Court Opinion

ID: 9615555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:38:06.814954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:48.839224
License: Public Domain

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting in part.
While I concur in the majority opinion as to the issue of defendants’ business damages, I disagree that the trial court’s “mixed finding of fact and conclusion of law . . . forms an inadequate basis for this Court to conduct a review and assess appellants’ contentions.”
*459A trial court’s duty pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 52 to find facts and state its conclusions separately “merely [serves] to provide a basis for appellate review.” Winston-Salem Wrecker Ass’n v. Barker, 148 N.C. App. 114, 119, 557 S.E.2d 614, 618 (2001) (citing Mashburn v. First Investors Corp., 111 N.C. App. 398, 432 S.E,2d 869 (1993)). The appellate review this Court must be able to conduct consists of a determination of whether (1) the trial court’s findings of fact are supported by competent evidence and (2) the trial court’s conclusions of law are supported by its findings of fact. Creech v. Ranmar Props., 146 N.C. App. 97, 100, 551 S.E.2d 224, 227 (2001), cert. denied, 356 N.C. 160, 568 S.E.2d 191 (2002).
In this case, the trial court found defendants had used part of the 0.4 acre tract they claimed by adverse possession as a parking lot. The trial court further found that “since at least 1980, there ha[d] been a large billboard on the property facing 1-85. The billboard [was] not owned by [defendants] and ha[d] been maintained and used by others without permission from [defendants].” Based on these findings, the trial court concluded defendants had failed to show exclusive and hostile possession of the disputed property and therefore could not establish adverse possession to any portion of the 0.4 acre tract.
Because the trial court’s findings and conclusion, although commingled, are clear, they do not foreclose meaningful judicial review and should therefore be considered by this Court. See Barker, 148 N.C. App. at 119, 557 S.E.2d at 618. Because, however, the trial court’s conclusion is not supported by its findings, I would reverse and remand the issue of adverse possession. The billboard, the existence of which was determinative to the trial court in reaching its conclusion, occupied only a portion of the tract claimed by defendants, leaving the trial court to consider whether defendants could assert a right by adverse possession to the remaining portion of the tract. As the trial court failed to do so, this case must be remanded for a determination of whether defendants have a right by adverse possession to the remaining portion of the tract.