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Criminal Practice – Trespass & Breaking or Entering – Former Girlfriend’s Home – Garage & House Interior
State v. Vetter (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-053-18, 17 pp.) (Mark Davis, J.) Appealed from Lincoln County Superior Court (Nathaniel Poovey, J.) N.C. App. Holding: After defendant and his girlfriend broke up, he had permission to go into her garage to get his things, but he did not have permission to kick in the interior door […]
Bankruptcy – Real Property – Mortgages – Bank’s Re-Entry – Tort/Negligence – Trespass
Vinal v. Federal National Mortgage Association (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-02-0931, 15 pp.) (James Dever III, C.J.) 7:13-cv-00159; E.D.N.C. Holding: Plaintiff’s trespass claim accrued no later than Nov. 18, 2010, the latest date on which the lender’s agent sent contractors to plaintiff’s properties to perform work orders after plaintiff had defaulted on their mortgages. Since plaintiff […]
COA doubles back on trespass
Reversing its own opinion from just seven months ago, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held recently that wrongfully maintaining encroaching structures—not only constructing new ones— does, in fact, constitute a daily trespass. After taking a second look at the issue on rehearing, the appeals court wrote that in deciding Graham v. Deutsche Bank National […]
Tort/Negligence — Trespass – Real Property – Continuing Trespass – Successive Owners
Graham v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0148, 12 pp.) (Mark Davis, J.) Appealed from Guilford County Superior Court (Lindsay Davis Jr., J.) On petition for rehearing. N.C. App. Holding: Even though defendant’s house and septic system were already encroaching on plaintiff’s land when both parties acquired their adjacent lots, since this […]
Tort/Negligence – Trespass – Real Property – Encroachment – Construction & Purchase Dates
Graham v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-16-0696, 10 pp.) (Mark Davis, J.) Appealed from Guilford County Superior Court (Lindsay Davis Jr., J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Since Lot 2’s house and septic tank were already built – and already encroaching on Lot 1 – when plaintiff bought Lot 1, plaintiff cannot […]
Real Property – Quiet Title — Bulkhead – Deed Reference – Tort/Negligence – Trespass
Inland Harbor Homeowners Association, Inc. v. St. Josephs Marina, LLC Where defendant’s deed describes the property conveyed to defendant as including “all right, title and interest of the grantors in any bulkheads adjoining Tract One and Tract Two …,” and where we have previously rejected plaintiff’s arguments to the contrary, we hold that defendant owns the bulkhead at issue.
Tort/Negligence – Real Property – Trespass – Brother’s Land – Sister’s Manufactured Home – Civil Practice – Rule 59 – ‘Surprise’ – Prior Summary Ejectment Action
Batts v. Batts Even though the plaintiff-brother originally allowed the defendant-sister to put a manufactured home on the brother’s land (for their mother to live in), the trial court found that (1) the brother owns the property on which the manufactured home is located, (2) the brother asked the sister to remove herself and her manufactured home from his property, and (3) the sister r[...]
Total damages could top $1 billion in Maryland poisoned-property trial
A Baltimore County jury has awarded more than $495 million in compensatory damages to residents who sued Exxon Mobil Corp. over a 2006 gasoline leak. At presstime, jurors were still deliberating how much to award plaintiffs in punitive damages. The jury found Exxon Mobil liable for fraud, negligence, nuisance, strict liability, trespass, diminution of property value, emotional distress and m[...]
Tort/Negligence – Real Property – Trespass – Declaratory Judgment – Neighbors’ Fence – Across Property Line – Remedies – Injunction – Removal
Mathis v. Hoffman After her neighbors mistakenly built their fence on her property, defendant was not entitled to choose her remedy. It was within the trial court’s authority to enter an injunction allowing plaintiffs to move the fence to their own property at their expense. We affirm summary judgment for plaintiffs.
Real Property – Tort/Negligence – Trespass – Abandoned Road
Joines v. Joines Defendant trespassed on his neighbor's land when he removed timber from, graded, installed culverts on, placed gravel on, and created a parking area on an abandoned roadway. There was evidence to support the trial court's determination that the abandoned road was on the plaintiff-neighbor's land.
Real Property – Easement – Trespass – Latent Ambiguity – Parol Evidence
Edwards v. Hill. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-07-1153, 27 pp.) (Cheri Beasley, J.) Appealed from Cleveland County District Court (Ali P. Paksoy, J.) N.C. App. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: The trial court endeavored to give effect to the parties’ intentions in a latently ambiguous description of an easement and construed […]
Tort/Negligence – Real Property – Trespass – Unfair & Deceptive Acts – Nuisance – Spite Fence
Currituck Associates Residential Partnership v. Coastland Corp. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-16-0707, 20 pp.) (Robert C. Hunter, J.) Appealed from Currituck County Superior Court. (Gary E. Trawick, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: A property owner who fails to object when another party installs landscaping and a sprinkler system on their land is giving implied consent and […]
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