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NO. COA12-81 NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 21 August 2012 SHARON A. KEYES, Plaintiff, v. W. GLENN JOHNSON, Guardian of the Estate of Nelson T. Currin, Defendant. Harnett County No. 11 CVS 000117

Appeal and Error -- applicable order

preservation

of

issues

--

appeal

from

The trial court correctly granted summary judgment for defendant on a claim by plaintiff for attorney fees after the Clerk of Court removed plaintiff as attorney of record in a guardianship proceeding. Plaintiff did not appeal the guardianship order and therefore did not challenge its findings, even though it was not interlocutory (a substantial right was affected).

NO. COA12-81 NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 21 August 2012 SHARON A. KEYES, Plaintiff, v. W. GLENN JOHNSON, Guardian of the Estate of Nelson T. Currin, Defendant. Appeal by Plaintiff from order entered 30 August 2011 by Judge Lucy N. Inman in Harnett County Superior Court. the Court of Appeals 23 May 2012. Sharon A. Keyes, for Plaintiff-Appellant. Narron, O'Hale & Whittington, PA, by James W. Narron and Matthew S. McGonagle, for Defendant-Appellee. BEASLEY, Judge. Sharon A. Keyes (Plaintiff) appeals from an order granting summary judgment in favor of W. Glenn Johnson, Guardian of the Estate of Nelson T. Currin (Defendant). For the following Heard in Harnett County No. 11 CVS 000117

reasons, we affirm. Plaintiff commenced this action by filing a complaint on 20 January 2011 alleging breach of contract and asking to recover legal fees incurred while she represented Defendant's Ward,

-2Nelson Currin (Nelson). The legal fees Plaintiff seeks to

recover stem from Plaintiff's representation of Nelson Currin in his guardianship proceeding in 2009. the trial court on the matter Plaintiff appeared before to represent both

purporting

Nelson and his wife Coma Lee Currin (Coma Lee).

A motion to

remove Plaintiff as attorney of record, alleging there was a direct conflict of interest in representing both Nelson and Coma Lee, was filed on 22 September 2009. A hearing on that motion

was held on 12 November 2009, and Plaintiff was present at and participated in that hearing. the trial court allowed the By order filed 17 November 2009, motion to remove Plaintiff as

attorney of record for Nelson. Defendant moved for summary judgment on Plaintiff's A hearing

complaint filed 20 January 2011 and on 15 June 2011. on Defendant's motion was held on 22 August 2011. 2011, the trial court entered an order granting

On 30 August Defendant's

motion for summary judgment.

On 20 September 2011, Plaintiff

filed a notice of appeal to this Court from the 30 August 2011 order. Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting Defendant's motion for summary judgment. We disagree.

-3A motion for summary judgment shall be granted "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and

admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Gen. Stat.

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