#### EUNICE C. ECKARD, Executrix of the Estate of Steven Vincent Eckard, Deceased, and STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, ex rel. Eunice C. Eckard, Executrix of the Estate of Steven Vincent Eckard, Deceased v. CHANAE EVON SMITH, MARK STEPHEN McCOLLUM, STEVE WALLACE, PHILLIP H. REDMOND, Sheriff of Iredell County, HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, and IREDELL COUNTY

No. 573A04

(Filed 7 October 2005)

Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 166 N.C. App. 312, 603 S.E.2d 134 (2004), affirming orders entered on 5 June 2001 by Judge Sanford L. Steelman, Jr. and on 17 April 2002 by Judge Mark E. Klass in Superior Court, Iredell County. Heard in the Supreme Court 14 September 2005.

Wilson, Lackey & Rohr, RC., by David S. Lackey, for plaintiff-appellant Eckard.

Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, LLP, by F. Fincher Jarrell and Wayne P. Huckel, for defendant-appellees McCollum, Wallace, Redmond, Hartford Fire Insurance Company, and Iredell County.

PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED.