Station Associates, Inc. v. Dare County
Supreme Court of North Carolina
513 S.E.2d 789 (N.C. 1999)
In 1897, Jessie Etheridge conveyed 10 acres on a North Carolina island to the United States for $200 to operate a lifeboat station, but the deed said nothing about what would happen if the station closed. The United States ran the station until abandoning it in 1989, then in 1992 quitclaimed its interest to Dare County (defendant). Station Associates, Inc. (plaintiff), which had bought an interest from Etheridge's heirs, sued to reclaim the land. The trial court ruled the United States had held the land in fee simple absolute (full ownership, no automatic reversion); the court of appeals reversed, finding only a fee simple determinable (ownership that ends automatically if the use changes). The County appealed.
Whether a deed that states a property's intended use, without express language providing that the estate will revert or terminate if that use ends, creates a fee simple determinable.