Lake Colony Construction, Inc. v. Boyd, 212 N.C. App. 300

Summary

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a written agreement between Lake Colony Construction, Inc. and Lake Colony Partners, LLC established a joint venture for constructing and selling a house. Because the agreement provided for profit sharing and gave each party some authority to direct the other's conduct, the court upheld the trial court's determination that the construction company's labor and materials were supplied in pursuit of the joint venture. The court affirmed the resulting subordination of the construction company's claims to the deeds of trust.

Holdings

1. The contract established a joint venture because it expressly identified the relationship as a joint venture, provided for joint sharing of profits, and gave each party the right in some measure to direct the other's conduct.
2. The use of the phrase joint venture, together with the contract's mutual-control provisions, necessarily implied the parties' intent to adopt a principal-agent relationship.
3. The issue whether a joint-venture member could enforce a laborers' and materialmen's lien despite the joint venture was not preserved because Lake Colony Construction did not raise it in the trial court or specifically argue it on appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties' written contract established a joint venture.
2. Whether the trial court erred in finding that labor and materials supplied by Lake Colony Construction were furnished in pursuit of the joint venture.
3. Whether Lake Colony Construction preserved for appellate review the issue of whether it could enforce a statutory lien against the property even if it was a member of a joint venture.
4. Whether the trial court properly determined Lake Colony Construction's rights to the property-sale proceeds as subordinate to the specified deeds of trust.

Disposition

affirmed