed its Canton paper mill in 2023.

A man initially convicted in a Cherokee Tribal Court for playing a role in a debilitating December 2019 ransomware attack is suing the tribe. 

Cody Long, the tribe’s former lead systems administrator for its Office of Information and Technology, was held in jail for 454 days and was in solitary confinement for the better part of a year following his initial arrest for tampering with public records and obstructing government functions.

According to a press release issued Dec. 9, a merger between Pactiv Evergreen and Charlotte-based Novolex will provide better customer service, increased product innovation and additional distribution capabilities across North America, but what the merger means for Pactiv’s lawsuits, its languishing 185-acre parcel in Canton and the future of the town’s wastewater treatment, isn’t yet clear. 

Two months after former Maggie Valley Police Chief Russ Gilliland filed a lawsuit against the town for wrongful termination, the town has responded by requesting either a dismissal or a jury trial. 

Former Maggie Valley Police Chief Russ Gilliland is suing the town for wrongful termination following what he alleges was the unlawful “cover-up of criminal activity.” 

Since unceremoniously announcing its exit from Canton early in 2023, Pactiv Evergreen, owner of the now-shuttered 115-year-old paper mill, has had very little to say — except which bills it refuses to pay. On July 29, the $6 billion multinational company did it again. 

The public in Western North Carolina is about to have more access to the courts than ever before, assuming all goes to plan. 

A lawsuit filed against Kituwah LLC that was initially dismissed is heading back to court after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the tribally owned corporation waived its sovereign immunity.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has reached a settlement agreement with Nantahala Weddings to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at its facilities in western North Carolina. 

A lawsuit filed last month in a Washington, D.C., federal court alleges the U.S. Forest Service’s practice of setting “timber targets” puts the climate at risk, undermines the Biden administration’s climate goals and violates federal law.