- A nine-year legal battle over school impact fees in Orange County returned Tuesday to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
- Plaintiffs Elizabeth Zander and Evan Galloway urged the court to reverse a trial judge’s decisions that led to a jury verdict against them last year.
- The state Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that Zander and Galloway could pursue their class-action suit. They seek refunds for fees collected from 2009 to 2016.
A nine-year legal battle over Orange County school impact fees returned Tuesday to North Carolina’s second-highest court. Critics urged that court to reverse a trial judge’s decisions that led to a 2025 jury verdict favoring the county and Chapel Hill.
The state Supreme Court ruled in December 2024 that plaintiffs Elizabeth Zander and Evan Galloway could move forward with the class-action suit filed in 2017. That decision reversed rulings from a trial judge and the state Appeals Court.
But Zander and Galloway lost their case in a jury trial last year. Now the case is back before the North Carolina Court of Appeals…