Davis v. Hulsing Hotels N. Carolina

783 S.E.2d 765, 246 N.C. App. 406, 2016 WL 1319121, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 356
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 5, 2016
Docket15-368
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 783 S.E.2d 765 (Davis v. Hulsing Hotels N. Carolina) 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
Davis v. Hulsing Hotels N. Carolina, 783 S.E.2d 765, 246 N.C. App. 406, 2016 WL 1319121, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 356 (N.C. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

HUNTER, JR., Robert N., Judge.

*407Thomas A.E. Davis, Jr., ("Plaintiff") in his capacity as administrator of Lisa Mary Davis's ("Davis") estate, appeals from a 25 November 2013 order dismissing his common law dram shop and punitive damages claims against Defendants. We reverse the trial court.

I. Procedural History

On 15 July 2013, Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging the following causes of action: (1) common law dram shop; (2) negligent aid, rescue, or assistance; and (3) punitive damages. Plaintiff's dram shop claim alleged Defendants were negligent per se for violating N.C. Gen.Stat. § 18B-305 by selling and giving alcohol to Davis, an intoxicated person.

On 13 August 2013, Defendants filed a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss the complaint because it "fails to state a claim for which relief can be granted under the laws of [North Carolina]." Defendants filed their answer 8 November 2013 and raised defenses for contributory negligence, intervening and superseding negligence, and assumption of risk. Defendants asserted the following in their contributory negligence defense:

[I]f Defendants were negligent, which is specifically denied, then the injuries and damages complained of were proximately caused by the contributory negligence of [Davis] in consuming the beverages complained of and/or of [Plaintiff] in failing to intervene in [Davis's] consumption of the beverages ... and in failing to assist her and ensure her health and safety ... which is a complete defense to Plaintiff's claim.

The court heard arguments on the motion to dismiss on 28 October 2013. Thereafter, the court issued an order on 25 November 2013 dismissing Plaintiff's common law dram shop and punitive damages claims. The parties proceeded to a jury trial on the negligent rescue claim. Following the jury's verdict, the court entered a 23 October 2014 judgment finding Defendants not liable.

Plaintiff filed his notice of appeal 10 November 2014, appealing "from the 23 October 2014 Judgment upon the jury's verdict...." The parties settled the record by stipulation and filed their appellate briefs.

II. Appellate Jurisdiction

On appeal, Plaintiff only contests the dismissal of his common law dram shop claim. Defendants contend Plaintiff did not properly appeal this issue under N.C. R.App. P. 3(d) because his notice of appeal does *408not mention the 25 November 2013 order dismissing his dram shop claim. Plaintiff filed a petition for writ of certiorari on 28 July 2015. The Clerk of Court referred Plaintiff's petition to this panel on 7 August 2015.

To provide proper notice of appeal the appellant must "designate the judgment or order from which appeal is taken and the court to which appeal is taken...." N.C. R.App. P. 3(d). "Without proper notice of appeal, this Court acquires no jurisdiction." Dixon v. Hill, 174 N.C.App. 252, 257, 620 S.E.2d 715, 718 (2005) (citation and quotation marks omitted). However, N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1-278 "provides a means by which an appellate *769court may obtain jurisdiction to review an order not included in a notice on [sic] appeal. It states: 'Upon an appeal from a judgment, the court may review any intermediate order involving the merits and necessarily affecting the judgment.' " Id. (citing N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1-278 ).

Appellate review under section 1-278 is proper when the following three conditions are met: "(1) the appellant must have timely objected to the order; (2) the order must be interlocutory and not immediately appealable; and (3) the order must have involved the merits and necessarily affected the judgment." Dixon, 174 N.C.App. at 257, 620 S.E.2d at 718. Defendants agree the second and third conditions are met.

The 25 November 2013 order states the trial court "heard arguments" and reviewed other materials "presented by the parties" regarding Defendants' Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Plaintiff's objection is inherent to the hearing, and he clearly identified the 25 November 2013 order in the Statement of Organization of Trial Tribunal and the proposed issues on appeal. Accordingly, this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiff's appeal. In addition, we grant Plaintiff's petition for writ of certiorari.

III. 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). "As a general proposition, a trial court's consideration of a motion brought under Rule 12(b)(6) is limited to examining the legal sufficiency of the allegations contained within the four corners of the complaint." Khaja v. Husna, --- N.C.App. ----, ----, 777 S.E.2d 781, 786 (2015) (citing Hillsboro Partners v. City of Fayetteville, 226 N.C.App. 30, 32-33, 738 S.E.2d 819, 822 (2013), disc. review denied, 367 N.C. 236, 748 S.E.2d 544 (2013) ).

*409IV. Factual History

We review the following facts in Plaintiff's complaint as true. Stanback, 297 N.C. at 185, 254 S.E.2d at 615.

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Related

Davis v. Hulsing Enters., LLC
810 S.E.2d 203 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2018)
Proffitt v. Gosnell
809 S.E.2d 200 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)

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Bluebook (online)
783 S.E.2d 765, 246 N.C. App. 406, 2016 WL 1319121, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-hulsing-hotels-n-carolina-ncctapp-2016.