Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

2011] Errors in Judgmentcan produce some very inequitable results, and courts sometimesstep in to prevent injustices, especially where a third party hasactual notice of the encumbrance against the property. 134 Suchwas the case in Hice v. Hi-Mil, Inc., 135 where the Supreme Courtof North Carolina held that a recorded deed could be reformedwhere the purchaser of the property had actual notice that thedeed should not have included the homeplace of the plaintiff. 136In Hice, the plaintiff Johnsie Hice, recently a widow, transferredfor value a tract of land containing 900 to 1,200 acres of land totwo buyers in 1971, one of whom was the plaintiff’s first cousinby marriage, Ray Hice. 137 The plaintiff’s attorney, who preparedthe deeds for the transfer, mistakenly included a 13-acre tract ofthe 25-acre homeplace of the plaintiff. 138 The deeds were dulyrecorded. Ray Hice later bought out the other buyer in 1973 andin that same year formed Hi-Mil, Inc. with a third buyer, JackMiller. 139 Ray Hice transferred the property to Hi-Mil, Inc. 140Both Ray Hice and Miller owned fifty percent of the corporationSubparagraphs (1) through (3) of this Article.Id.N.C. GEN. STAT. § 47-18(a) (2010), available at http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_47/GS_47-18.html:Id.No (i) conveyance of land, or (ii) contract to convey, or (iii) optionto convey, or (iv) lease of land for more than three years shall be validto pass any property interest as against lien creditors or purchasersfor a valuable consideration from the donor, bargainer or lesser butfrom the time of registration thereof in the county where the land lies,or if the land is located in more than one county, then in each countywhere any portion of the land lies to be effective as to the land in thatcounty. Unless otherwise stated either on the registered instrument oron a separate registered instrument duly executed by the party whosepriority interest is adversely affected, (i) instruments registered in theoffice of the register of deeds shall have priority based on the order ofregistration as determined by the time of registration . . . .134. See Hice v. Hi-Mil, Inc., 273 S.E.2d 268, 272–73 (N.C. 1981).135. 273 S.E.2d 268 (N.C. 1981).136. Id. at 272.137. Id. at 269.138. Id.139. Id. at 269–70.140. Id. at 270.215