JAMES A. WELLS, Guardian for Frank Wells, Plaintiff, v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY HOSPITAL SYSTEM, INC. and S & R HEALTH CARE, INC., d/b/a OPEN ARMS REST HOME, Defendants., 150 N.C. App. 584

Summary

The guardian alleged his father received negligent medical care from the hospital system. The appellate court held the hospital system, as organized, was a municipal hospital to which no territorial limitations applied, under the Municipal Hospital Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 131E-5 et seq., so the fact that the system maintained facilities in counties other than the one in which it was organized did not deprive it of its status as a municipal corporation. Actions against municipal or quasi-municipal corporations or their agents were inherently local in nature, and the hospital system qualified as a public officer under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-77(2), requiring venue to be changed to the county where the action arose. All of the guardian's allegations against the system arose in a different county from that in which he filed his action, and he was bound by his allegations.