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Associated Industrial Contractors2/3/2004
e issues.'" Erler v. AON Risks Servs., Inc., 141 N.C. App. 312, 318, 540 S.E.2d 65, 69 (2000) (quoting Little, 114 N.C. App. at 567, 442 S.E.2d at 570-71), disc. review denied, __ N.C. __, 548 S.E.2d 738 (2001). Defendant does not argue that complexity precludes application of the common knowledge exception. Instead, defendant urges that the exception should only apply when professional conduct is "grossly negligent." This Court has previously held, however, that the "common knowledge" exception applies either when (1) the professional's conduct is grossly negligent; or (2) the actions are "'of such a nature that the common knowledge of laypersons is sufficient to find the standard of care required, a departure therefrom, or proximate causation.'" Little, 114 N.C. App. at 567-68, 442 S.E.2d at 571 (quoting Bailey, 112 N.C. App. at 387, 435 S.E.2d at 792).
While we have not located any North Carolina decisions that present circumstances similar to this case, other jurisdictions confronted with analogous facts have applied the "common knowledge" exception. In a case that mirrors this one, the Supreme Court of Nevada held that expert testimony was not necessary to establish the standard of care required of a surveyor hired to pinpoint the location of caissons that were to form the foundational support for an addition to a hotel. Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 98 Nev. 113, 115, 642 P.2d 1086, 1087 (1982) (per curiam). After the caissons were drilled, it was discovered that several had been incorrectly placed and the plaintiff had to reposition them. The Nevada Supreme Court noted that the surveyor was "provided plans and specifications that reflected the location and dimensions of the caissons" and that the survey "emanated from existing, fixed monuments, the accuracy of which is not in doubt." Location of the caissons did not require "complex calculations or necessitate the reliance upon untrustworthy data such that accuracy could not be expected from performance done in a workmanlike manner." Id. at 115, 642 P.2d at 1087. In affirming the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on expert testimony regarding the standard of care, the appellate court held:
It is well settled that the standard of care must be determined by expert testimony unless the conduct involved is within the common knowledge of laypersons. Where, as in the instant case, the service rendered does not involve esoteric knowledge or uncertainty that calls for the professional's judgment, it is not beyond the knowledge of the jury to determine the adequacy of the performance.
Id. (citation omitted). See also Paragon Engineering, Inc. v. Rhodes, 451 So.2d 274 (Ala. 1984) (expert testimony not required to establish the standard of care for a surveyor where non-expert testimony at trial was sufficient to assist the jury in deciding whether the site of a retention basin was accurately laid out with stakes by the defendant surveyor).
In this case, we hold that the nature of Fleming's actions fell within the "common knowledge" exception to the requirement that experts testify as to the requisite standard of care. It is within the common knowledge of a trier of fact that a surveyor hired to pinpoint columns for a rectangular building site that must be precisely square must accurately mark column locations so as to result in two sets of parallel lines connected by four 90* angles. As in Daniel, understanding this task "does not involve esoteric knowledge or uncertainty that calls for the professional's judgment" nor is it "beyond the knowledge" of the trier of fact as to whether lines and angles staked by a surveyor were straight and square. 98 Nev. at 115, 642 P.2d at 1087. Given
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