Volume 5 — North Carolina Court of Appeals Reports

1. Contracts 6 — applicability of statute requiring contractor to have license The applicability of the general contractors licensing statute, G.S. Ch. <cross_reference>87</cross_reference>, Art. 1, is determined by the cost of the undertaking and not by the amount of any separate progress payment required by the contract. 2. Contracts 6 — unlicensed contractor — action for breach of contract or quantum meruit When an unlicensed person contracts with an owner to erect a building<page_number>Page 13</page_number> costing more than the minimum sum specified in G.S. <cross_reference>87-1</cross_reference>, he may not recover for the owner's breach of the contract, nor may he recover the value of the work and services furnished under the contract on the theory of quantum meruit or unjust enrichment. 3. Contracts 6 — action for breach of contract — contractor unlicensed when contract entered In an action by a general contractor to recover an amount allegedly due for construction of a house costing more than $20,000, the trial court properly allowed plaintiff's plea in bar where it was stipulated that the contractor had previously held a valid general contractor's license but that the license had expired prior to the time the contract sued upon was entered and was not thereafter renewed, the fact that plaintiff contractor had at one time held a valid license but failed to pay the renewal fee required by G.S. <cross_reference>87-10</cross_reference> not amounting to a "substantial compliance" with the licensing requirements of G.S. Ch. <cross_reference>87</cross_reference>, Art. 1, since the renewal fee is not merely for revenue purposes but bears a substantial relationship to the accomplishment of the purposes of the statute, and the annual renewal is an important, not merely perfunctory, requirement necessary to accomplish the protective public purpose of the statute. 4. Professions and Occupations; Administrative Law 4 — revocation of license — procedures — failure to pay statutory renewal fee Provisions of G.S. Ch. <cross_reference>150</cross_reference> setting forth uniform procedures to be followed in the revocation of licenses do not apply where renewal of a license is withheld for failure to pay a statutory renewal fee. G.S. 150-10(3). 5. Pleadings 15; Trial 49 — motion for new hearing on plea in bar — newly discovered evidence The trial court did not err in the denial of plaintiff's motion for a rehearing on defendant's plea in bar on the ground of newly discovered evidence where there was no showing that plaintiff did not have full knowledge of the facts referred to in its motion at the time of the hearing on the plea in bar, there was no showing as to why, in the exercise of due diligence, plaintiff failed to present evidence concerning such facts at the hearing, and it is not clearly apparent that a different result would be reached upon a new hearing. 6. Professions and Occupations; Contracts 6 — knowledge by customer that contractor is unlicensed The general contractors licensing statute does not authorize a person with whom an unlicensed contractor deals to waive the requirements of the statute, nor does it grant the unlicensed contractor immunity merely because he advises the customer that he is acting in violation of the statute.

1. Master and Servant 55 — Workmen's Compensation Act — injuries compensable The Workmen's Compensation Act is not intended to provide general health and accident insurance, but its purpose is to provide compensation for those injuries which result from accidents which arise out of and in the course of the employment. 2. Master and Servant 96 — review of Industrial Commission's findings Where there is sufficient competent evidence to support the Industrial Commission's findings of fact, the Court of Appeals is bound thereby. 3. Master and Servant 60 — course of employment — travel Ordinarily, employees whose work entails travel away from the employer's premises are within the course of their employment continuously during the trip, except when a distinct departure on a personal errand is shown. 4. Master and Servant 56, 60 — course of employment — procurement of meals Findings that the deceased employee was attending a training program<page_number>Page 38</page_number> in another state at the request of his employer, that the employer paid all expenses for the trip including meals and lodging, that at the conclusion of the day's classes the employee returned to his hotel and joined several companions for a walk to a steakhouse for supper, that the employee and his friends deviated three or four blocks from their destination in order to sightsee but that at the time of the accident resulting in the employee's death they had resumed their walk to the restaurant, and that an automobile struck the employee as he was standing on the corner of an intersection, are held to support the Industrial Commission's conclusions (1) that a reasonable relationship existed between the employment and the procurement of the meal and (2) that the employee's death arose out of and in the course of employment. 5. Master and Servant 56 — Workmen's Compensation Act — causal relation between employment and accident An accident arises out of and in the course of the employment when it occurs while the employee is engaged in some activity or duty which he is authorized to undertake and which is calculated to further, directly or indirectly, the employer's business. 6. Master and Servant 93 — proceedings before the Commission — motion to offer additional evidence Motion to offer additional evidence on appeal before the Full Commission is addressed to the discretion of the Commission, whose ruling thereon is not reviewable in the absence of an abuse of discretion.