Ala. Medicaid Agency v. Southcrest Bank
| Decision Date | 03 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | 2170186 |
| Parties | ALABAMA MEDICAID AGENCY v. SOUTHCREST BANK et al. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Steve Marshall, atty. gen., and Patrick Jones and Timothy A. Offord, Jr., asst. atty. gen., Alabama Medicaid Agency, for appellant.
Charles N. Parnell III of Parnell & Parnell, P.A., Montgomery, for appellee Southcrest Bank.
On Application for Rehearing
This court's opinion of June 1, 2018, is withdrawn, and the following is substituted therefor.
On February 9, 2017, Southcrest Bank ("Southcrest") filed an interpleader complaint in the Chilton Circuit Court ("the trial court"). Southcrest named as defendants to the action Eugene J. Atchison, Walter C. Hayden III, in his capacity as Atchison's guardian and as conservator of Atchison's estate, and several fictitiously named parties. In its complaint, Southcrest alleged that it had recently foreclosed on its mortgages on two parcels of real property ("the property") formerly owned by Atchison. Southcrest alleged in its complaint that it believed that Atchison was, at that time, physically and mentally incapacitated and living in a nursing home. Southcrest stated that the property had been sold in a foreclosure sale on January 18, 2017, and that, after the payment of the notes secured by its mortgages and certain expenses from the proceeds of the foreclosure sale, surplus funds totaling $15,352.95 remained. Southcrest claimed that it was unsure to whom to release the extra funds from the foreclosure sale, and it sought to interplead the funds into the court and requested an award of an attorney fee for filing the action. In support of its complaint, Southcrest submitted as exhibits documents evidencing Atchison's incapacity, as well as documents evidencing the foreclosure sale. The trial court entered an order allowing the surplus funds from the foreclosure sale to be paid into the court.
Hayden answered and moved the trial court to distribute funds to him for his guardian and conservator services and to the nursing home at which Atchison resided. On June 1, 2017, Hayden amended that claim to assert that Atchison had died on April 30, 2017, and that there was no balance due the nursing home at that time. However, Hayden sought an award for additional time expended as Atchison's guardian and as conservator of Atchison's estate since the filing of his initial claim, and he stated that there existed an outstanding balance owed to Martin's Funeral Home for Atchison's funeral.
On March 16, 2017, Southcrest moved the trial court to add the Alabama Medicaid Agency ("Medicaid") as a defendant to the action. Southcrest alleged that it had recently learned that Medicaid had filed liens on each of the foreclosed parcels. The trial court entered an order adding Medicaid as a defendant. Southcrest then filed a motion again requesting an award of an attorney fee for filing the action and to be relieved of further liability.
Medicaid filed an answer and a claim asserting that it had a lien on the property in the amount of $24,902.70, which exceeded the amount of the funds deposited in the trial court. In support of its claim, Medicaid filed in the trial court documents supporting its assertion that on December 7, 2016, it had recorded liens against the property.
On June 2, 2017, the trial court entered a judgment determining that Medicaid had the right to redeem the property, that Hayden was entitled to a conservator's fee of $11,000, that $664 was to be paid to Martin's Funeral Home for the balance due for Atchison's funeral, and that Southcrest was entitled to a $750 attorney fee for filing the interpleader action.1 The trial court then awarded the remainder of the interpleaded funds to Medicaid. The trial court amended the judgment twice to make slight adjustments to the amounts awarded in its June 2, 2017, judgment. Medicaid filed a timely postjudgment motion, which was denied by operation of law pursuant to Rule 59.1, Ala. R. Civ. P. Medicaid timely appealed.
Initially, we note that the record indicates that the case was submitted to the trial court based on the arguments of the parties and the documents filed as exhibits to the parties' pleadings and motions asserting claims to the interpleaded funds. The trial court did not receive ore tenus evidence. Medicaid does not argue on appeal that the trial court erred in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing, and, therefore, any such argument is waived. Boshell v. Keith, 418 So.2d 89, 92 (Ala. 1982).
On appeal, Medicaid argues that, as a matter of law, its liens against the property had priority over the claims of the other parties claiming an interest in the interpleaded funds. Medicaid does not dispute that Southcrest's claim as the holder of the mortgages on the property was superior to Medicaid's claim. Medicaid argues that it was a junior lienholder to Southcrest and that Hayden, Martin's Funeral Home, and Southcrest, to the extent it claimed an attorney fee in the interpleader action, were unsecured creditors.
Medicaid relies on Bailey Mortgage Co. v. Gobble–Fite Lumber Co., 565 So.2d 138 (Ala. 1990). In that case, our supreme court stated:
565 So.2d at 144 (emphasis added). See also Cochran v. Pate, 712 So.2d 1099, 1102 (Ala. Civ. App. 1998) ().
In this case, the parties do not dispute that...
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Ala. Medicaid Agency v. Britton
...was precluded from approving the December 2018 compensation because of the doctrine of immunity. See Alabama Medicaid Agency v. Southcrest Bank, 268 So. 3d 72, 75 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018) ("Reducing [the Agency's] award to pay Southcrest's attorney fee would affect the State coffers."). Southc......
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