Concrete Service Corp. v. Investors Group, Inc.

340 S.E.2d 755
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedMarch 18, 1986
Docket8514DC935
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 340 S.E.2d 755 (Concrete Service Corp. v. Investors Group, Inc.) 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
Concrete Service Corp. v. Investors Group, Inc., 340 S.E.2d 755 (N.C. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

340 S.E.2d 755 (1986)

CONCRETE SERVICE CORP.
v.
INVESTORS GROUP, INC., C. Paul Roberts, Timothy E. Oates, and Barbara Summey.

No. 8514DC935.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

March 18, 1986.

*757 Powe, Porter and Alphin by Edward L. Embree, III, Durham, for plaintiff-appellee.

B.J. Sanders, Durham, for defendant-appellant Timothy E. Oates.

EAGLES, Judge.

I

Defendant first assigns error to the denial of his motion to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim against him, made at the beginning of trial. Defendant urges that we view the motion to dismiss as a "freeze-frame," considering it in light of the pleadings as they stood at the time the motion was made.

The Supreme Court recently held that the denial of a motion for summary judgment is not reviewable on appeal from final judgment:

The purpose of summary judgment is to bring litigation to an early decision on the merits without the delay and expense of a trial when no material facts are at issue. [Citation.] After there has been a trial, this purpose cannot be served. Improper denial of a motion for summary judgment is not reversible error when the case has proceeded to trial and has been determined on the merits by the trier of the facts, either judge or jury.
The denial of a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory order and is not appealable. An aggrieved party may, however, petition for review by way of certiorari. [Citation.] To grant a review of the denial of the summary judgment motion after a final judgment on the merits, however, would mean that a party who prevailed at trial after a complete presentation of evidence by both sides with cross-examination could be deprived of a favorable verdict. This would allow a verdict reached after the presentation of all the evidence to be overcome by a limited forecast of the evidence.

Harris v. Walden, 314 N.C. 284, 286, 333 S.E.2d 254, 256 (1985); see also MAS Corp. v. Thompson, 62 N.C.App. 31, 302 S.E.2d 271 (1983) (identical result). This same logic *758 should apply to denials of motions to dismiss based on an alleged failure to give notice of facts stating a claim.

A motion to dismiss under G.S. 1A-1, R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) generally tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint: Has the pleader given notice of such facts as will, if true, support a claim for relief under some legal theory? See Sutton v. Duke, 277 N.C. 94, 176 S.E.2d 161 (1970). An incorrect choice of legal theory should not result in dismissal where the pleader has given sufficient notice of facts concerning the wrong complained of. Jones v. City of Greensboro, 51 N.C.App. 571, 277 S.E.2d 562 (1981). The motion does not present the merits, but only whether the merits may be reached. See Wilkes v. N.C. State Bd. of Alcoholic Control, 44 N.C.App. 495, 261 S.E.2d 205 (1980). As the United States Supreme Court has stated with respect to the similar provisions of F.R.Civ.P. 12(b), "The issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims." Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90, 96 (1974). When following denial of the motion the court has proceeded to the merits and the fact-finder has found they support the claim, whether the initial ruling was technically correct becomes insignificant. The policy behind the Rules of Civil Procedure is to resolve controversies on the merits, not on technicalities of pleading. Johnson v. Johnson, 14 N.C.App. 40, 187 S.E.2d 420 (1972). This is especially true in light of the liberal pleading now allowed, the relatively free availability of amendments, and the affirmative duty of the opponent to object to evidence as outside the pleadings. G.S. 1A-1, R.Civ.P. 15; Sutton v. Duke, supra; Mangum v. Surles, 281 N.C. 91, 187 S.E.2d 697 (1972).

Other jurisdictions support our view. "It is an almost universal rule that a verdict will cure defects in the pleadings unless the substantial rights of the adverse party have been prejudiced." 5 Am.Jur.2d Appeal & Error Section 795 (1962). This rule was applied in Morgan v. Roper, 250 S.C. 280, 157 S.E.2d 572 (1967), the court holding that defendants could not complain that the trial court overruled their demurrer following judgment on the merits against them. See also McDonald v. Morley, 15 Cal.2d 409, 101 P.2d 690 (1940) ("immaterial" whether complaint stated cause of action where evidence supported judgment); Baughman v. Cooper-Jarrett, Inc., 530 F.2d 529 (3d Cir.) (no basis or logic for reviewing interlocutory denial of motion; in fact, review might violate Seventh Amendment where case had gone to jury), cert. denied sub nom. Wilson Freight Forwarding Co. v. Baughman, 429 U.S. 825, 97 S.Ct. 78, 50 L.Ed.2d 87 (1976).

A majority of this court followed analogous reasoning in Sharpe v. Park Newspapers of Lumberton, Inc., 78 N.C.App. 275, 337 S.E.2d 174 (1985). There we considered whether a controversy arose from the pleadings and the evidence, holding that to limit our consideration to the pleadings alone, and to ignore subsequent discovery, could lead to wasteful results.

We therefore hold that the denial of defendant's motion to dismiss is not properly presented by this appeal. We are careful in so doing to distinguish cases in which the trial court denies motions based on jurisdictional or similar grounds, and there is no right of immediate appeal. In those cases the adverse party must, absent a successful petition for certiorari, submit to trial on the merits. Only then will that party have a chance to appeal denial of the original motion. See Duke Univ. v. Bryant-Durham Electric Co., Inc., 66 N.C.App. 726, 311 S.E.2d 638 (1984) (denial of motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; appeal dismissed); Henredon Furniture Industries, Inc. v. Southern Ry. Co., 27 N.C.App. 331, 219 S.E.2d 238 (1975) (refusal to join parties; appeal dismissed), disc. rev. denied, 289 N.C. 298, 222 S.E.2d 697 (1976). Our holding is limited: we hold only that where an unsuccessful motion to dismiss is grounded on an alleged insufficiency of the facts to state a claim for relief, and the case thereupon proceeds to judgment on the merits, *759 the unsuccessful movant may not on an appeal from the final judgment seek review of the denial of the motion to dismiss. We therefore overrule defendant's first assignment of error.

II

Defendant assigns error to the exclusion of certain documentary evidence. Defendant claimed that the list in question (typewritten and unsigned, with no indicia of origin) stated all bank accounts of Investors Group and allied entities and the authorized signatories.

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