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Associated Industrial Contractors2/3/2004
that the survey at the Honda facility started from predetermined, fixed points and the sole task was to define straight lines and 90* angles, this is a case in which "accuracy could . . . be expected from performance done in a workmanlike manner." Id.
Defendant points to Delta Envtl. Consultants of North Carolina, Inc. v. Wysong & Miles Co., 132 N.C. App. 160, 510 S.E.2d 690, disc. review denied, 350 N.C. 379, 536 S.E.2d 70 (1999), in which a company with contaminated soil and groundwater alleged that an environmental consulting firm negligently performed remedial work. After reviewing the transcripts and exhibits, this Court concluded that the consulting firm's work in delineating the scope of contamination was beyond the common knowledge of the jury and required expert testimony. Id. at 168, 510 S.E.2d at 696. Understanding the complex area of environmental consulting and pollution remediation is not analogous to understanding whether a surveyor hired to ensure that a building was square is required to plot out straight lines and 90§ angles. We hold that the question whether defendant Fleming breached its standard of care was within the common knowledge and experience of the trial judge in this case.
II.
Defendant next challenges the trial court's findings of fact taking judicial notice of various statutes relating to the practice of engineering and land surveying. The trial court found:
3. Under Rule 201(b) and (c) of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence, this Court takes judicial notice of N.C.G.S. § 89C-3(6)(a) and N.C.G.S. § 89C-3(7)(a)(4), relating to the practice of engineering and land surveying such that the Defendant was engaged in providing professional services which require special knowledge of mathematical, physical and engineering sciences and the observation of construction for the purposes of assuring compliance with the drawings and specifications together with setting resetting survey reference points.
4. Under N.C.G.S. §89C-3 and 89C-2, the Defendant, as a regulated professional engineer and surveyor, had a legal duty to safeguard the property of the public. In this case, the Defendant was to render its services in a professional adequate and workmanlike manner, in light of Plaintiff's evidence that its employees did not feel competent in performing the work themselves. The Court finds that the Defendant failed to meet its legal duty and failed to meet the standard of care created by N.C.G.S. § 89C-2 and N.C.G.S. § 89C-3.
We believe that these findings indicate that the trial court viewed the statutes as setting forth the nature of defendant's profession. See Greene v. Pell & Pell, L.L.P., 144 N.C. App. 602, 604, 550 S.E.2d 522, 523 (2001) (in a professional negligence case, plaintiff must show "(1) the nature of the defendant's profession; (2) the defendant's duty to conform to a certain standard of conduct; and (3) a breach of the duty proximately caused injury to the plaintiffs"). For example, the trial court cited N.C. Gen. Stat. § 89C-3(7)(a)(4), which includes in its definition of a land surveyor's occupation the act of " etermining, by the use of the principles of land surveying, the position for any . . . reference point[.]" N.C. Gen. Stat. § 89C-3(7)(a)(4) (2003).
To the extent that Finding of Fact 4 suggests that N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 89C-2, -3 (2003) create a specific standard of care, we agree with Fleming that the trial court erred in relying on those statutes. Any error was, however, harmless since AIC presented sufficient evidence of defendant's standard of care by offering the testimony of Mr. Register and because the pertinent standard of care was within the common knowledge and expe
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