Cartin v. Harrison

• Decision Date: 06 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. COA01-820.,COA01-820.
• Citation: 151 NC App. 697,567 S.E.2d 174
• Parties: Daniel B. CARTIN, Sr., Plaintiff, v. Shuford Edward HARRISON and wife, Renee Edmiston Harrison, Defendants.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

567 S.E.2d 174

151 NC App. 697

Daniel B. CARTIN, Sr., Plaintiff, v. Shuford Edward HARRISON and wife, Renee Edmiston Harrison, Defendants.

No. COA01-820.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

August 6, 2002.

Di Santi Watson & Capua, by Anthony S. di Santi and Andrea N. Capua, Boone, for plaintiff-appellees.

McElwee Firm, PLLC, by John M. Logsdon, North Wilkesboro, for defendant-appellants.

MARTIN, Judge.

This appeal arises out of a real property boundary dispute originally between Daniel B. Cartin and defendants Shuford Edward Harrison and Renee Edmiston Harrison, each of whom claimed superior title to approximately seven acres of land. Cartin filed a complaint on 19 May 1995, seeking a judgment declaring him owner of the property, "free from the claim of the Defendants." Defendants filed an answer, counterclaim, and cross-claim, seeking a declaration that they were the owners of the disputed property. On 3 March 1998, the trial court granted Cartin's motion to join Donald and Ann Smart, who purchased the property from plaintiff and who are now the real parties in interest (hereinafter, "plaintiffs"). Following a pre-trial conference, the trial court entered a consent order which provided that the court "shall hear only issues related to plaintiffs' assertion that it has superior record title to the property in dispute by reason of a connected chain of title to the State of North Carolina." The parties agreed to bifurcate the trial, allowing defendants "the opportunity, if necessary, to prosecute their counterclaims at a future jury session of Watauga County District Court," and, if necessary, to pursue defendants' cross-claim against third-party defendants.

After the parties waived their rights to a jury trial on the issue of whether plaintiffs could establish a connected chain of title to the State of North Carolina, the trial court heard evidence at a bench trial. Plaintiffs based their claim of superior title upon a series of conveyances originating in three grants from the State of North Carolina. Defendants acknowledge that plaintiffs proved a connected chain of title from themselves back to John Storie and from William Storie to the State; however, defendants challenge plaintiffs' proof that a valid connection in the chain of title was established between William Storie and John Storie. With respect to that link in the chain, plaintiffs offered evidence of a proceeding to partition the "landed estate of Wm. A. Storie." The evidence included a document which stated that it was "[t]he foregoing Reports of the Jurors who laid and partitioned real estate of Wm. Storie Dec. [deceased] among his heirs at law on 15th day of June 1880 ...." and it allotted to John Storie a parcel of land from the William A. Storie property, and provided a legal description of that parcel. Plaintiffs' expert, Joseph M. Parker, Jr., testified that all deeds in plaintiffs' chain of title were valid deeds, and that the documents, taken together, established a complete chain of title. Parker stated the partition proceeding report "does include the property in question. And although it may not be a deed, it does, I think, convey, pass on the title." On cross-examination, Parker admitted that the partition proceeding documents do not indicate whether all heirs of William Storie were included in the partition proceeding, and that if an individual heir was not included in the proceeding, the partition proceeding would not be effective. Nevertheless, Parker stated that the possibility of a challenge to the partition was "remote," and that he "would pass on titles where you may not have all the heirs but you feel reasonably assured that you did, particularly if it's this old." Parker stated that plaintiffs had established "good title." Following completion of the plaintiffs' evidence, defendants presented evidence, including the testimony of two licensed surveyors, Lewis Cox and James Murray Gray; neither surveyor, however, conducted surveys of the parties' respective properties.

The trial court found facts, concluded that plaintiffs had established "a legally sufficient chain of title back to the State of North Carolina, and Plaintiffs' title to the disputed property is superior to Defendants;" and entered judgment declaring plaintiffs to be the owners in fee simple of the property. Defendants submitted to a voluntary dismissal without prejudice as to their counter-claim and gave notice of appeal.

The standard of review on appeal from a judgment entered after a non-jury trial is "whether there is competent evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact and whether the findings support the conclusions of law and ensuing judgment." Sessler v. Marsh, 144 N.C.App. 623, 628, 551 S.E.2d 160, 163, disc. review denied, 354 N.C. 365, 556 S.E.2d 577 (2001).

Defendants first contend the trial court erred in holding that plaintiffs proved an unbroken chain of title from the State of North Carolina. A party may establish good title to real property by several methods, one of which involves proof of a connected chain of title from the party to the State of North Carolina. Mobley v. Griffin, 104 N.C. 112, 10 S.E. 142 (1889). Defendants concede in their brief to this Court that plaintiffs have proved a connected chain of title from themselves back to John Storie and from William Storie to the State. Defendants argue, however, that plaintiffs did not establish a valid connection in the chain of title between William Storie and John Storie.

The documentary evidence offered by plaintiffs included a "decree for partition," signed by "J.H. Hardin, CSC, Probate Judge"; a "partition" of the "landed estate of Wm. A. Storie," which specifically allotted to John Storie a parcel of land from the Wm. A. Storie property, and described that parcel; and a report of the partition by the "duly appointed" commissioners, which stated,

The foregoing Reports of the Jurors who laid and partitioned real estate of Wm. Storie Dec. [deceased] among his heirs at law on 15th day of June 1880 is enrolled and together with the Judgment and decree confirming the same is hereby certified to the Register of Deeds of Watauga County and ordered to be registered in the Register's office of said county (emphasis added).

The report was dated 29 June 1880 and signed by "J.H. Hardin, CSC, Probate Judge." Plaintiffs' expert, Joseph M. Parker, Jr., testified that all deeds in plaintiffs' chain of title were valid deeds, and that the documents established a complete chain of title. Parker also testified regarding the connection in the chain from William Storie to John Storie. Parker stated that the Commissioner's report "does include the property in question. And although it may not be a deed, it does, I think, convey, pass on the title." In fact, pressed on cross-examination about whether the documents from the partition proceeding indicated that all heirs of William Storie had been included, Parker stated that the chances of a challenge to the partition were "remote," and that plaintiffs had established "good title" on the basis of "this document and the full chain of title." Parker explained,

if you go back into the 1880s and 1890s and you worry about every time something may not have been procedurally correct in accordance with the procedural rules at that time and there may have been a missing heir, we wouldn't have many good titles.

Plaintiffs' chain of title is distinguishable from the title found defective in McDonald v. McCrumruen, 235 N.C. 550, 70 S.E.2d 703 (1952), cited by defendants in support of their contention that plaintiffs' chain was incomplete. In McDonald, land was granted by the State of North Carolina to Aaron Murchison, and years later an "O.B. Murchison" purported to convey this same land through a deed to the plaintiff. There was no evidence, however, that O.B. Murchison was an heir to Aaron Murchison or that he otherwise acquired title from Aaron Murchison:

It may be that O.B. Murchison is the heir, or an heir of the first, and as such could maintain an action against a third party to recover the land, [citation omitted] but the testimony of plaintiff is that "I do not know what kin O.B. Murchison was to A.A. Murchison,—they were some of my own people." Titles to land may not rest in so thin veil of uncertainty.

Id. at 553, 70 S.E.2d at...