Court Opinion

ID: 9852802
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:37:11.571281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:34.887096
License: Public Domain

McGEE, Judge,
dissenting.
Defendant argues in his assignment of error on appeal that the trial court’s conclusion of law that defendant placed plaintiff in fear of imminent serious bodily injury is unsupported by the trial court’s findings of fact. The majority agrees, relying on the trial court’s finding that plaintiff testified she was not afraid defendant would physically hurt her and discounting the trial court’s subsequent finding that plaintiff was in actual fear of serious bodily harm. Because I believe the trial court’s conclusion of law is supported by its findings of fact, I dissent.
Defendant does not challenge on appeal the trial court’s conclusion that the requirement of serious bodily injury under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-l(a)(2) may be satisfied through emotional injury. Defendant instead attacks the trial court’s finding of fact that plaintiff was in actual fear of imminent serious bodily injury in the form of emotional injury arising from defendant’s behavior. However, because defendant did not assign error to the trial court’s findings of *439fact on appeal, we must presume those findings of fact to be correct. See Inspirational Network, Inc. v. Combs, 131 N.C. App. 231, 235-36, 506 S.E.2d 754, 758 (1998). I would therefore hold that the trial court’s challenged conclusion of law is supported by its finding of fact that defendant placed plaintiff in actual fear of imminent serious bodily injury, in the form of an emotional injury arising from defendant’s behavior.
The majority has instead apparently concluded that the trial court’s finding that plaintiff testified she was not afraid defendant would physically harm her conflicts with and overrules the trial court’s finding that plaintiff actually feared imminent serious bodily injury. I find no such conflict between the two findings. Insofar as serious bodily injury may be suffered through emotional injury, a lack of fear of physical injury in no way precludes fear of emotional injury. Plaintiff could very well have one fear and not the other.
Moreover, the trial court did not actually find that plaintiff lacked fear of physical injury. The trial court found only that plaintiff, a twelve-year-old child, testified to that effect. As our Court stated in State v. Sessoms, 119 N.C. App. 1, 6, 458 S.E.2d. 200, 203 (1995), aff'd per curiam, 342 N.C. 892, 467 S.E.2d 243, cert. denied, 519 U.S. 873, 136 L. Ed. 2d 129 (1996),
the trial judge is present for the full sensual effect of the spoken word, with the nuances of meaning revealed in pitch, mimicry and gestures, appearances and postures, shrillness and stridency, calmness and composure, all of which add to or detract from the force of spoken words.
The trial judge’s findings, therefore, which turn in large part on the credibility of the witnesses, must be given great deference by this Court.
(citing State v. Porter, 326 N.C. 489, 391 S.E.2d 144 (1990)). In applying that reasoning in Brandon v. Brandon, 132 N.C. App. 646, 652, 513 S.E.2d 589, 594 (1999), we stated:
We emphasize that the trial court was present to see and hear the inflections, tone, and temperament of the witnesses, and that we are forced to review a cold record. We cannot say that the inferences drawn by the trial court from the evidence were unreasonable; therefore we are bound by this portion of the trial court’s finding.
*440I see no reason why a trial court could not listen to a minor plaintiff testify that she was not afraid of a defendant but, after observing her demeanor and hearing the rest of her testimony, nonetheless conclude that the minor plaintiff was indeed afraid. I therefore see no inherent contradiction between two findings of fact, one which finds that a twelve-year-old child testified she had no fear of her father and the other finding that she in fact feared him. Where, as in the present case, the sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court’s findings of fact is not an issue before us on appeal, only an inherent contradiction between findings of fact should lead us to discount one in favor of another.
For the above reasons, I would overrule defendant’s assignment of error and affirm the trial court’s order.