Grace v. Johnson

Decision Date01 May 1974
Docket NumberNo. 7415DC28,7415DC28
Citation21 N.C.App. 432,204 S.E.2d 723
PartiesEugene V. GRACE v. Bobby G. JOHNSON.
CourtNorth Carolina Court of Appeals

Newsom, Graham, Strayhorn, Hedrick, Murray & Bryson by O. William Faison, Jr., Durham, for plaintiff appellee.

White, Allen, Hooten & Hines, P.A. by Thomas J. White, III, Kinston, for defendant appellant.

VAUGHN, Judge.

Rule 4(i) of the Rules of Civil Procedure empowers the court to allow amendment of the summons at any time in its discretion unless it clearly appears that material prejudice would result to substantial rights of the party against whom the process issued. A comment by the General Statutes Commission states that the rule 'in terms, does not provide for any greater liberality of amendment than did former G.S. § 1--163.' We agree. The question, therefore, is whether an amendment to the summons to correct the name of the court in which the action was commenced would have been allowable under former G.S. § 1--163. This question was answered in Brantley v. Sawyer, 5 N.C.App. 557, 169 S.E.2d 55. In that case the trial court allowed plaintiff to amend the name of the court in which the action was pending. On appeal, this court held that the amendment should not have been allowed because of the fatal variance between the place where defendant was commanded to appear and the place where the suit was pending In the case before us now, the action was pending in Chatham County. The original and copy of the summons directed defendant to appear and answer in Durham County. Defendant's motion under Rule 12(b)(4) should have been allowed.

Reversed.

BRITT and PARKER, JJ., concur.

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3 cases
  • Hazelwood v. Bailey
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • 10 Febrero 1995
    ...to confer jurisdiction." Id. at 564, 169 S.E.2d at 59. The Brantley decision was followed by the Court of Appeals in Grace v. Johnson, 21 N.C.App. 432, 204 S.E.2d 723 (1974) (holding that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to quash a summons which commanded the defendant to......
  • Everhart v. Sowers, 8222SC509
    • United States
    • North Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 6 Septiembre 1983
    ...by amendment. However, with regard to the character of the defect in the summonses in the instant case, the case of Grace v. Johnson, 21 N.C.App. 432, 204 S.E.2d 723 (1974), is directly on point. That case holds that where an action is filed in one county and summons issues directing defend......
  • State v. Grant
    • United States
    • North Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 1 Mayo 1974

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