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12 N.C. App. 144

182 S.E.2d 647

McNeill v. Minter

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

Decided August 4, 1971

Court of Appeals of North Carolina · decided 1971-08-04

Relies on Peed v. Burleson's, Inc. · Wall v. Colvard, Inc. · 84 Cal. App. 2d 657 - Graner v. Hogsett

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1971-08-04

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently December 2012

6 state decisions

4019711980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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BRITT, Judge.

¶1 Defendant assigns as error the conclusion of law of the trial judge that “[t]he plaintiff was damaged by defendant’s deceit and conversion of real property to the extent and in the amount of $650.00, with six (6%) percent interest thereon from June 25,1968.” The assignment of error must be sustained.

¶2 “Conversion” is defined as “an unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to another, to the alteration of their condition or the exclusion of an owner’s rights.” (Emphasis ours.) Wall v. Colvard, Inc., 268 N.C. 43, 149 S.E. 2d 559 (1966) ; Peed v. *146 Burleson’s, Inc., 244 N.C. 437, 94 S.E. 2d 351 (1956) ; 89 C.J.S., Trover & Conversion, § 1, p. 531 (1955). While there appears to be no North Carolina case that expressly so holds, the language quoted above indicates that conversion applies only to goods and personal property and does not apply to real property. Other jurisdictions have expressed this view. See Graner v. Hogsett, 84 Cal. App. 2d 657, 191 P. 2d 497 (1948) and Eadus v. Hunter, 268 Mich. 233, 256 N.W. 323 (1934). C.J.S. states: “An action of trover lies only for the conversion of personal chattels. Such action does not lie for a wrongful deprivation of, or for injuries to, land or other real property . ...” 89 C.J.S., Trover & Conversion, § 11, p. 538 (1955).

¶3 As the trial judge erroneously concluded that there was a conversion of real property, the judgment based upon that conclusion is

¶4 Reversed.

Judges Morris and Parker concur.
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