Stephanie Walker v. City of Charlotte, North Carolina

── Stephanie Walker v. City of Charlotte, North Carolina ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: April 08, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 25-1334 Doc: 42 Filed: 04/08/2026 Pg: 1 of 24 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 25-1334 STEPHANIE WALKER, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. CITY OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Max O. Cogburn, Jr. District Judge (3:23-cv-00083-MOC-DCK) Argued: December 11, 2025 Decided: April 8, 2026 Before NIEMEYER, WYNN, and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by unpublished opinion. Judge Wynn wrote the opinion, in which Judge Benjamin joined. Judge Niemeyer wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. ARGUED: M. Shane Perry, WILLIAMS & PERRY PLLC, Mooresville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Steven Andrew Bader, CRANFILL SUMNER LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Stephanie H. Webster, CRANFILL SUMNER LLP, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 25-1334 Doc: 42 Filed: 04/08/2026 Pg: 2 of 24 WYNN, Circuit Judge: Under North Carolina law, a contract may be set aside if it was obtained through undue influence. Stephanie Walker, an elderly widow with limited income, was left suddenly homeless when her Charlotte home was flooded with raw sewage from a sewer-system backup. The City of Charlotte offered $45,000 to Walker on the condition that she sign a release of any claims she might have against the City of Charlotte related to the incident. Walker initially protested but, lacking the money to make her home habitable and fearing that she would not survive living in her car, signed the release to pay for emergency repairs. Because Walker has forecast evidence from which a jury could conclude that the release was obtained through undue influence, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the City of Charlotte. I. A. Walker is a widow in her late seventies and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her home connects to the Charlotte sewer system. In the early morning of February 15, 2022, sewage back flowed through her toilet, covering her home in several inches of raw sewage. The City of Charlotte has a sewer backup policy, through which it can pay for property damage stemming from backups that originate in the Charlotte system. In February 2022, the policy authorized payments of up to $15,000. Payment through the policy program was contingent on the execution of a release of all claims, with a possible 2 USCA4 Appeal: 25-1334 Doc: 42 Filed: 04/08/2026 Pg: 3 of 24 exception for backups caused by the City of Charlotte’s negligence. 1 The City of Charlotte initially offered Walker the full $15,000, along with recommendations for contractors. Walker chose one of the contractors on the City of Charlotte’s list, Cardinal Restoration. In the three days following the sewage backup, Cardinal performed basic mitigation work, such as removing most of the contaminated water and tearing out carpet, and it gave Walker a quote of $38,200 for repairs. Cardinal noted that “[c]ode update