North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
King Fa, LLC v. Chen (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-228-16, 11 pp.) (Linda Stephens, J.) Appealed from Forsyth County District Court (Theodore Kazakos, J.) N.C. App.
Holding: This appeal was taken in the name of a limited liability company that was formed after the lease in question was executed. Since the LLC is not a party aggrieved in this landlord/tenant case, it has no right of appeal.
Appeal dismissed.
In this commercial lease dispute, the individual tenants – who signed the lease five days before they formed the plaintiff-LLC – were the real parties in interest, as the trial court implicitly recognized. Nevertheless, this appeal was taken in the name of the LLC, which was not a party to the lease, had no legal rights or obligations related thereto, and is in no way aggrieved by the trial court’s orders, each of which affects the legal rights only of the real parties in interest: the individual tenants.
The notice of appeal says the appeal is being taken by the LLC, and neither of the tenants is named in it. Without proper notice of appeal, this court acquires no jurisdiction. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.
