Case Name: LENA HARRINGTON v. LEE WALTER TAYLOR
Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Decision Date: 1945-12-12
Citations: 225 N.C. 690
Docket Number: 
Parties: LENA HARRINGTON v. LEE WALTER TAYLOR.
Judges: 
Reporter: North Carolina Reports
Volume: 225
Pages: 690–691

Head Matter:
LENA HARRINGTON v. LEE WALTER TAYLOR.
(Filed 12 December, 1945.)
Contracts § 5—
There is no consideration for a promise to reimburse plaintiff for injuries suffered by her, when plaintiff saved defendant from serious injury or death by interposing herself between defendant and his assailant in a fight.
Appeal by plaintiff from Olive, Special Judge, at May, 1945, Civil Term, of RichmoNd.
George S. Steele, Jr., for plaintiff, appellant.
No counsel contra.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Tbe plaintiff in this case sought to recover of tbe defendant upon a promise made by him under tbe following peculiar circumstances :
Tbe defendant bad assaulted bis wife, who took refuge in plaintiff's bouse. Tbe next day tbe defendant gained access to tbe bouse and began another assault upon bis wife. The defendant's wife knocked him down with an axe, and was on the point of cutting bis bead open or decapitating him while be was laying on the floor, and the plaintiff intervened, caught the axe as it was descending, and the blow intended for defendant fell upon her band, mutilating it badly, but saving defendant's life.
Subsequently, defendant orally promised to pay the plaintiff her damages; but, after paying a small sum, failed to pay anything more. So, substantially, states the complaint.
The defendant demurred to the complaint as not stating a cause of action, and the demurrer was sustained. Plaintiff appealed.
The question presented is whether there was a consideration recognized by our law as sufficient to support the promise. The Court is of the opinion that however much the defendant should be impelled by common gratitude to alleviate the plaintiff's misfortune, a humanitarian act of this kind, voluntarily performed, is not such consideration as would entitle her to recover at law.
The judgment sustaining the demurrer is
Affirmed.