LOWREY v. CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL INC MM LLC MM LLC CI LLC WS LLC (2021)

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

Tammy LOWREY, Plaintiff, v. CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Manojkumar (aka “Manoj”) Mohanlal Gandhi, Mona Gandhi, MM Shivah, LLC, MM Vaibhavlaxmi, LLC; CI Hotels, LLC and WS Hotels, LLC, Defendants.

No. COA20-782

Decided: October 19, 2021

Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy & Kennedy, LLP, by Harvey L. Kennedy and Harold L. Kennedy, III, The Law Offices of John McCabe, by Ruth Sheehan, and The Francis Law Firm, PLLC, by Charles T. Francis, for Plaintiff-Appellee. Yates, McLamb & Weyher, LLP, by Christopher J. Skinner and Joshua D. Neighbors, for Defendant-Appellant Choice Hotels International, Inc. Brown, Crump, Vanore & Tierney, LLP, by Skylar J. Gallagher and O. Craig Tierney, Jr., and Daughtry Woodard Lawrence & Starling, LLP, by N. Leo Daughtry and Luther D. Starling, Jr., for Defendants-Appellants Manojkumar Mohanlal Gandhi, Mona Gandhi, MM Shivah, LLC, MM Vaibhavlaxmi, LLC; CI Hotels LLC, and WS Hotels LLC.

¶ 1 This appeal was consolidated for hearing with Lowrey v. Choice Hotels Int'l, Inc., 2021-NCCOA-436, COA20-662 (2021) (unpublished) and Lowrey v. Choice Hotels Int'l, Inc., 2021-NCCOA-437, COA20-649 (2021) (unpublished). In Lowrey, 2021-NCCOA-436, COA20-662, we vacated the trial court's 12 December 2019 order to the extent that it concluded Durham County to be a proper venue as a matter of law because Defendant-Appellant Choice Hotels International, Inc. lacked adequate notice that the issue was being heard. 2021-NCCOA-436, ¶ 34.

¶ 2 Because these appeals concern the same issues, parties, and counsel, we vacate the order appealed from as set forth in Lowrey, 2021-NCCOA-436, COA20-662, and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with that opinion so that the trial court may, on adequate notice of a pending motion, consider anew whether Durham County is a proper venue as a matter of law under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-83(1) (2019).

VACATED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS

Report per Rule 30(e).

INMAN, Judge.

Judges GORE and GRIFFIN concur.

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