Contract – Settlement Agreement – Civil Practice – Summary Judgment

The parties’ settlement agreement required defendant to purchase certain real property by 1 December 2019 or within a reasonable time thereafter, paying an additional $1,500 in rent for each month after 1 December 2019. In support of plaintiff’s 2 October 2020 motion to enforce the settlement agreement, plaintiff filed an affidavit showing defendant had failed to comply with the parties’ settlement agreement. A motion to enforce a settlement agreement is treated as a motion for summary judgment for purposes of appellate review. Where defendant failed to submit any evidence in response to plaintiff’s motion, the trial court did not err in granting the motion.

Judgment for plaintiff affirmed.

Hager v. Buchanan (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-132-23, 6 pp.) (Toby Hampson, J.) Appealed from Lincoln County District Court (Micah Sanderson, J.) Allen Brotherton for plaintiff; Andrew Howell for defendant. North Carolina Court of Appeals (unpublished)