## Facts

- Daryl Dean Freeland asked John Harvey Nelson to come to Freeland’s home to pick him up so they could attend a business meeting.
- Nelson entered Freeland’s porch as a lawful visitor.
- Nelson tripped over a stick Freeland had inadvertently left on the porch and suffered injuries.
- Nelson sued Freeland and Freeland’s wife, alleging negligence in leaving the stick on the porch.

## Issues

1. Whether North Carolina should abolish the common-law distinction between invitees and licensees and apply a single duty of reasonable care to all lawful visitors.
2. Whether the defendants were entitled to summary judgment when the lower courts evaluated duty under the invitee/licensee framework rather than ordinary reasonable care.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of North Carolina abolished the invitee/licensee distinction for lawful visitors and adopted a single duty of reasonable care in maintaining premises for the protection of lawful visitors.
- The Court retained a separate, more limited duty rule for trespassers.
- The Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ decision affirming summary judgment for defendants.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings under the reasonable-care standard.

## Legal Principles

- A landowner owes all lawful visitors a duty of reasonable care in the maintenance of the premises, without regard to whether the visitor would previously have been categorized as an invitee or licensee.
- Premises-liability analysis for lawful entrants is governed by ordinary negligence concepts, including foreseeability of harm and the reasonableness of precautions under the circumstances.
- Trespassers remain subject to a distinct, more limited duty; the lawful/unlawful entry line remains controlling even though internal lawful-entrant categories are abolished.
- When a dispositive ruling rests on an abandoned duty framework, remand is required for reconsideration under the correct duty standard.

## Conclusion

North Carolina replaced the invitee/licensee status-based duties with a single reasonable-care duty owed to lawful visitors and remanded for application of that standard to the claim that leaving a stick on the porch was negligent.


Nelson v. Freeland, 349 N.C. 615, 507 S.E.2d 882 (N.C. 1998)