Court Opinion

ID: 9567334
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:52:33.627944+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:33.188877
License: Public Domain

Judge Johnson
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion which reverses and remands the trial court’s order.
I find that the Commission did in fact state a specific reason as to why it declined to adopt the AU’s conclusions; that is, that the conclusions of law “are inaccurate statements and are not supported by the substantial evidence in the record.” The uncontroverted evidence in the record reveals that petitioner, without authority and knowing that it was against his department’s guidelines, took the 300ZX from storage; and converted it to his own personal use for three months, during which time the vehicle was driven some 1834 miles. The evidence is also uncontroverted that petitioner, when confronted, initially denied taking the vehicle from storage, and only returned the vehicle when his employer discovered that petitioner had removed the vehicle from storage and converted it to his own personal use. Thus, there is substantial competent evidence in the record which *320supports the findings of fact of the AU, adopted by the Commission, which in turn, supports the conclusions of law reached by the Commission. The findings support only one conclusion which is contrary to the AU’s conclusions of law.
I find no merit in petitioner’s issues regarding the procedural violations because petitioner is unable to show that a different result would have been reached, had the internal procedures been followed. See Leipart v. N.C. School of Arts, 80 N.C. App. 339, 342 S.E.2d 914, cert. denied, 318 N.C. 507, 349 S.E.2d 862 (1986).
Accordingly, the trial court’s holding that (1) the findings of fact in the Decision and Order of the AU were supported by competent and substantial evidence in view of the whole record, and (2) the findings of the AU adopted by the Commission support the Commission’s conclusions of law were correct. Therefore, I vote to affirm.