Associate Professor Andy Haile was quoted in a Winston-Salem Journal article that reported on legislation in North Carolina that would allow business owners to recover lost income from the state when emergency orders shutter their companies.
A bill in the North Carolina General Assembly would give voters in November an opportunity to change the state constitution so that business owners are allowed to sue for lost income when their establishments are impacted by a governor’s executive order.
In reporting the proposed state constitutional amendment, which needs three-fifth majorities in both the House and Senate to make it to the ballot, the Winston-Salem Journal turned to an Elon Law faculty member for a deeper explanation of what is known as “inverse condemnation.”
Associate Professor Andy Haile was quoted at length in the May 27 report, “N.C. House bill would allow business owners to sue over shutdowns,” where he explained that “business owner would claim that the government has effectively taken my business by prohibiting its normal use, so they effectively have condemned it.”
Haile said in the story by reporter Richard Craver that the potential cost to the state could be hugely detrimental if the bill passes as written but business owners would still have a significant legal hurdle to overcome in applying the “but for” clause as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to joining the Elon Law faculty full-time in 2008, Haile was a partner with the law firm of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P, in the firm’s Greensboro office. He represented clients in mergers and acquisitions as well as matters involving complex tax planning and tax litigation.
Haile teaches business and tax law classes. His primary areas of research include tax policy and state and local tax issues.