Norwest Props., LLC v. Strebler

819 S.E.2d 154, 424 S.C. 617
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedAugust 1, 2018
DocketAppellate Case No. 2016-000636; Opinion No. 5582
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 819 S.E.2d 154 (Norwest Props., LLC v. Strebler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Norwest Props., LLC v. Strebler, 819 S.E.2d 154, 424 S.C. 617 (S.C. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

HILL, J.:

**620This is an appeal from a damages award arising from the failed sale of a residential lot. The Master awarded the Seller, Respondents Michael T. Strebler and Lisa W. Strebler (collectively "Seller"), $40,388 in damages for breach of contract. The Buyer, Appellant Norwest Properties, LLC, appeals claiming the award (except $350 in costs) constitutes special damages that Seller failed to plead. We agree, and reverse.

I.

Shortly after listing the lot for sale in 2005, Seller accepted Buyer's offer for the $175,000 asking price. The parties signed a contract and set a closing date. Buyer commissioned a survey of the lot, which revealed numerous encroachments on the property by an adjoining landowner, Paul J. Mitchell. It transpired Seller had previously granted Mitchell permission for the encroachments, which were never recorded or otherwise memorialized.

**621After reviewing the survey, Buyer requested Seller remove the encroachments before closing. The closing date passed without resolution.

On November 18, 2005, Buyer sued Seller for specific performance and breach of contract. Seller appeared pro se , filing an Answer denying Buyer's allegations and asserting Buyer breached the contract. The only reference to any claim for damages appears in Seller's prayer for relief, which asks for "costs and damages."

The Master held a bench trial on November 9, 2009. The only testimony at this hearing related to Seller's breach of contract damages occurs amidst the following brief exchange while Mr. Strebler is on the stand:

Mr. Strebler: [I]s it appropriate in my testimony to ask for damages, as I sit here?
*157THE COURT: Well-in your Pleadings did you ask for damages?
Mr. Strebler: Yes, I did, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay, you can go ahead and talk about it.
Mr. Strebler: [Seller] would like-in the Pleadings has asked for damages. [Seller] has been damaged to the extent that he has costs of ownership beyond August 31, 2005, the contractual closing date. Those costs are financial carrying costs, property taxes, homeowner's association fees, maintenance costs, and costs of administration. And further, [Seller] requests damages for resources expended in defending this action. Thank you, Your Honor.

On May 20, 2010, the Master ruled Buyer did not prove Seller breached the contract. Instead, the Master found Buyer breached the contract, the contract was invalid, and Mitchell had an easement on the property. The Master ordered that "[Seller] be awarded his costs and damages in this case in accordance with Paragraph 20 of the Contract. [Seller] shall submit those actual amounts with supporting documentation to the Court for final determination of the amount of this award."

On May 16, 2011, Seller filed a "motion to approve" the amount of damages, and attached a spreadsheet detailing its damages, which totaled $48,713.00 and included: (1) $6,842.00 **622in real estate taxes from 2005-2011; (2) $2,2560.00 in homeowners' association fees; (3) $8,325.00 in Seller's "professional time" defending the action pro se ; (4) $350.00 in litigation costs; and (5) $30,637.00 in "carrying costs" based on the interest accrued on the line of credit used to finance ownership of the lot. It appears Seller sold the property to Mitchell in 2011 for $175,000.

In response, Buyer promptly filed a memorandum opposing Seller's damages request. At the July 29, 2011 damages hearing, Buyer presented numerous grounds for denying Seller's motion, including repeated attacks on Seller's failure to plead special damages.

On October 23, 2015, Seller asked the court for "an order approving" their motion. On March 1, 20161 , the Master issued an order granting the motion and awarded Seller $40,388.00, which represented all of Seller's requested damages except the claimed "professional time." Buyer appeals from that order, which we now reverse.

II.

We first address Seller's error preservation claims, which we can quickly jettison. Because Buyer did not appeal the May 2010 Order or the January 2011 Order denying Buyer's Rule 59(e), SCRCP, motion, Seller reasons those orders have become the law of the case. However, neither of those orders was a final ruling on the damages amount, given the Master expressly left the damages issue open for later determination. There was no final damages order to appeal until the 2016 Order was issued. See Ex parte Wilson , 367 S.C. 7, 12, 625 S.E.2d 205, 208 (2005) ("Any judgment or decree, leaving some further act to be done by the court before the rights of the parties are determined, is interlocutory and not final."); Good v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. , 201 S.C. 32, 41-42, 21 S.E.2d 209, 212 (1942) ("A judgement, order, or decree, to be final for purposes of an appeal or error, must dispose of the cause ... as to all the parties, reserving no further questions or directions for future determination. It must ... leav[e] nothing to be done but to enforce by execution **623what has been determined." (quoting 2 Am. Jur. 860, § 22) ).

Seller also insists the special damages issue is unpreserved because Buyer did not file a 59(e) motion regarding its special damages argument. As we shall see, Buyer raised their objections and arguments against special damages to the Master before and during the damages hearing. Buyer's argument-that special damages were improper because unpled-was rejected when the Master awarded Seller special damages. See Spence v. Wingate , 381 S.C. 487, 489-90, 674 S.E.2d 169, 170 (2009) (where trial judge's order granted respondents' motion for summary judgment on precisely the grounds argued by respondents at summary judgment *158hearing, but did not restate the ground on which appellant opposed the motion, the ruling was sufficient to preserve appellant's argument, and appellant was not required to file a Rule 59(e) motion to preserve the issue for appeal).

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

Related

Angela Patton v. Dr. Gregory A. Miller (2)
Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2025
Frampton v. SCDNR
Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
819 S.E.2d 154, 424 S.C. 617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norwest-props-llc-v-strebler-scctapp-2018.