Supreme Court of North Carolina

Surgeon v. TKO Shelby, LLC

May 22, 2026

Summary

The Court vacated the renewed class-certification order because the trial court again used conflicting class definitions and analysis, preventing meaningful appellate review. The Court also held that the proposed class was not ascertainable because identifying dealership visitors would require individualized factual inquiries among the people who called the promotional hotline, creating a predominance problem. The Court remanded for further proceedings, leaving open any properly presented claims concerning wrongful destruction of relevant records.