B.K.W. Enterprises, Inc. v. Tractor and Equipment Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 August 1992
• Citation: 603 So.2d 989
• Parties: B.K.W. ENTERPRISES, INC. v. TRACTOR AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC. 1901760.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 989

603 So.2d 989

B.K.W. ENTERPRISES, INC. v. TRACTOR AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC.

1901760.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Aug. 7, 1992.

Warren B. Lightfoot, Jere F. White, Jr. and William H. King III of Lightfoot, Franklin, White & Lucas, Birmingham, for appellant.

John D. Clements and David A. Elliott of Burr & Forman, Birmingham, and Garve W. Ivey, Jr. of Wilson & King, Jasper, for appellee.

ALMON, Justice.

B.K.W. Enterprises, Inc., filed an action against Tractor & Equipment Company, Inc. ("T & E"), alleging breach of contract, fraud, intentional interference with a contractual relationship, and the tort of bad faith. The action was based on a dispute arising out of a lease purchase agreement covering heavy equipment B.K.W. leased from T & E to use in its coal mining operations. At the expiration of the lease, B.K.W. attempted to exercise its purchase option, but T & E responded by saying that B.K.W. could not purchase the equipment because it was in default under the lease. B.K.W. claims that breaches and misrepresentations by T & E prevented B.K.W. from exercising its right to purchase the equipment.

After two years of discovery and immediately prior to trial, T & E challenged the breach of contract claim with a Rule 12(c), Ala.R.Civ.P., motion for judgment on the pleadings. T & E also renewed its previously filed motion for summary judgment on B.K.W.'s claims of fraud, intentional interference with a contractual relationship, and bad faith. The trial court granted T & E's motions and, because T & E's counterclaims against B.K.W. were still pending, made its summary judgment final pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala.R.Civ.P.

B.K.W.'s appeal presents issues relating to (1) whether the trial court erred in granting T & E's motion for a judgment on the pleadings on the breach of contract claim; and (2) whether the trial court erred in entering the summary judgment on the fraud claim because, B.K.W. argues, it submitted substantial evidence creating genuine issues of material fact with regard to its fraud claim. B.K.W. does not argue that the trial court erred in entering the summary judgment on B.K.W.'s claims of intentional interference with a contractual relationship and bad faith.

Rule 12(c) allows a party to move for a judgment on the pleadings. When such a motion is made, the trial court reviews the pleadings filed in the case and, if the pleadings show that no genuine issue of material fact is presented, the trial court will enter a judgment for the party entitled to a judgment according to the law. Warren v. Rasco, 457 So.2d 399, 401 (Ala.1984); McCullough v. Alabama By-Products Corp., 343 So.2d 508, 510 (Ala.1977). At the barest minimum, the pleadings reviewed on a motion for a judgment on the pleadings are the complaint and the answer. A counterclaim and an answer to a counterclaim are also pleadings that may be reviewed in considering such a motion. Rule 7(a), Ala.R.Civ.P.

B.K.W.'s complaint alleged the existence of a contract between B.K.W. and T & E. B.K.W. also alleged that T & E had breached that contract in several respects, which it described in the complaint, and that T & E's breach caused damage to B.K.W. T & E's answer alleged that the only contract between the parties was an equipment lease agreement, a copy of which T & E attached to its answer. T & E denied that its contract with B.K.W. included any of the alleged promises or representations that, according to B.K.W.'s complaint, T & E's representatives had made. T & E also counterclaimed, alleging that B.K.W. had defaulted on its obligations under the equipment lease. B.K.W. answered the counterclaim and denied that it was in default according to the lease as modified and supplemented by T & E's alleged subsequent representations.

These factual disputes within the pleadings require a reversal of the trial court's judgment on the pleadings on the contract count. Warren v. Rasco, supra; McCullough v. Alabama By-Products Corp., supra. Because the motion was made and considered on the day trial was scheduled to start, the trial court could not, without giving B.K.W. a reasonable opportunity to respond, consider matters outside the pleadings and thereby convert the motion to one for summary judgment. See Rule 12(c). In the analogous context of converting a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss into a summary judgment motion, this Court has held that 10 days' notice is required as a reasonable opportunity to respond. Hightower & Co. v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 527 So.2d 698 (Ala.1988). Thus, the judgment on the contract count cannot be construed as a summary judgment, and, as a judgment on the pleadings, it was erroneously entered because the pleadings demonstrated disputes as to material facts.

B.K.W. also argues that the trial court's summary judgment for T & E on B.K.W.'s fraud claim must be reversed. This Court applies to a review of a summary judgment the same standard the trial court applies when initially ruling on a motion for summary judgment. DuPont v. Yellow Cab Co. of Birmingham, 565 So.2d 190 (Ala.1990). That standard requires that all evidence be reviewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and that all reasonable doubts be resolved in favor of the nonmoving party. Kenai Oil & Gas, Inc. v. Grace Petroleum Corp., 512 So.2d 1347 (Ala.1987). If, under that standard, the moving party makes prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that it is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law, then a summary judgment in the moving party's favor is proper. Rule 56(c), Ala.R.Civ.P. The nonmoving party may defeat the moving party's prima facie showing of no genuine issue of material fact by submitting "evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved." West v. Founders Life Assur. Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870 (Ala.1989) (defining "substantial evidence"); see § 12-21-12, Ala.Code 1975.

In its motion for summary judgment, T & E argued that B.K.W. had defaulted several times by making late payments. T & E also argued that B.K.W. was in default when it attempted to exercise its option to purchase the equipment. According to T & E's argument, because B.K.W. was in default, B.K.W. could not exercise the option to purchase and, therefore, T & E's alleged misrepresentations relating to the purchase price at the expiration of the lease could not be material.

B.K.W. responds by arguing that T & E waived the contract's requirement of prompt payment by not demanding the amounts that were not paid promptly during the course of the contract. The lease called for payments of approximately $347,000, of which B.K.W. paid $295,000 more or less as installments came due. Before the expiration of the lease, B.K.W. offered to pay the $31,000 that was delinquent. Approximately $21,000 was due as a final lease payment, but B.K.W. did not make that payment; it alleges that it did not do so because of T & E's conduct at the time that, B.K.W. says, was inconsistent with its prior representations.

B.K.W. alleged and submitted evidence of breaches or misrepresentations by T & E in several respects. It says that T & E represented that the final rent payment of $21,000 could be made as part of the purchase price, but refused to so include it when B.K.W. attempted to exercise its option to purchase. It alleges that T & E agreed to lease two...