Coderre v. Futrell

736 S.E.2d 784, 224 N.C. App. 454, 2012 WL 6587657, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1459
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedDecember 18, 2012
DocketNo. COA12-517
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 736 S.E.2d 784 (Coderre v. Futrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coderre v. Futrell, 736 S.E.2d 784, 224 N.C. App. 454, 2012 WL 6587657, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1459 (N.C. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

CALABRIA, Judge.

Shane Coderre (“Coderre”) and North American Land Acquisitions, Inc. (“NALA”)(collectively “plaintiffs”) appeal the trial court’s order dismissing plaintiffs’ claims against Gilbert E. Futrell, Nancy G. Futrell, Dale Futrell, Glenda J. Futrell, individually and under the will of Pearl Thayer Futrell, and J. Dale Futrell (collectively “defendants”). We affirm.

[455]*455I. Background

On 18 August 2005, NALA, a North Carolina corporation, executed a purchase agreement (“the purchase agreement”) with defendants for the acquisition of 200 acres of land located in Montgomery County, North Carolina (“the property”). NALA paid $1 million towards the $7 million purchase price and financed the remainder of the purchase by executing a promissory note secured by a deed of trust in favor of defendants in the amount of $6 million.

According to the purchase agreement, defendants would release 60 acres of the property from the deed of trust so long as NALA paid defendants $2 million by 25 August 2006. When NALA had not made this payment by 16 August 2006, defendants modified the purchase agreement and deferred the date for NALA’s $2 million payment to 25 August 2007. However, NALA failed to pay by the deferred date stated in the modification.

In February 2008, Thomas Simpson, as President of NALA, sought and secured financing for $2 million from Cambridge Holdings Group. On 1 April 2008, NALA attempted to tender the $2 million to defendants. However, since NALA was in default for failing to make required monthly payments of principle and interest, defendants refused to accept the $2 million payment. Defendants directed the trustee of the deed of trust to initiate foreclosure proceedings.

The foreclosure sale was held at the courthouse door of the Montgomery County Courthouse on 2 July 2008. Defendants successfully bid on the property. There were no upset bids. Prior to the recordation of the foreclosure deed, NALA and defendants entered into a new agreement (“the 30-day agreement”). Specifically, defendants agreed to postpone recordation of the deed if NALA paid all principal and interest in arrears under the note within 30 days. Upon payment, defendants agreed to assign NALA their successful foreclosure bid on the property. On 12 August 2008, one day before the 30-day agreement was scheduled to expire, NALA voluntarily filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (“the Bankruptcy Court”) allowed NALA to assume the 30-day agreement and cure its default under the agreement by 15 November 2008. Although this deadline was later extended until 18 January 2009, NALA was still unable to assume the 30-day agreement at that time. As a result, NALA filed a motion for its case to be con[456]*456verted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Court granted NALA’s motion on 5 February 2009.

On 11 February 2011, while NALA’s bankruptcy case was still pending, Coderre, one of NALA’s shareholders, filed an action against defendants for breach of contract and attorney’s fees in New Hanover County Superior Court (“the initial complaint”). On 7 June 2011, NALA was released from bankruptcy. On 13 June 2011, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the initial complaint pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(6) alleging that Coderre did not have standing because he was not a party to the purchase agreement executed on 18 August 2005. That same day, Coderre filed an amended complaint adding NALA as an additional plaintiff (“the amended complaint”). On 22 July 2011, defendants filed another motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), alleging the amended complaint was barred by the statute of limitations. Defendants also asserted the defenses of judicial estoppel and res judicata. On 11 December 2011, the trial court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss with prejudice. Plaintiffs appeal.

II. Standard of Review

“The motion to dismiss under N.C. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint. In ruling on the motion the allegations of the complaint must be viewed as admitted, and on that basis the court must determine as a matter of law whether the allegations state a claim for which relief may be granted.” Stanback v. Stanback, 297 N.C. 181, 185, 254 S.E.2d 611, 615 (1979) (citations omitted). “This Court must conduct a de novo review of the pleadings to determine their legal sufficiency and to determine whether the trial court’s ruling on the motion to dismiss was correct.” Leary v. N.C. Forest Prods., Inc., 157 N.C. App. 396, 400, 580 S.E.2d 1, 4, aff’d per curiam, 357 N.C. 567, 597 S.E.2d 673 (2003).

III. Initial Complaint

Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in dismissing the amended complaint because, under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 15(c), the amended complaint related back to the time Coderre filed the initial complaint. We disagree.

Rule 15(c) provides that “[a] claim asserted in an amended pleading is deemed to have been interposed at the time the claim in the original pleading was interposed, unless the original pleading does not give notice of the transactions, occurrences, or series of transac[457]*457tions and occurrences, to be proved pursuant to the amended pleading.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 15(c) (2011). Plaintiffs contend that, under this Court’s holding in Baldwin v. Wilkie, 179 N.C. App. 567, 635 S.E.2d 431 (2006), Rule 15(c) allows a plaintiff to add an additional party plaintiff to an already filed action and have the new plaintiff’s claims relate back to the original filing. However, since we have determined that Coderre had no standing to file the initial complaint, we do not address plaintiffs’ Rule 15(c) argument.

“Standing refers to whether a party has a sufficient stake in an otherwise justiciable controversy so as to properly seek adjudication of the matter.” Woodring v. Swieter, 180 N.C. App. 362, 366, 637 S.E.2d 269, 274 (2006) (internal quotations and citation omitted). “If a party does not have standing to bring a claim, a court has no subject matter jurisdiction to hear the claim.” Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted).

In the instant case, nothing in the record indicates that Coderre had standing to file the initial complaint. The initial complaint named Coderre as a plaintiff in his individual capacity, but it did not include NALA or ever suggest that Coderre brought the action in a representative capacity on behalf of NALA. The purchase agreement, which was attached to and formed the basis of the initial complaint, was not executed by Coderre in his individual capacity. Furthermore, the complaint does not allege that Coderre was an intended third party beneficiary of the purchase agreement.

At the 5 December 2011 hearing on defendants’ motion to dismiss, plaintiffs’ counsel essentially conceded that Coderre lacked standing to file the initial complaint. Counsel informed the trial court that “[Coderre] had no independent interest.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mar. Advisors, LLC v. HC Composites, LLC
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2025
Intrepid Direct Ins. Agency v. Amerex Corp.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2025
Thomas v. Vill. of Bald Head Island
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2023
Gantt v. City of Hickory
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2023
WLAE, LLC v. Edwards
809 S.E.2d 176 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
Wirth v. Sunpath, LLC
2017 NCBC 82 (North Carolina Business Court, 2017)
La Mack v. Obeid
2015 NCBC 21 (North Carolina Business Court, 2015)
Priest v. Coch
2013 NCBC 6 (North Carolina Business Court, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
736 S.E.2d 784, 224 N.C. App. 454, 2012 WL 6587657, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coderre-v-futrell-ncctapp-2012.