IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

2022-NCCOA-410

No. COA21-425

Filed 21 June 2022

Durham County, No. 14 CVD 1494

JOHN-PAUL SHEBALIN, Plaintiff,

v.

THERESA M. SHEBALIN, Defendant.

Appeal by plaintiff from order entered 8 September 2020 by Judge O. David 

Hall in Durham County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 25 May 2022.

Cordell Law, LLP, by Stephanie Horton, for plaintiff-appellant.

Jonathan McGirt for defendant-appellee.

ARROWOOD, Judge.

¶ 1 John-Paul Shebalin (“plaintiff”) appeals from an Order for Appointment of a 

Parenting Coordinator. Because the order from which plaintiff appeals is 

interlocutory, and because we deem this appeal frivolous, we dismiss the appeal and 

impose sanctions.

I. Background

¶ 2 Theresa M. Shebalin (“defendant”) and plaintiff (collectively, the “parties” or 

“parents”) were married on 17 May 2010, shared a child born 15 September 2013, and 

divorced on 31 March 2016. Because the trial court and the parties agreed that the 
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parties were engaged in “a high conflict case,” on 22 July 2016 the trial court filed a 

“Consent Order Appointing Parenting Coordinator[,]” by which the trial court 

appointed a parenting coordinator for a term of two years. This parenting coordinator

was replaced in 2017, and the second parenting coordinator was later re-appointed 

for a term of one year expiring 26 September 2019.

¶ 3 On 23 September 2019, defendant filed a Motion for Appointment of Parenting 

Coordinator due to the continued high conflict nature of the parties’ case. On 

1 October 2019, plaintiff filed a Reply and Motion to Dismiss.

¶ 4 The matter came on for hearing on 16 July 2020 in Durham County District 

Court, Judge Hall presiding. Following the hearing, the trial court entered an “Order 

for Appointment of Parenting Coordinator” on 8 September 2020 (the “2020 Order”). 

In the 2020 Order, the trial court concluded that “[t]his continues to be a high conflict 

case” and “the appointment of a [parenting coordinator] is in the best interests of the 

minor child[.]” Accordingly, the 2020 Order denied plaintiff’s Motion to Dismiss, 

ordered that “[a] Parenting Coordinator shall be appointed for a one[-]year term[,]” 

and also decreed that the trial court “retains jurisdiction of this matter for the entry 

of further Orders.” Pertinently, the 2020 Order did not appoint a parenting 

coordinator. On 29 September 2020, plaintiff filed a notice of appeal from the 2020 

Order.
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¶ 5 On 3 February 2021, the trial court commenced a hearing, held via WebEx, for 

the purpose of appointing a parenting coordinator following the 2020 Order. Plaintiff, 

through counsel, objected “to a WebEx hearing on the [parenting coordinator] 

appointment in general,” as well as “to the [parenting coordinator] appointment 

conference on the basis of the fact that the [2020 Order] has been appealed more 

specifically.”

¶ 6 Defendant’s trial counsel responded:

I just want to make sure that we have the background in 

place. [The trial court] heard the request, the motion for a 

[parenting coordinator] in July of last year. In September 

of 2020, [the trial court] signed an order for appointment of 

a [parenting coordinator].

A [parenting coordinator] was not identified. An order 

appointment was not conducted. No order has been signed,

so it’s my position . . . that this is a premature appeal; that 

it’s an impermissible interlocutory appeal.

¶ 7 Having heard these arguments, the trial court honored plaintiff’s objection to 

a hearing conducted via WebEx and continued the hearing until 18 March 2021.

¶ 8 On 18 March 2021, the trial court resumed, in-person, the hearing on the 

appointment of a parenting coordinator. Prior to the hearing in open court, the trial 

court “conducted a brief in camera conference[,]” where plaintiff’s counsel and both 

defendant’s trial and appellate counsel were present. Therein, plaintiff’s counsel 

“contended that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to proceed with appointment 
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of a parenting coordinator, by virtue of [p]laintiff’s Notice of Appeal filed on 

September 29, 2020.” In response, both of defendant’s trial and appellate counsel 

“contended that [p]laintiff’s pending appeal was impermissibly interlocutory, and 

therefore that the trial court’s jurisdiction continued uninterrupted.” “Having heard 

these contentions, [the trial court] adjourned the in camera conference[.]”

¶ 9 After the hearing, the trial court returned and entered on the same day an 

“Order Appointing Parenting Coordinator” (the “2021 Order”). The 2021 Order, as 

written, stated the following:

The Court, on September 7, 2020, entered an Order For 

Appointment of Parenting Coordinator, which was filed 

September 8, 2020. Said [2020] Order requires the 

appointment of a Parenting Coordinator for a one[-]year 

term. Plaintiff filed Appeal of said [2020] Order, which 

remains pending. To date, no Order For Appointment of 

Parenting Coordinator has been entered.

The trial court also found that it had jurisdiction and that, pursuant to the 2020 

Order, “appointment of a Parenting Coordinator is necessary to assist the parents in 

implementing the terms of the existing child custody and parenting time order . . . .”

¶ 10 The trial court appointed a new parenting coordinator for a term of one year 

from the date of the 2021 Order and provided other details pertinent to the parenting 

coordinator’s role. The parenting coordinator’s term expired 17 March 2022.

¶ 11 After multiple motions for extension of time were granted to both parties, 

plaintiff filed his appellate brief for his appeal from the 2020 Order on 
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1 November 2021; pertinently, therein, plaintiff asserts that the 2020 Order is a 

final order. Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss Appeal on 17 February 2022, 

contending that the 2020 Order is interlocutory, an appellate brief on 4 March 2022, 

and another Motion to Dismiss Appeal, on the basis of mootness, on 20 May 2022.

II. Discussion

¶ 12 Plaintiff presents multiple arguments on appeal; plaintiff also asserts, quite 

simply, that the 2020 Order “is a final judgment and appeal to this court is proper 

pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-27(b).” We disagree. Thus, we limit our review to 

the interlocutory nature of the 2020 Order and plaintiff’s denial thereof.

¶ 13 “[A]ppeal lies of right directly to the Court of Appeals . . . [f]rom any final

judgment of a district court in a civil action.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-27(b)(2) (2021). “A 

final judgment is one which disposes of the cause as to all the parties, leaving nothing 

to be judicially determined between them in the trial court.” Veazey v. City of 

Durham, 231 N.C. 357, 361-62, 57 S.E.2d 377, 381 (1950) (citations omitted).

Conversely, “[a]n interlocutory order is one made during the pendency of an action, 

which does not dispose of the case, but leaves it for further action by the trial court 

in order to settle and determine the entire controversy.” Id. at 362, 57 S.E.2d at 381 

(citation omitted).

¶ 14 The 2020 Order is patently interlocutory. The purpose of the order was to

decree that appointment of a parenting coordinator was just and necessary for the 
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matter at issue, that said appointment would occur via another order at a later date, 

and that the to-be-appointed parenting coordinator would serve for a term of one year. 

Indeed, the 2020 Order did not dispose of the case, but “le[ft] it for further action by 

the trial court[,]” see id., laying out a framework that the 2021 Order utilized in 

appointing a specific parenting coordinator for a term of one year, along with other, 

lengthy details binding the parties and the new parenting coordinator. This, in fact, 

is also made clear by the names of the orders themselves—the trial court filed the 

2020 Order as the “Order for Appointment of Parenting Coordinator” and the 2021 

Order as the “Order Appointing Parenting Coordinator[.]” (Emphasis added.) 

Accordingly, there was nothing within the 2020 Order that entitled plaintiff to

appeal.

¶ 15 Furthermore, plaintiff was made aware of the interlocutory nature of the 2020 

Order on multiple occasions, including during the 3 February 2021 hearing held over 

WebEx and during the in camera conversation immediately preceding the in-person

18 March 2021 hearing.

¶ 16 Despite plaintiff’s assertions to the contrary, the 2020 Order is not a final 

order, and thus we dismiss this appeal as interlocutory. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-
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27(b)(2).

1 We now address how the frivolous nature of this appeal merits imposing 

sanctions.

¶ 17 Under our Rules of Appellate Procedure,

[a] court of the appellate division may, on its own initiative

or motion of a party, impose a sanction against a party or 

attorney or both when the court determines that an appeal 

or any proceeding in an appeal was frivolous because of one 

or more of the following:

(1) the appeal was not well-grounded in fact and was not

warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for 

the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law;

(2) the appeal was taken or continued for an improper 

purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary 

delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation;

(3) a petition, motion, brief, record, or other item filed in 

the appeal was grossly lacking in the requirements of 

propriety, grossly violated appellate court rules, or 

grossly disregarded the requirements of a fair 

presentation of the issues to the appellate court.

N.C.R. App. P. 34(a) (emphasis added). The appropriate sanctions to a frivolous 

appeal include:

(1) dismissal of the appeal;

(2) monetary damages including, but not limited to,

a. single or double costs,

b. damages occasioned by delay,

c. reasonable expenses, including reasonable attorney 

fees, incurred because of the frivolous appeal or 

proceeding;

 

1 We also note that the culmination of the 2020 Order has come to fruition and long lapsed 

due to: (1) the issuance of the 2021 Order appointing a parenting coordinator and (2) said 

parenting coordinator’s one-year term having expired in March of this year. Thus, assuming 

arguendo that defendant had a valid argument on appeal, the issue would now be moot.
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(3) any other sanction deemed just and proper.

N.C.R. App. P. 34(b).

¶ 18 Throughout this case, plaintiff has repeatedly and baselessly asserted that the 

2020 Order from which he appeals is a final order, despite the order’s interlocutory 

nature being apparent on its face, multiple admonitions from opposing counsel, and 

the fact that the sole purpose of the 2020 Order—namely, that of the trial court to 

appoint a parenting coordinator for a term of one year at a later date—has long since

been satisfied.

¶ 19 Plaintiff’s improper characterization of the 2020 Order, coupled with his

insistence to pursue this frivolous appeal, was “not well-grounded in fact[,]” “was not 

warranted by existing law[,]” “needless[ly] increase[d] . . . the cost of litigation[,]” and 

“grossly disregarded the requirements of a fair presentation of the issues” to this 

Court. See N.C.R. App. P. 34(a). Indeed, this Court now receives an appeal devoid of 

anything for us to review.

¶ 20 We therefore tax both plaintiff in his personal capacity and plaintiff’s counsel 

with double the costs of this appeal, as well as the attorney fees incurred therefrom

by defendant in the defense of this appeal. “Pursuant to Rule 34(c), we remand this 

case to the trial court for a determination of the reasonable amount of attorney fees 

incurred by defendant in responding to this appeal.” Ritter v. Ritter, 176 N.C. App. 

181, 185, 625 S.E.2d 886, 888-89 (2006).
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III. Conclusion

¶ 21 For the foregoing reasons, we dismiss the appeal as interlocutory. 

Furthermore, because plaintiff pursued a frivolous appeal, we, on our own initiative, 

impose sanctions on both plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel, remanding for the trial 

court to determine attorney fees.

DISMISSED AND REMANDED.

Judges MURPHY and CARPENTER concur.