Preview:

An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority.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. COA12-1374 NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 18 June 2013 CHRISTOPHER D. ROGERS, Plaintiff, v. CHARLES E. SMITHSON, Defendant. Pitt County No. 10 CVS 3342

Appeal by Unnamed Defendants from order entered 25 July 2012 by Judge Marvin K. Blount, III in Superior Court, Pitt County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 23 April 2013. White and James R. Streeter for Plaintiff-

Robert L. Appellee.

Young Moore and Henderson, P.A., by Glenn C. Raynor, for Unnamed Defendants-Appellants Progressive Direct Insurance Company and Progressive Universal Insurance Company. McGEE, Judge. Christopher D. Rogers (Plaintiff) alleged that he was

injured when an all-terrain vehicle he was operating was struck by an automobile driven by named defendant Charles E. Smithson (Smithson). 29 November Plaintiff initiated this action against Smithson on 2010. Plaintiff placed two insurance carriers,

-2American Reliable Insurance Company (American Reliable) and

Progressive Direct Insurance Company (Progressive Direct), on notice of the claims asserted Direct against Smithson. filed American answers to

Reliable

and

Progressive complaint, motion, the as

separately party

Plaintiff's Plaintiff's

unnamed court

defendants. default

Upon against

trial

entered

Smithson on 15 November 2011. Progressive Direct filed a consent motion for declaratory judgment on 20 Direct December afforded 2011 no seeking insurance declaration coverage for that the

"Progressive

accident for which [P]laintiff claimed damages in the original complaint." January A hearing on the consent motion was conducted on 17 At the end of the hearing, the trial court

2012.

announced its ruling that Progressive Direct "would be required to afford [uninsured but did not it motorist/underinsured enter with its order Clerk by of motorist] it to

coverage[,]" writing and

reducing Superior

filing

the

Court.

Progressive Direct was joined by unnamed defendant Progressive Universal Insurance Company (together with Progressive Direct, Unnamed Defendants) in filing a motion for reconsideration of the 20 December 2011 motion for declaratory judgment. By order

entered 25 July 2012, the trial court denied Unnamed Defendants'

-3motion to reconsider. Unnamed Defendants filed notice of appeal

from the 25 July 2012 order. I. The dispositive issue in this matter is whether Unnamed Defendants' purported appeal is properly before us. that it is not and dismiss. Unnamed Defendants "acknowledge that the better reasoned We hold

analysis on these facts would probably result in a conclusion that the trial court's Order denying We agree. to reconsider are the Motion for

Reconsideration is interlocutory." "Orders interlocutory." denying . . . a

motion

Zairy v. VKO, Inc., __ N.C. App. __, __, 712

S.E.2d 392, 394 (2011) (citations omitted); see also Leonard v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 57 N.C. App. 553, 554, 291 S.E.2d 828, 829 (1982). The trial court did not certify the order

under N.C. Gen. Stat.

Download 12-1374.pdf

South Carolina Law