IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA
No. COA16-292
Filed: 15 November 2016
Chatham County, No. 14 CV S778
DANIEL HIRSCHMAN, JASON & JOAN HICKEY, WILLIAM HLAVAC,
CHRISTOPHER & AMY GAMBER, JAMES MILLER, JEFFREY C. PUGH and
JANICE M. RIVERO, Petitioners,
v.
CHATHAM COUNTY, Respondent.
Appeal by petitioners from Order entered 29 October 2015 by Judge Paul C.
Ridgeway in Chatham County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 21
September 2016.
The Brough Law Firm, PLLC, by G. Nicholas Herman, for petitioners.
Poyner Spruill, LLP, by Richard J. Rose, for respondent Chatham County.
Smith Moore Leatherwood, LLP, by Karen M. Kemerait and M. Gray Styers,
Jr., for respondents New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC and American Tower,
LLC.
ELMORE, Judge.
Daniel Hirschman, Jason and Joan Hickey, William Hlavac, Christopher and
Amy Gamber, James Miller, and Jeffrey C. Pugh and Janice M. Rivero (petitioners)
appeal from the Chatham County Superior Court’s order dismissing with prejudice
their petition for writ of certiorari. After careful review, we affirm.
HIRSCHMAN V. CHATHAM CNTY.
Opinion of the Court
I. Background
According to the petition, on 30 April 2014, American Tower, LLC and AT&T
Mobility (the applicant) applied to Chatham County (respondent) for a conditional-
use permit to erect and operate a monopole telecommunications tower. The Chatham
County Board of Commissioners (BOC) held a quasi-judicial hearing on the matter
on 16 June 2014, and it forwarded the application to the county planning board for a
recommendation. On 5 August 2014, the county planning board recommended that
the conditional-use permit be approved. The BOC held a meeting on 15 September
2014 in which it granted the conditional-use permit by adopting a resolution. The
BOC’s decision was filed with the clerk of the BOC on 6 October 2014.
Petitioners are citizens and residents of Chatham County who live “within
plain view” of the proposed tower. On 31 October 2014, petitioners filed a “Petition
for Review in the Nature of Certiorari,” seeking review of the BOC’s decision to grant
the applicant a conditional-use permit. Petitioners alleged that they had standing to
bring the petition because they were “owners of residences and lots in close proximity
to the tower site such that the tower will be plainly visible from [p]etitioners’
properties,” and they “will sustain a diminution in the fair market values of their
properties and an impairment of the residential integrity and character of their
community.”
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Opinion of the Court
On 10 November 2014, the Chatham County Superior Court issued a writ of
certiorari. Respondent filed a response to the petition and a motion to dismiss,
arguing that the petition was deficient in that petitioners failed to name the applicant
as a respondent as required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e). Thus, respondent
claimed that the superior court lacked jurisdiction. Second, respondent argued that
petitioners lacked standing because there was no evidence to establish that they
would suffer special damages. On 30 April 2015, petitioners filed a “motion for entry
of consent order allowing motion to intervene, or, in the alternative, for an order to
include the applicant and other parties designated in the consent order [to] be added
as respondents.”
After a hearing on respondent’s motion, the trial court entered an order
concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the cause “because the
appeal was not properly perfected in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160[A]-393(e)
in that the [p]etitioners were not the applicants before the decision-making board
whose decision is being appealed, and the [p]etitioners failed to name the applicants,
AT&T and American Towers, as respondents in their petition.” Accordingly, the trial
court granted respondent’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the petition with
prejudice. Petitioners appeal.
II. Analysis
“The appellate court reviews de novo an order of the trial court allowing a
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Opinion of the Court
motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction[.]” Cooke v. Faulkner, 137
N.C. App. 755, 757, 529 S.E.2d 512, 513 (2000) (citation omitted).
Petitioners argue that their failure to name the applicant as a respondent in
the petition did not deprive the trial court of subject matter jurisdiction, relying
exclusively on our holding in MYC Klepper/Brandon Knolls L.L.C. v. Board of
Adjustment for City of Asheville, 238 N.C. App. 432, 436–37, 767 S.E.2d 668, 671
(2014). Respondent claims that the trial court correctly dismissed the petition
because petitioners failed to comply with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e), which
constituted a jurisdictional defect. Alternatively, pursuant to Rule 10(c)1 of the North
Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure, respondent argues that the petition must be
dismissed because petitioners lack standing.
When deciding special use permits or conditional use
permits, the board of county commissioners or planning
board shall follow quasi-judicial procedures. . . . Every
such decision of the board of county commissioners or
planning board shall be subject to review of the superior
court in the nature of certiorari consistent with G.S. 160A-
388.
1 N.C. R. App. P. 10(c) (2016) provides:
Without taking an appeal, an appellee may list proposed issues on
appeal in the record on appeal based on any action or omission of the
trial court that was properly preserved for appellate review and that
deprived the appellee of an alternative basis in law for supporting the
judgment, order, or other determination from which appeal has been
taken.
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Opinion of the Court
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 153A-340(c1) (2015). Section 160A-388(e2)(2) provides: “Every
quasi-judicial decision shall be subject to review by the superior court by proceedings
in the nature of certiorari pursuant to G.S. 160A-393.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-
388(e2)(2) (2015). Furthermore, “[a] petition for review shall be filed with the clerk
of superior court by the later of 30 days after the decision is effective or after a written
copy thereof is given in accordance with subdivision (1) of this subsection.” Id.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393, entitled “Appeals in the nature of certiorari,”
applies to “appeals of quasi-judicial decisions of decision-making boards when that
appeal is to superior court and in the nature of certiorari as required by this Article.”
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(a) (2015); see also 2009 N.C. Sess. Law 2009-421 (“An act
to clarify the law regarding appeals of quasi-judicial decisions made under Article 19
of Chapter 160A and Article 18 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes.”). “An
appeal in the nature of certiorari shall be initiated by filing with the superior court a
petition for writ of certiorari.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(c). Relevant here,
subsection (e), entitled “Respondent” provides:
The respondent named in the petition shall be the city
whose decision-making board made the decision that is
being appealed, except that if the petitioner is a city that
has filed a petition pursuant to subdivision (4) of
subsection (d) of this section, then the respondent shall be
the decision-making board. If the petitioner is not the
applicant before the decision-making board whose decision
is being appealed, the petitioner shall also name that
applicant as a respondent. . . .
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Opinion of the Court
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e) (emphasis added). “Our appellate courts have
consistently held that the use of the word ‘shall’ in a statute indicates what actions
are required or mandatory.” Morningstar Marinas/Eaton Ferry, LLC v. Warren
Cnty., 233 N.C. App. 23, 28, 755 S.E.2d 75, 79, disc. review denied, 367 N.C. 508, 758
S.E.2d 862 (2014), and aff’d, 368 N.C. 360, 777 S.E.2d 733 (2015).
Here, respondent directs our attention to two unpublished opinions that have
addressed this precise issue. In Whitson v. Camden County Board of Commissioners,
COA12-1282, 2013 WL 3770664, at *1 (N.C. Ct. App. July 16, 2013), the Camden
County Board of Commissioners approved Camden Plantation Properties, Inc.’s
application for a conditional-use permit. Mr. Whitson, a nearby landowner, filed a
petition for writ of certiorari, seeking review of the board’s decision. Id. Pursuant to
the county’s motion, the superior court dismissed the petition because Mr. Whitson
failed to name the applicant as a respondent in his petition, as required by statute.
Id. On appeal, this Court observed that “[a]s the trial court concluded, ‘[N.C. Gen.
Stat.] § 160A-393(e) is jurisdictional in nature.’ ” Id. at *2. Citing the “clear and
unambiguous” language in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e), we concluded that the trial
court properly dismissed the petition. Id.
In Philadelphus Presbyterian Foundation, Inc. v. Robeson County Board of
Adjustment, COA13-777, 2014 WL 47325, at *1 (N.C. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2014), disc.
review denied, 367 N.C. 504, 758 S.E.2d 873 (2014), this Court similarly affirmed a
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Opinion of the Court
trial court’s order for the same reason. The Robeson County Board of Commissioners
approved Buie Lakes Plantation, LLC’s application for a conditional-use permit. Id.
The petitioners, a number of individuals and two corporations, filed a petition for writ
of certiorari, seeking review of the board’s decision. Id. The petitioners did not name
the applicant, Buie Lakes, as a respondent. Id. The named respondents moved to
dismiss the petition, which the superior court allowed because the petitioners failed
to name the applicant as a respondent in the petition, as required by statute. Id. at
*2.
On appeal, this Court acknowledged that Whitson was not binding, but we
concluded that
it is consistent with and compelled by our decision in
McCrann v. Village of Pinehurst, 216 N.C. App. 291, 716
S.E.2d 667 (2011), in which the petitioner’s challenge to the
issuance of a conditional use permit was not filed within
the thirty day period specified in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-
388(e2) and in which we held that this deficiency, like the
failure to note an appeal in a timely manner, deprived the
reviewing court of any jurisdiction to hear and determine
the issues raised in the petition. . . .
Although the filing of a certiorari petition certainly bears
some resemblance to the institution of a civil action, as
Petitioners implicitly assert, the analogy between an
appeal and a request for certiorari review made in
McCrann is clearly the correct one. In such certiorari
proceedings, the “superior court is not a trier of fact, but
assumes the posture of an appellate court.” In re Appeal of
Willis, 129 N.C. App. 499, 500, 500 S.E.2d 723, 725
(1998). . . . For that reason, we conclude that the extent to
which a trial court obtains jurisdiction to address the
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Opinion of the Court
issues raised in a certiorari petition should be analyzed in
the same manner as the extent to which an appellate court
obtains jurisdiction over an appeal from the General Court
of Justice or an administrative agency.
Philadelphus Presbyterian Found., Inc., 2014 WL 47325, at *3.
The Philadelphus Court also addressed the petitioners’ argument that, based
on our decision in Mize v. Mecklenburg County, 80 N.C. App. 279, 341 S.E.2d 767
(1986), the trial court was obligated to allow their motion to amend the petition.
Philadelphus Presbyterian Found., Inc., 2014 WL 47325, at *5. In Mize, the trial
court dismissed the petitioners’ “Petition in the Nature of Certiorari,” filed under N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 153A-345, for failing to join a necessary party. Mize, 80 N.C. App. at
280–81, 341 S.E.2d at 768. This Court reversed, noting that a dismissal “under Rule
12(b)(7) is proper only when the defect cannot be cured” and “under the circumstances
presented, the court abused its discretion by failing to allow the petitioners to amend
the petition to join the Zoning Board of Adjustment.” Id. at 283–84, 341 S.E.2d at
769–70. The Philadelphus Court stated that the petitioners’ reliance on Mize was
misplaced because the Mize Court specifically noted the following:
The language of [N.C. Gen. Stat. § ] 153A-345 requires only
that any petition seeking review by the superior court be
filed with the clerk of superior court within 30 days after
the decision of the Board is filed or after a written copy has
been delivered to every aggrieved party. The petitioners
complied with all the express requirements of this vague
statute by filing a petition in Mecklenburg County Superior
Court within 30 days of the decision of the Board.
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Opinion of the Court
Philadelphus Presbyterian Found., Inc., 2014 WL 47325, at *5 (quoting Mize, 80 N.C.
App. at 283, 341 S.E.2d at 769) (emphasis added).
The Philadelphus Court stated that “although the Mize petitioners failed to
join a necessary party, they did comply with all of the statutorily prescribed
prerequisites for the filing of a valid certiorari petition.” Id.; see Mize, 80 N.C. App.
at 281, 341 S.E.2d at 768 (“The statute[, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 153A-345,] does not set
forth who is to be named as a respondent or defendant in a proceeding under its
provisions.”). In contrast, the Philadelphus petitioners “failed to comply with the
additional statutory requirements for a valid certiorari petition spelled out in N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 160A-393, a statutory section which was enacted over two decades after
the issuance of our decision in Mize.” Philadelphus Presbyterian Found., Inc., 2014
WL 47325, at *5. Accordingly, we stated: “[G]iven that the petitioners’ failure to join
a necessary party in Mize did not, unlike the failure to join a necessary party at issue
here, constitute a jurisdictional defect, Mize provides no basis for an award of the
relief which Petitioners seek in this case.” Id.
Nonetheless, here petitioners argue that our holding in MYC Klepper, 238 N.C.
App. at 436–37, 767 S.E.2d at 671, is “dispositive of the question presented by the
instant appeal[.]” In MYC Klepper, the petitioner, a billboard sign owner, filed a
petition for writ of certiorari, seeking review of the City of Asheville Board of
Adjustment’s decision to uphold a notice of violation regarding a billboard sign it
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Opinion of the Court
owned. Id. at 433–35, 767 S.E.2d at 669–71. The petitioner named the “Board of
Adjustment for the City of Asheville,” not the “City of Asheville,” as required by N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e) (“The respondent named in the petition shall be the city
whose decision-making board made the decision that is being appealed[.]”). Id. at
436, 767 S.E.2d at 671. On appeal, this Court stated that the “defect” amounted to
a failure to join a necessary party, “the City was on notice of this action and
participated in the defense thereof[,]” and “the City’s participation in the proceedings
cured the defect in the petition[.]” Id. at 436–37, 767 S.E.2d at 671.
The facts of MYC Klepper are distinguishable from the current facts. In that
case, the issue involved a notice of violation, not the granting of a conditional-use
permit, and the petitioner was the billboard sign owner, not an interested neighbor.
Id. at 433–35, 767 S.E.2d at 669–71. The MYC Klepper Court’s holding did not
address the statutory requirement that the applicant be named as a respondent when
the petitioner is not the applicant. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e).
We note that in Darnell v. Town of Franklin, 131 N.C. App. 846, 849–50, 508
S.E.2d 841, 844 (1998), a case decided before the enactment of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-
393, this Court held that the petitioner should have been allowed to amend her
petition for writ of certiorari under Rule 15 in order to establish her status as an
aggrieved party and to show that jurisdiction exists. The Court stated that “a
pleading may not be amended so as to confer jurisdiction in a particular case stated;
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Opinion of the Court
but there may be an amendment to show that the jurisdiction exists.” Id. at 850, 508
S.E.2d at 844 (citations omitted). We also note, though, that in Crossman v. Moore,
341 N.C. 185, 187, 459 S.E.2d 715, 717 (1995), our Supreme Court interpreted Rule
15 and stated that it “speaks of claims and allows the relation back of claims if the
original claim gives notice of the transactions or occurrences to be proved pursuant
to the amended pleading. When the amendment seeks to add a party-defendant or
substitute a party-defendant to the suit, the required notice cannot occur.” Thus, the
Court held that Rule 15 “is not authority for the relation back of a claim against a
new party.” Id. Since then, this Court “has construed the Crossman decision to mean
that Rule 15(c) is not authority for the relation back of claims against a new party,
but may allow for the relation back of an amendment to correct a mere misnomer.”
Piland v. Hertford Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 141 N.C. App. 293, 299, 539 S.E.2d 669, 673
(2000).
While Whitson and Philadelphus Presbyterian Foundation, Inc. are
unpublished and, therefore, not binding,2 we find their analyses persuasive and
directly applicable here. See Henderson v. Cnty. of Onslow, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___,
782 S.E.2d 57, 60 (Feb. 2, 2016) (COA Nos. 14-1355 and 14-1356) (relying on and
quoting Philadelphus Presbyterian Foundation, Inc., 2014 WL 47325, at *6, for the
proposition that “certiorari proceedings conducted pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §
2N.C. R. App. P. 30(e)(3) (2016) (“An unpublished decision of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does
not constitute controlling legal authority.”).
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Opinion of the Court
160A-393 . . . bear a much greater resemblance to appellate proceedings than to
ordinary civil actions”). Recently, the Henderson Court stated:
A petition for certiorari is not an action for civil redress or
relief as is a suit for damages or divorce; a petition for
certiorari is simply a request for the court addressed to
judicially review a particular decision of some inferior
tribunal or government body. . . . [A] petition for certiorari
is not the beginning of an action for relief . . . .; in effect it
is an appeal from a decision made by another body or
tribunal. Certiorari was devised by the early common law
courts as a substitute for appeal and it has been so
employed in our jurisprudence since the earliest times.
Henderson, ___ N.C. App. at ___, 782 S.E.2d at 61 (quoting Little v. City of Locust, 83
N.C. App. 224, 226–27, 349 S.E.2d 627, 629 (1986)).
According to well-established law, “an appeal is not a matter of absolute right,
but the appellant must comply with the statutes and rules of Court as to the time and
manner of taking and perfecting his appeal.” Caudle v. Morris, 158 N.C. 594, 595, 74
S.E. 98, 98 (1912); see also In re Halifax Paper Co., 259 N.C. 589, 592, 131 S.E.2d 441,
444 (1963) (“There is no inherent or inalienable right of appeal from an inferior court
to a superior court or from a superior court to the Supreme Court.”); Northfield Dev.
Co. v. City of Burlington, 165 N.C. App. 885, 887, 599 S.E.2d 921, 924 (2004)
(“[A]venues of appeal are created by statute.”). Moreover, “[c]ompliance with the
requirements for entry of notice of appeal is jurisdictional.” State v. Oates, 366 N.C.
264, 266, 732 S.E.2d 571, 573 (2012) (citing Dogwood Dev. & Mgmt. Co. v. White Oak
Transp. Co., 362 N.C. 191, 197–98, 657 S.E.2d 361, 364–65 (2008)) (“The appellant’s
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Opinion of the Court
compliance with the jurisdictional rules governing the taking of an appeal is the
linchpin that connects the appellate division with the trial division and confers upon
the appellate court the authority to act in a particular case.”). Therefore, “a default
precluding appellate review on the merits necessarily arises when the appealing
party fails to complete all of the steps necessary to vest jurisdiction in the appellate
court.” Dogwood Dev. & Mgmt. Co., 362 N.C. at 197, 657 S.E.2d at 364.
Here, petitioners were not the applicant before the decision-making board
whose decision was appealed. Therefore, under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e),
petitioners were required to name the applicant as a respondent, which they failed to
do. As this Court has previously stated, “[t]he real adverse party in interest is the
party in whose favor the Zoning Board’s decision has been made.” Mize, 80 N.C. App.
at 282–83, 341 S.E.2d at 769 (noting that the zoning board was a necessary party
because “the Board [was] the agency having custody of the record that [was] being
reviewed”). In order to avoid the dilemmas our courts have previously faced in
attempting to ascertain the required respondents in an appeal of a quasi-judicial
decision, see, e.g, id. at 281, 341 S.E.2d at 768 (“First we address whether the Zoning
Board of Adjustment is a necessary party to a petition filed pursuant to G.S. 153A-
345(e).”), our General Assembly specifically listed the required respondents in N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 160A-393(e). Thus, when an applicant is granted a conditional-use
permit and an outsider appeals the decision through a petition for writ of certiorari
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Opinion of the Court
but does not include the applicant as a respondent in the appeal, the superior court
is without jurisdiction to review the merits. Accordingly, the trial court correctly
concluded that it lacked jurisdiction because petitioners did not properly perfect their
appeal in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-393. We do not reach respondent’s
alternative argument on standing.
III. Conclusion
The trial court did not err in dismissing the petition. We affirm.
AFFIRMED.
Judges ZACHARY and ENOCHS concur.
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