Court Opinion

ID: 9849899
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:49:05.11283+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:28.168359
License: Public Domain

Judge Baley
dissenting.
In Atkinson v. Wilkerson, 10 N.C. App. 643, 179 S.E. 2d 872 (1971), this Court held the written agreement between the defendant and Atkinson for removal of sand and gravel from Atkinson’s land to be invalid. The majority now holds that the oral agreement for removal of sand and gravel admitted by both parties is unenforceable, and defendant is liable to plaintiff for the full amount he received from the sale of the sand and gravel, leaving him no profit and no compensation for the time, labor, *339and funds which he expended in removing and selling it. In my view, the applicable law does not require this inequitable result.
Both the defendant and Atkinson understood that the defendant had permission to be on the land and to remove sand and gravel; yet, because the written agreement was declared invalid, defendant is being treated as if he had stolen the sand and gravel. The record discloses that over a period of more than three years from 1966 to 1969 Atkinson had knowingly permitted the defendant to remove sand and gravel from his land and had received eleven separate payments for such materials in the total amount of $4,183.22. The entire sales price received by defendant for the materials removed was $8,667.53.
In my judgment the defendant in reality was not a trespasser but a licensee. Even though the agreement between defendant and Atkinson did not create a profit a prendre, it did create a license. A license can be created orally and is not subject to the statute of frauds. Restatement of Property, § 515 (1944) ; Webster, Real Estate Law in North Carolina, § 311; see Mordecai, Law Lectures 463-64, 835. When an attempt to create an easement or profit a prendre is ineffective because of defects in the written document or because there is no written document, a license is created. Whitaker v. Cawthorne, 14 N.C. 389 (defective writing); Mertz v. J. M. Covington Corp., 470 P. 2d 532 (Alas. 1970) (no writing); Towles v. Hodges, 235 Miss. 258, 108 So. 2d 884 (1959) (no writing); 3 Powell, Real Property, § 429; Restatement of Property, § 514; Webster, supra, § 311. A license is defined as “a permission or waiver permitting the licensee to do acts upon the land which would otherwise be a trespass.” Webster, supra, § 310. It differs from an easement or profit a prendre primarily in that it is freely revocable at the will of the licensor. Hutchins v. Durham, 118 N.C. 457, 24 S.E. 723; R. R. v. R. R., 104 N.C. 658, 10 S.E. 659; 3 Powell, supra, § 428; Restatement of Property, § 519; Webster, supra, § 312. The difference is not significant in this case because the license was not revoked during the period involved.
Since defendant had a license from Atkinson allowing him to take sand and gravel from Atkinson’s land, he was not a trespasser and did not wrongfully convert the materials to his use. After removing the sand and gravel, he sold it and paid Atkinson part of the proceeds as the oral contract between the parties required. Whether the $4,183.22 paid to Atkinson was as large *340a payment as the contract required, and whether Atkinson’s acceptance of the $4,183.22 estopped him to demand a larger sum, are issues as to which there may be conflict. They must be decided at trial rather than by summary judgment.
My vote is to remand for trial.