An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Proced ure.

NO. COA04-1435

NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS

Filed: 5 July 2005

STATE FARM FIRE AND
CASUALTY COMPANY and
F. ALLEN JOSEPHS,
        Plaintiffs,

         v.                        Forsyth County
                                No. 04 CVS 1475
PALMER CORPORATION OF N.C.,
BAXTER PALMER and LINDA
PALMER
        Defendants,

        and

PALMER CORPORATION OF N.C.,
        Third-Party Plaintiff,

        v.

HARMON ELECTRIC SERVICE, INC.
and SUBURBAN PROPANE LP,
        Third-Party Defendants.

    Appeal by defendants from order entered 23 July 2004 by Judge Henry E. Frye, Jr. in Superior Court, Forsyth County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 20 June 2005.

    Davis & Hamrick, L.L.P., by Kent L. Hamrick and James G. Welsh, Jr., for plaintiffs-appellees.

    Pinto Coates Kyre & Brown, PLLC, by David L. Brown, for defendants-appellants.

    McGEE, Judge.

    This action arises out of a fire that damaged a house in Watauga County owned by plaintiff F. Allen Josephs and insured by plaintiff State Farm Fire and Casualty Company. Plaintiffs,alleging the house was defectively constructed, filed suit in Forsyth County against defendants as builders of the house. Defendants filed an answer in which, inter alia, they moved to change venue from Forsyth County to Watauga County for the convenience of witnesses. The trial court denied the motion in an order entered 23 July 2004. Defendants appeal.
    Defendants' assignment of error was based solely upon the trial court's denial of their motion for change of venue pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-83(2), for the convenience of witnesses.
    Plaintiffs assert that this appeal should be dismissed on the ground that the order is not immediately appealable. We agree. This Court has previously held that an interlocutory order denying a motion to change venue for the convenience of witnesses is not immediately appealable. Kennon v. Kennon, 72 N.C. App. 161, 164, 323 S.E.2d 741, 743 (1984); Furches v. Moore, 48 N.C. App. 430, 269 S.E.2d 635 (1980). These cases have not been overruled. Defendant's reliance on First Southern Savings Bank v. Tuton, 114 N.C. App. 805, 443 S.E.2d 345, disc. review denied, 338 N.C. 309, 452 S.E.2d 309 (1994), as authorizing an immediate appeal, is misplaced, as that case involved a motion to change venue on the ground of improper venue, not the ground of convenience of witnesses. There being no immediate right of appeal, the appeal therefore must be dismissed.
    Dismissed.
    Judges HUDSON and LEVINSON concur.
    Report per Rule 30(e).

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