Dyas v. Stringfellow

• Decision Date: 26 February 2021
• Docket Number: 1190258
• Parties: Craig F. Dyas and Dyas, LLC v. Marie S. Stringfellow et al.
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

Craig F. Dyas and Dyas, LLC
v.
Marie S. Stringfellow et al.

1190258

SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA

OCTOBER TERM, 2020-2021
February 26, 2021

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.

Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court
(CV-19-900097)

WISE, Justice.

Craig F. Dyas and Dyas, LLC ("the plaintiffs"), appeal from the Baldwin Circuit Court's November 12, 2019, orders disposing of some of their claims against some of the defendants below. Because those orders

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do not constitute a valid, final judgment that will support an appeal, we dismiss this appeal.

Procedural History

On January 24, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a complaint asserting a declaratory-judgment claim against Marie S. Stringfellow; Carl F. Johnson, as trustee of a testamentary trust created under the will of Benjamin Clifton Simms, deceased; Edward Simms; Martha S. Allegri; Roy J. Simms, Jr.; and Jacqueline Simms Puckett.¹

On March 7, 2019, Johnson filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Ala. R. Civ. P., or, in the alternative, a motion for a summary judgment ("Johnson's March 7, 2019, motion"), in which he sought to dispose the claim against him. On March 25, 2019, the plaintiffs filed their first amended complaint in which they added a constructive-trust claim against Stringfellow. On April 3, 2019, the trial court entered an order granting Johnson's March 7, 2019, motion. However, it subsequently vacated that order upon motion of the plaintiffs.

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On June 10, 2019, Stringfellow filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, a motion for a summary judgment. In her motion, Stringfellow simply stated:

"Defendant adopts as her own the Motion of Defendant Carl F. Johnson to dismiss, or in the alternative, motion for summary judgment, and the argument therein, which motion was filed on March 7, 2019."

Also, on June 10, 2019, Allegri, Roy, Edward, and Jacqueline filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, a motion for a summary judgment in which they incorporated the facts and arguments set forth in Johnson's March 7, 2019, motion.

On July 23, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint in which they again alleged a constructive-trust claim against Stringfellow and also added a breach-of-contract claim against Stringfellow. On August 22, 2019, Allegri, Roy, Edward, and Jacqueline filed a "Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment Relating to the Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint."

On November 12, 2019, the trial court entered an order, stating: "Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12B filed by Stringfellow Marie S. is

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hereby GRANTED." (Capitalization in original.) On that same date, the trial court also entered a separate order in which it granted the August 12, 2019, motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, motion for a summary judgment filed by Allegri, Roy, Edward, and Jacqueline; it entered an additional order stating that the June 10, 2019, motion filed by those defendants was moot. The trial court did not...