Jackson v. River Pines, Inc., 21386
| Decision Date | 03 February 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 21386,21386 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | Robert W. JACKSON and Lillie P. Jackson, Appellants, v. RIVER PINES, INC., and C. P. Fishburne, Jr., Coleman G. Poag, James D. Hix, Jospeh L. Caudell, Thomas A. McKinney, Charles B. Ridley, Sr., T. Hugh Simrill, Jr., and Charles B. Ridley, Jr., as Shareholders in River Pines, Inc.; and C. P. Fishburne, Jr., Coleman G. Poag, James D. Hix, Joseph L. Caudell and Thomas A. McKinney as Liquidating Trustees for River Pines, Inc.; and C. P. Fishburne, Jr., individually, Coleman G. Poag, individually, James D. Hix, individually, Joseph L. Caudell, individually, Thomas A. McKinney, individually, Charles B. Ridley, Sr., individually, T. Hugh Simrill, Jr., individually, Charles B. Ridley, Jr., individually, and the above listed individuals, d/b/a River Pines Company, a partnership; and T. Hugh Simrill, Jr., as Trustee and James D. Hix and Joseph L. Caudell as the holders of assets of River Pines, Inc., Respondents. |
Jack G. Leader, Spencer & Spencer, Rock Hill, for appellants.
Melvin B. McKeown, Jr., Spratt, McKeown & Spratt, York, for respondents.
Robert W. and Lillie P. Jackson appeal the order of the trial court sustaining respondents' demurrer to the Jacksons' cause of action for breach of an alleged implied warranty of fitness of land for residential purposes. The trial court ruled that no cause was stated since no such implied warranty attaches in South Carolina. We agree and affirm.
The warranty was said to arise solely by virtue of restrictive covenants placed on a tract of which appellants' lot is a part, restricting use of the land to residential home development. Appellants allege breach of warranty because the lot sold them is composed of soil which will not support a septic system. Appellants claim damages which are in essence indemnification for a judgment obtained against them by the purchasers of the house which appellants built on the property.
In passing upon the propriety of a demurrer sustained below we are constrained to look only within the four corners of the pleading. We need determine only if the allegations, as liberally construed and presumed true for purposes of the motion, state a cause of action. Pilkington v. McBain, S.C., 262 S.E.2d 916 (1980); Preston H. Haskell Company v. Morgan, S.C., 262 S.E.2d 737 (1980); Whale Branch Corporation v. Federal Land Bank of Columbia, S.C., 268 S.E.2d 583 (1980).
In South Carolina the purchaser of unimproved land has had to covenant to protect whatever special rights or interests he would presume to acquire in the land. Mitchell v. Pinckney, 13 S.C. 203 (1880). This is because the doctrine of caveat emptor has, in the absence of fraud or misrepresentation, long governed the obligations of the parties in the sale of real estate. Rutledge v....
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...279 Or. 333, 569 P.2d 1033 (1977); Witty v. Schramm, 62 Ill.App.3d 185, 19 Ill.Dec. 669, 379 N.E.2d 333 (1978); Jackson v. River Pines, 276 S.C. 29, 274 S.E.2d 912 (1981). While none of these cases involved land with the identical type and degree of development presented here, we find the r......
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...land must covenant to protect whatever special rights or interests he would presume to acquire in the land. Jackson v. River Pines, Inc., 276 S.C. 29, 31, 274 S.E.2d 912, 913 (1981); see also 21 C.J.S. Covenants § 14 (1990) ("The only protection of title afforded a purchaser of land is in t......
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Bennett v. Investors Title Ins. Co., 4153.
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