Title: Buncombe County Board of Health v. Brown

State: north-carolina

Issuer: North Carolina Supreme Court

Document:

156 S.E.2d 708 (1967) 271 N.C. 401 BUNCOMBE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH, Petitioner, v. James A. BROWN et al., Respondents. No. 110. Supreme Court of North Carolina. September 20, 1967. *710 Robert E. Riddle, Asheville, Atty. for Buncombe County Board of Health, petitioner appellant. No counsel contra. PLESS, Justice. While the Swannanoa Sanitary and Sewer District (Swannanoa) is ordered to install and maintain the sewer line, it is not a party to this action and is not represented by counsel. The stipulations upon which the order is based are signed by counsel for the Buncombe County Board of Health and counsel for one of the individual respondents; consequently, they are not binding on Swannanoa, although the findings and order are dependent upon them. The court made findings of fact in addition to the stipulated facts, and to each of these the petitioner excepted. The record, by which we are bound, contains no provision that the parties had agreed that the judge could make additional findings of fact, and no evidence is brought forward in the record to sustain them. In the absence of such stipulation or agreement, the judge is limited to the stipulated facts; and because he made additional findings of fact, the petitioner's exceptions thereto are sustained. Hood, Comr. of Banks ex rel. Page Trust Co. v. Johnson, 208 N.C. 77, 178 S.E. 855; U. Drive It Auto. Co. v. Atlantic Fire Insurance Co., 239 N.C. 416, 80 S.E.2d 35; Sparrow v. American Fire & Casualty Co., 243 N.C. 60, 89 S.E.2d 800. In its brief the appellant says "Did the court err in holding that the facts warrant a finding that there was a valid conveyance of the sewer line in question? This question is really the meat of the controversy in this appeal and it is hoped that the Court will answer this question to avoid the necessity of any further appeals." A copy of the conveyance is not before us, and we are given no information as to its terms nor whether it was accepted. The stipulations have no provision that the Torian deed was accepted by Fairview or that it was recorded by anyone authorized to do so on behalf of Buncombe County. Also, the authority of the Fairview and Swannanoa Districts to accept conveyances or to make them is not shown, and the record does not disclose whether those two districts were, or were not, some of the fourteen sewer districts organized in 1927 as separate municipal corporations. Without further information on these subjects, we are unable to answer the appellant's question. The order of the Superior Court is not supported by the stipulations; and as it places responsibility upon the Swannanoa Sanitary and Sewer District, which is not a party hereto, it is hereby vacated. Error and remanded.