§ 93A-21. Limitations; pro rata distribution; attorney fees. - North Carolina Statutes

§93A‑21.  Limitations; pro rata distribution; attorney fees.

(a)        Payments from theReal Estate Recovery Fund shall be subject to the following limitations:

(1)        The right torecovery under this Article shall be forever barred unless application is madewithin one year after termination of all proceedings including appeals, inconnection with the judgment;

(2)        The fund shall notbe liable for more than twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) pertransaction regardless of the number of persons aggrieved or parcels of realestate involved in such transaction; and

(3)        The liability of thefund shall not exceed in the aggregate twenty‑five thousand dollars($25,000) for any one licensee within a single calendar year, and in no eventshall it exceed in the aggregate fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for any onelicensee.

(4)        The fund shall notbe liable for payment of any judgment awards of consequential damages, multipleor punitive damages, civil penalties, incidental damages, special damages,interest, costs of court or action or other similar awards.

(b)        If the maximumliability of the fund is insufficient to pay in full the valid claims of allaggrieved persons whose claims relate to the same transaction or to the samelicensee, the amount for which the fund is liable shall be distributed amongthe claimants in a ratio that their respective claims bear to the total of suchvalid claims or in such manner as the Commission, in its discretion, deemsequitable. Upon petition of counsel for the Commission, the Commission mayrequire all claimants and prospective claimants to be joined in one proceedingto the end that the respective rights of all such claimants to the Real EstateRecovery Fund may be equitably resolved. A person who files an application forpayment after the maximum liability of the fund for the licensee or transactionhas been exhausted shall not be entitled to payment and may not seek judicialreview of the Commission's award of payment to any party except upon a showingthat the Commission abused its discretion.

(c)        In the event anaggrieved person is entitled to payment from the fund in an amount of onethousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) or less, the Commission may allow suchperson to recover from the fund reasonable attorney's fees incurred in effectingsuch recovery. Reimbursement for attorney's fees shall be limited to those feesincurred in effecting recovery from the fund and shall not include any feeincurred in obtaining judgment against the licensee. (1979,c. 614, s. 1; 1983, c. 81, ss. 2, 15; 1987, c. 516, ss. 10‑13; 1999‑229,s. 11.)