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An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.

NO. COA01-566 NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 2 April 2002 ALLEN N. MARTIN, JANE R. COOPER S. GORDON KNOWLES, WILLIAM R. CHRISTY, and THOMAS G. CHRISTY, Plaintiffs, v. WILLIAM F. BADGETT, Individually and in his capacities as Executor of the Estate of Nannie G. Riggs, as Administrator of the Estate of James Wilkerson Gordon, a/k/a J. Wilkerson Gordon, Wick Gordon, J.W. Gordon, and as a partner of Badgett and Taylor, a North Carolina Partnership, RICHARD G. BADGETT, Individually and in his capacities as Executor of the Estate of Nannie G. Riggs, as Attorney for the Estate of James Wilkerson Gordon, a/k/a J. Wilkerson Gordon, Wick Gordon, J.W. Gordon, and as a partner of Badgett and Taylor, a North Carolina Partnership, and EMILY B. TAYLOR, as a partner of Badgett and Taylor, a North Carolina Partnership and as a legatee of the Estate of James Wilkerson Gordon and Nannie G. Riggs, and PATRICIA COE TODD, in her capacity of Clerk of Superior Court of Surry County, Defendants. Appeal by defendant from order entered 13 March 2001 by Judge James M. Webb in Surry County Superior Court. of Appeals 9 January 2001. Stone & Christy, P.A., by Bryant D. Webster and William H. Christy, for plaintiff-appellees. Heard in the Court Surry County No. 00 CVS 1877

-2Attorney General Roy Cooper, Special Deputy Attorney General Charles J. Murray, for defendant-appellants. BIGGS, Judge. This appeal arises out of the administration of the estates of James Wilkerson Gordon (Gordon), and Nannie G. Riggs (Riggs). Patricia Coe Todd, (defendant), the Clerk of Superior Court for Surry County, appeals from the trial court's denial of her motion to dismiss all claims against her. reverse the trial court. The plaintiffs are the heirs of Gordon and Riggs. Gordon died intestate on 13 December 1994, and defendant appointed Frank Badgett as administrator of Gordon's estate on 30 December 1994. Riggs, who was one of Gordon's heirs, died in 1996; defendant appointed Frank Badgett and his brother, Richard Badgett, coexecutors of Riggs' estate. Between 1996 and 2000, the Clerk's For the reasons that follow, we

office approved annual accountings of these estates, either by defendant personally, or through her assistant clerks. Plaintiffs filed suit on 7 December 2000, seeking compensatory and punitive damages, removal of jurisdiction from defendant to the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge, and removal of the executors of the estates. Plaintiffs alleged that the executors had

committed many irregularities in the administration of the two estates, including: the failure to record certain receipts and expenditures; no-interest loans from the estate to Frank and Richard Badgett; accountings that did not adequately account for estate assets; failure to pay federal estate taxes, and; depletion

-3of assets. The complaint alleged further, in count six, paragraph

18, that defendant had: a. Issued letters of administration to Frank Badgett without requiring a bond, b. Approved annual accountings that contained inaccuracies, and that "blatantly showed misconduct" by the executors, c. Approved annual accountings that included commissions paid to executors, without following proper procedures for payment of such commissions, d. Failed to "adequately supervise her staff," regarding annual accountings for estates, and e. Failed to monitor these estates, resulting in the depletion of estate assets by the executors. On 26 January 2001, defendant filed a motion to dismiss, under N.C.G.S.

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