Bureaus Inv. Group v. Williams
| Decision Date | 11 May 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 93491.,ED 93491. |
| Citation | 310 SW 3d 297 |
| Parties | BUREAUS INVESTMENT GROUP, Respondent, v. Keith WILLIAMS, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Martin Perron, St. Louis, MO, for appellant.
Gary Underwood, St. Louis, MO, for respondent.
Jeanine Armstrong, Co-Counsel for respondent.
Keith Williams ("Williams") appeals the City of St. Louis Circuit Court's denial of his motion to set aside the trial court's October 16, 2003 Judgment ("October 16, 2003 Judgment") in favor of Bureaus Investment Group as Assignee of First USA ("Bureaus Investment Group").
Williams raises three points on appeal. In his first point, Williams claims that the October 16, 2003 Judgment was void because it was an invalid attempt to retain jurisdiction more than thirty days after final judgment and an improper use of nunc pro tunc rules to increase the amount of the judgment by adding more interest and an award of attorney's fees. Second, Williams claims that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to quash the execution of the garnishments because the garnishments issued were based upon the void October 16, 2003 Judgment. Third, Williams claims that the trial court erred when it denied his motion because the garnishments issued were not supported by the judgment in that they contained calculations and assessments of interest that were inconsistent with the judgment and "otherwise unlawful."
The trial court was without authority to enter the October 16, 2003 Judgment, therefore, this court has jurisdiction on appeal only to reinstate the trial court's April 17, 2003 Judgment, and remand to the trial court to quash all garnishments that were issued in execution of the October 16, 2003 Judgment.
On March 6, 2003, Bureaus Investment Group filed a "Suit on Charge Card" against Williams. Bureaus Investment Group asked for judgment against Williams for the "principal sum of $10,636.11 together with interest of 28.04% per annum from May 16, 2000, reasonable attorney's fees, and for costs herein." Because we base our decision on the timing of the filing of the amended judgment and its validity, we shall set forth a timeline of the relevant events.1
The trial court entered a default judgment against Williams ("April 17, 2003 Judgment"). The total judgment was for $21,882.74. The judgment listed the principal amount as $10,636.11 and interest in the amount of $11,246.63.
Forty-one days after the April 17, 2003 Judgment entered, Bureaus Investment Group filed a motion to amend the default judgment pursuant to Rule 75.012 to add attorney's fees to the April 17, 2003 Judgment.
The trial court entered an amended default judgment in the amount of $26,065.61, which now included $2,695.78 in attorney's fees. The words "Amended" and "Nunc Pro Tunc" were handwritten across the top of the judgment.
Williams filed a motion to set aside or vacate the default judgment and petition to stay or quash execution and petition to recover amounts wrongfully taken by garnishment.4
The trial court denied Williams' July 15, 2009 motion.
Williams now appeals the July 23, 2009 denial of his motion to set aside the October 16, 2003 Judgment and quash the execution of garnishments.
Williams raises three points on appeal. Before we can address the merits of Williams' points on appeal, we must determine our jurisdiction sua sponte. In re Estate of Shaw, 256 S.W.3d 72, 73 (Mo. banc 2008). In cases where the trial court has exceeded its authority in entering an order or judgment, we cannot consider the merits of the appeal, but we have the jurisdiction to confine a trial court to its authority. Id. at 77; see also J.C.W. ex rel Webb v. Wyciskalla, 275 S.W.3d 249, 253 (Mo. banc 2009)
"A trial court retains control over a final judgment for thirty days after entry and during that time period may vacate, correct, amend, or modify its judgment." Martin, Malec & Leopold, P.C. v. Denen, 285 S.W.3d 383, 386 (Mo.App. E.D.2009); see also Rule 75.01.
Here, the trial court entered its default judgment on April 17, 2003. Under Rule 75.01, the trial court's control was limited to thirty days after entry of the judgment. Therefore, the April 17, 2003 Judgment became final on May 19, 2003. On May 28, 2003, after the trial court no longer had control over the judgment, Bureaus Investment Group filed its motion to amend the default judgment.
Although the trial court did not have authority to enter any orders after the April 17, 2003 Judgment became final, this court is not deprived of jurisdiction to consider the appeal. Estate of Shaw, 256 S.W.3d at 77. "Appellate courts inherently have supervisory authority to confine a trial court to its jurisdiction." Id. Without this authority, we would be unable to address the invalid judgment. Denen, 285 S.W.3d at 389.
In this case, any actions taken by the trial court after the April 17, 2003 Judgment became final were invalid. As such, all orders entered after the April 17, 2003 Judgment became final are invalid unless the trial court at the request of Bureaus Investment Group was able to amend the April 17, 2003 Judgment with authority granted by another rule.
It appears that the trial court attempted to maintain control over this case by handwriting "Nunc Pro Tunc" on the heading of the October 16, 2003 Judgment. A nunc pro tunc judgment is a common law concept that recognizes a court's control over its records when it no longer has control over the case. Wilson v. Lilleston, 290 S.W.3d 795, 799 (Mo.App. W.D.2009). Rule 74.06(a) codified this concept. Pirtle v. Cook, 956 S.W.2d 235, 241 (Mo. banc 1997). Rule 74.06(a) provides:
(a) Clerical Mistakes—Procedure. Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders. During the pendency of an appeal, such mistakes may be so corrected with leave of the appellate court.
A court may only use a nunc pro tunc order to make the record conform to the judgment already rendered. Pirtle, 956 S.W.2d at 240. A court may not use a nunc pro tunc order to alter or amend the judgment. Id. "`It is universally held that the only true function of a nunc pro tunc order is to correct some error or inadvertence in the recording of that which was actually done, but which, because of that error or omission was not properly recorded; and, that it may not be used to order that which was not actually done, or to change or modify the action which was taken.'" Id. (quoting City of Ferguson v. Nelson, 438 S.W.2d 249, 253 (Mo. 1969) (emphasis in original)); see, e.g., Lockett v. Musterman, 854 S.W.2d 831, 833-34 (Mo. App. E.D. 1993) (); Pirtle, 956 S.W.2d at 243 (). "It is improper to use a nunc pro tunc order `to correct judicial inadvertence, omission, oversight or error, or to show what the court might or should have done as distinguished from what it actually did, or to conform to what the court intended to do but did not do.'" Javier v. Javier, 955 S.W.2d 224, 225-26 (Mo.App. E.D.1997) (quoting In re Marriage of Royall, 569 S.W.2d 369, 371 (Mo. App. St. Louis Dist.1978)).
To determine whether the October 16, 2003 Judgment was a proper nunc pro tunc order or a modification of the April 17, 2003 Judgment, this court must decide...
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