Plaintiff Road, LLC, owned an isthmus that provided the sole means of access to the “Point Tract,” which the plaintiff-developer planned to develop, and the developer had agreed to pay Road, LLC, $5 million for the isthmus. The developer’s option ...
Read More »Contract – Damages – Real Property – Road to Development
Contract – Contract interpretation affirmed because of party’s waiver 
Where a food manufacturer prevailed on its breach of contract counterclaim because its contract with a food buyer was unambiguous, the decision was affirmed. The decision found that even if the contract was ambiguous, it led to the same result, ...
Read More »Contract – Government Construction Project – Failure to Require Bond – Contract Balance 
Even though the defendant Military Department violated the Subcontractors’ and Suppliers’ Payment Protection Act by failing to require the defendant-general contractor to obtain a payment bond, since the department had already paid the contractor the total amount due on the ...
Read More »Contract – Secured Transactions – Heavy Equipment – ‘Fixture’ 
Debtors contended that a 60-ton pelletizing machine (Pelletizer) was a fixture secured by a mortgage they granted to a non-party, but nothing in the mortgage documents indicated an intent that the Pelletizer was to become a fixture; moreover, defendants did ...
Read More »Contract – N.C. ‘flooding’ lawsuit against railroad resurrected 
Where residents of Lumberton, North Carolina, alleged a railroad prevented the city from closing a dike across the railroad’s tracks, in contravention of a contract between the railroad and city, resulting in significant damage to their properties from Hurricanes Matthew ...
Read More »Contract – Oil and gas lessee may shift portion of post-production costs 
Where an oil and gas lease provided a method for calculating the amount to be deducted from the royalty for post-production costs, it sufficiently rebutted the presumption that the lessee bears all post-production costs and allowed an allocation of some ...
Read More »Contract – Settlement Agreement – Performance Dates – Incomplete Performance 
After the plaintiff-parents defaulted on a 2006 loan from their daughter, defendant Marilyn Dillon, in 2013, the parties entered into a settlement agreement requiring the sale of certain Charleston County property that served as security for the loan. Although daughter ...
Read More »Contract – Erroneous admission of evidence prompted new trial 
Where defendants’ compromise statements were erroneously admitted to prove the validity of the plaintiff’s claim for a commission on the sale of industrial property, and the error was not harmless, the defendants were entitled to a new trial. Background A ...
Read More »Contract – Mechanic’s Lien – Untimely – Uninstalled Cabinets 
Even though the plaintiff-contractor now asserts that its work continued longer, it is bound by the dates asserted in its complaint and on the face of the mechanic’s lien it filed. Where the lien and complaint assert that the contractor ...
Read More »Contract – Only parties to contract can invoke fees provision 
Where a real estate contract was expected to close in 2008 but did not close until 2017, a suit brought by an entity entitled to receive certain expenses at closing was timely as it was filed within three years of ...
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