{
  "id": 132078,
  "name": "BEECHRIDGE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, LLC v. LAURENCE E. DAHNERS, ELEANOR S. DAHNERS, TERRY R. KITSON, PAULA A. SHERMAN, DAVID B. CRAIG, Trustee, BANCPLUS MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JANE F. BURRILL, JOHN S. BURRILL, TIM, INC., Trustee, NATIONSBANK OF NORTH CAROLINA, NA, and ORANGE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY",
  "name_abbreviation": "Beechridge Development Co. v. Dahners",
  "decision_date": "1999-06-25",
  "docket_number": "No. 101A99",
  "first_page": "583",
  "last_page": "584",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "350 N.C. 583"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C.",
    "id": 9292,
    "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 5,
    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
  },
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    {
      "cite": "511 S.E.2d 18",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1999,
      "opinion_index": -1
    },
    {
      "cite": "132 N.C. App. 181",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C. App.",
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        11237310
      ],
      "year": 1999,
      "opinion_index": 0,
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        "/nc-app/132/0181-01"
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    {
      "cite": "511 S.E.2d 18",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1999,
      "pin_cites": [
        {
          "page": "21"
        }
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0
    }
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T14:46:00.917666+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "BEECHRIDGE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, LLC v. LAURENCE E. DAHNERS, ELEANOR S. DAHNERS, TERRY R. KITSON, PAULA A. SHERMAN, DAVID B. CRAIG, Trustee, BANCPLUS MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JANE F. BURRILL, JOHN S. BURRILL, TIM, INC., Trustee, NATIONSBANK OF NORTH CAROLINA, NA, and ORANGE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "PER CURIAM.\nPlaintiff Beechridge Development Company acquired an undeveloped tract of property adjacent to defendants\u2019 Morgan Creek Hills property. Plaintiff intended to use a \u201cpublic easement\u201d found on the recorded plat to defendants\u2019 property for the installation of a sanitary sewer line to service plaintiff\u2019s tract. Using extrinsic evidence, the trial court found in favor of plaintiff, concluding that \u201cMorgan Creek Hills . . . intended the recording of the Plat to be an offer of dedication of the Easement described on the Plat as a public easement for acceptance as a sanitary sewer easement.\u201d The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court\u2019s order, holding that the trial court erred by relying on extrinsic evidence when the plain language of defendants\u2019 recorded plat did not allow for a sanitary sewer line within the parameters of the term \u201cpublic easement.\u201d Beechridge Dev. Co. v. Dahners, 132 N.C. App. 181,-, 511 S.E.2d 18, 21 (1999). We reverse.\nThe term \u201cpublic easement\u201d is neither ambiguous nor silent as to the scope of an easement. \u201c[A] public easement is one the right to the enjoyment of which is vested in the public generally or in an entire community; such as an easement of passage on the public streets and highways or of navigation on a stream.\u201d Black\u2019s Law Dictionary 510 (6th ed. 1990). This encompasses a wide variety of public uses, including a sanitary sewer line. See 11A Eugene McQuillen, The Law of Municipal Corporations \u00a7 33.74, at 513 (3d ed. 1991). Accordingly, there is no need to resort to extrinsic evidence because this was a public easement, thus including a sanitary sewer line.\nTherefore, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and remand to that court for further remand to the Superior Court, Orange County, for entry of an order consistent with this opinion.\nREVERSED AND REMANDED.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "PER CURIAM."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Northen Blue, LLP, by David M. Rooks, III, for plaintiff-appellant.",
      "Beemer, Savery & Hadler, by Wayne R. Hadler and Jeffrey A. Jones; and Rightsell, Eggleston & Forrester, LLP, by Donald P. Eggleston, for defendant-appellees Laurence and Eleanor Dahners, Terry Kitson, Paula Sherman, and Jane and John Burrill."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "BEECHRIDGE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, LLC v. LAURENCE E. DAHNERS, ELEANOR S. DAHNERS, TERRY R. KITSON, PAULA A. SHERMAN, DAVID B. CRAIG, Trustee, BANCPLUS MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JANE F. BURRILL, JOHN S. BURRILL, TIM, INC., Trustee, NATIONSBANK OF NORTH CAROLINA, NA, and ORANGE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY\nNo. 101A99\n(Filed 25 June 1999)\nEasements\u2014 public easement \u2014 sanitary sewer line\nA \u201cpublic easement\u201d on the recorded plat of defendant\u2019s property included use of the easement for a sanitary sewer line to serve plaintiff\u2019s adjacent property.\nAppeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 132 N.C. App.-, 511 S.E.2d 18 (1999), reversing a judgment signed 24 October 1997 by Battle, J., in Superior Court, Orange County. Heard in the Supreme Court 12 May 1999.\nNorthen Blue, LLP, by David M. Rooks, III, for plaintiff-appellant.\nBeemer, Savery & Hadler, by Wayne R. Hadler and Jeffrey A. Jones; and Rightsell, Eggleston & Forrester, LLP, by Donald P. Eggleston, for defendant-appellees Laurence and Eleanor Dahners, Terry Kitson, Paula Sherman, and Jane and John Burrill."
  },
  "file_name": "0583-01",
  "first_page_order": 635,
  "last_page_order": 636
}