SUZANNE HILL, FORD GOUDEY,
MARY SUSAN SCHMIDT, DORA DEAN
BALLOU, A.C. BLAKENSHIP,
STEVE A. BROCK, JEAN BURROWS,
CAROLYN B. BYRD, D.S. BYRD,
JOSEPH CANOSA, J.L. CASTLEBERRY,
MARGIE R. CASTLEBERRY, ALBERT
CHAPPELL, JEAN CHAPPELL,
LEWIS CLARKE, BRENDA DAVIS,
J. CHRIS DAVIS, JOSEPHINE DAVIS
JIM FRENCH, ANNE B. GILLIAM,
JAMES GILLIAM, ANN J. GOLD,
W.A. GOLD, EMILY GRAHAM, LUKE
GRUBER, PRICE TAYLOR HARRISON,
L.B. HASKINS, JAMES M. HAYWARD,
VIRGINIA C. HAYWARD, L. JARVIS
HERRING, SALLY HERRING, CLARA
INSCOE, RALPH JOHNSON, CLINTON
LEWIS, BARBARA D. MARTIN, JESSICA Carteret County
L. MARTIN, JOSEPH McCLURE, JANIL No. 00 CVS 797
MILLER, JOHN MILLER, GENE W.
MORRISON, HERBERT PARKIN, BARBARA
PAERL, MICHELLE S. PITTMAN,
GILBERT M. POTTER, PAT I. POTTER,
JOAN PULLEY, W. PAUL PULLEY, JR.,
ARTHUR RITTMASTER, KEITH RITTMASTER,
CAROLYN ROGERS, ROBERT F. ROSER,
DENISE ROSER, LENA RUDDER, HAZEL
SIMPSON, KERRY SINCLAIR, C.W.
STAMPER, DAWN STEWART, MACK STYRON,
VICKY THAYER, DEBORAH BOYCE TODD,
EDWIN LEE TODD, GWENDOLYN TOWLES,
THELMA P. WARD, JAMES R. WHEATLEY,
MACK WILLIS, EDITH YORK,
Plaintiffs
v
.
MIKE TAYLOR,
Defendant
WALKER, Judge.
Plaintiffs filed this action on 2 August 2000, seeking a
judgment quieting title to certain real property located in their
residential subdivision and for a declaratory judgment pursuant to
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-253 declaring the validity of their right to
use this property as a landing. Defendant answered and
counterclaimed for a judgment declaring that he owned the real
property in fee simple, or alternatively, that he had acquired
title through adverse possession. Defendant also moved the trial
court to dismiss plaintiffs' action for failure to join necessary
parties, to order the joinder of all lot owners within the
subdivision as party plaintiffs, and for summary judgment. On 17
February 2001, the trial court denied each of defendant's motions.
Within its order, the trial court noted that defendant had orally
withdrawn his motion for summary judgment.
Plaintiffs have filed with this Court a motion to dismiss
defendant's appeal asserting that the trial court's order is an
interlocutory order from which defendant has no right to immediate
appeal. We agree.
Interlocutory orders are those made during the pendency of an
action which do not dispose of the case, but instead leave it forfurther action by the trial court in order to settle and determine
the entire controversy. Carriker v. Carriker, 350 N.C. 71, 73,
511 S.E.2d 2, 4 (1999)(internal citation omitted); see also
Stevenson ex rel. Long v. Joyner, ___ N.C. App. ___, 558 S.E.2d 215
(2002). Clearly, the trial court's order denying defendant's
motions is interlocutory as it is not a final judgment disposing of
the case.
The right to appeal from an interlocutory order exists
provided one of two circumstances is present. The order itself
must either: (1) affect a substantial right or (2) be a final
judgment as to some but not all the claims or parties and be
certified by the trial court as having no just reason to delay the
appeal. Bartlett v. Jacobs, 124 N.C. App. 521, 477 S.E.2d 693
(1996), disc. rev. denied, 345 N.C. 340, 483 S.E.2d 161 (1997); see
also N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 54(b)(1999).
This Court has previously held that the denial of a motion to
dismiss for failure to join necessary parties does not affect a
substantial right and therefore is not immediately appealable. See
Fraser v. Di Santi, 75 N.C. App. 654, 331 S.E.2d 217, disc. rev.
denied, 315 N.C. 183, 337 S.E.2d 856 (1985); and Auction Co. v.
Myers, 40 N.C. App. 570, 253 S.E.2d 362 (1979). Nevertheless,
defendant maintains the trial court's failure to order the joinder
of all lot owners within plaintiffs' subdivision affects a
substantial right which makes his appeal on this issue appropriate.
The determination of whether an interlocutory order affects a
substantial right essentially involves a two-part analysis. Goldston v. American Motors Corp., 326 N.C. 723, 726, 392 S.E.2d
735, 736 (1990). First, the right itself must be substantial,
and second, the deprivation of that substantial right must
potentially work injury to [the party] if not corrected before
appeal from final judgment. Id.
Our review of the record fails to reveal how the trial court's
refusal to order the joinder of all lot owners within plaintiffs'
subdivision would potentially injure defendant. Indeed, the trial
court specifically stated that if defendant wants additional
parties, he should join them. Moreover, we see nothing within
plaintiffs' cause of action which would require them to join all
lot owners within their subdivision. See generally Rice v.
Randolph, 96 N.C. App. 112, 384 S.E.2d 295 (1989).
We conclude the denial of defendant's request to order the
joinder of necessary parties did not affect a substantial right
which requires this Court's immediate attention. Furthermore, the
trial court has not certified its order pursuant to Rule 54(b).
Therefore, we grant plaintiffs' motion to dismiss defendant's
appeal as interlocutory.
Appeal dismissed.
Judges HUNTER and BRYANT concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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