EX PARTE LYON FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.

• Decision Date: 21 July 2000
• Parties: Ex parte LYON FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC. (Re Lyon Financial Services, Inc. v. Buddy's Marineland, Inc.)
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

775 So.2d 181

Ex parte LYON FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.

(Re Lyon Financial Services, Inc. v. Buddy's Marineland, Inc.)

1990658.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

July 21, 2000.

Donald L. Christian, Jr., Huntsville, for petitioner.

Jennifer M. Busby and Jamie L. Moore of Burr & Forman, L.L.P., Birmingham; and Terry W. Gloor of Johnston & Conwell, L.L.C., Birmingham, for respondent.

SEE, Justice.

Lyon Financial Services, Inc. ("Lyon"), petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court (Bessemer Division) to vacate its order staying execution of a domesticated judgment entered by a Minnesota district court. We grant the petition and issue the writ.

I.

Lyon is a Minnesota corporation engaged in the business of providing financing for the purchase or lease of business equipment. Lyon entered into a financing agreement with Buddy's Marineland, Inc. ("Buddy's"), an Alabama corporation, whereby Lyon provided financing to Buddy's for it to purchase computer equipment from Integrated Dealer Systems, Inc. ("IDS"). Apparently, Buddy's experienced problems with the computer equipment it purchased from IDS and stopped making payments to Lyon. Lyon then sued Buddy's in the District Court for Lyon County, Minnesota. As part of that action, Buddy's filed a third-party complaint against IDS. Ultimately, the Minnesota district court entered a summary judgment in favor of Lyon, awarding it damages in the amount of $113,992.49, including interest, attorney fees, and court costs, and dismissed the third-party complaint against IDS.

Within a month of obtaining the judgment against Buddy's, Lyon filed an action in the Jefferson Circuit Court (Bessemer Division) to domesticate the Minnesota judgment, pursuant to Alabama's Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, Ala.Code 1975, § 6-9-230 to -237. In accordance with the Act, Lyon filed an authenticated copy of the Minnesota judgment and an affidavit by its attorney. See Ala.Code 1975, §§ 6-9-232 and -233. Buddy's filed no objection to the domestication of the Minnesota judgment. After Lyon had filed the Minnesota judgment, it propounded postjudgment discovery requests to Buddy's and noticed the deposition of Buddy's corporate representative. See Rule 69(g), Ala.R.Civ.P. Lyon subsequently filed a motion to compel Buddy's to respond to its discovery requests. The trial court granted Lyon's motion to compel. After Buddy's failed to comply with the trial court's order, Lyon filed a motion for sanctions against Buddy's, pursuant to Rule 37(b), Ala.R.Civ.P. Buddy's thereafter filed a motion for relief from the Minnesota judgment.

Although Buddy's filed its motion pursuant to Rule 60(b), Ala.R.Civ.P., it did not challenge the validity or the domestication of the Minnesota judgment. Rather, Buddy's asserted that it intended to file an action against IDS seeking damages "in an amount no less than that which has been [awarded] against it by the Minnesota Court," and it requested a stay of enforcement of the Minnesota judgment until "such time as a verdict is rendered in the case between [Buddy's] and IDS." Buddy's argued that "[i]n fairness and equity" it should have "its `day in court' in order to litigate its dispute with IDS to recover no less than the [amount of the judgment] entered by the Minnesota Court" and that "[i]t would be unjust to require [it] to pay the Minnesota judgment until such time as the issues between it and IDS can be properly litigated."

The trial court entered an order stating that the "motion [by Buddy's] for relief from judgment is treated as a stay of that judgment until such time as this Court can set this matter down for hearing." On December 7, 1999, the trial court held a hearing on the motion, and on that same day, it entered an order staying execution of the Minnesota judgment "pending [the] litigation being completed between IDS and [Buddy's]." Lyon then filed this mandamus petition.

II.

A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy; one seeking it must show: (1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty on the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) the properly invoked jurisdiction of the court. See Ex parte Conference America, Inc., 713 So.2d 953, 955 (Ala.1998) (citing Ex parte Edgar, 543 So.2d 682, 684 (Ala. 1989)). "[M]andamus is the proper remedy to vacate an order the trial court had no power to enter." Ex parte Dowling, 477 So.2d 400, 402 (Ala.1985).

Initially, we address the nature of the trial court's order because the nature of that order determines our standard of review. Buddy's argues that the trial court's ruling on its motion for relief from the Minnesota judgment was a ruling on a Rule 60(b)(6), Ala.R.Civ.P., motion, and, thus, that we must apply an abuse-of-discretion standard.

Rule 60(b) provides, in pertinent part:

"(b) ... On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or a party's legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: ... (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment."

In Ex parte Dowling, we stated:

"A strong presumption of correctness attaches to the trial court's determination of a motion made pursuant to Rule 60(b), and the decision whether to grant or deny the motion is within the sound discretion of the trial judge, and the appellate standard of review is whether the trial court abused its discretion. In reviewing a ruling of a trial court on a Rule 60(b)(6) motion, the trial court's decision will not be disturbed unless it is determined `that there is an absence of reasonable cause, that rights of others subsequently arising would be adversely affected, or that it is unjust.'"

477 So.2d at 402-03 (citations omitted).

Buddy's did label its motion as a Rule 60(b) motion, and we have recognized that filing a Rule 60(b) motion is the proper procedure for challenging the validity of a foreign judgment that has been domesticated in Alabama. See Greene v. Connelly, 628 So.2d 346, 350-51 (Ala.1993). However, Buddy's makes no substantive attack on the Minnesota judgment. See Ex parte Osborn, 375 So.2d 467, 468 (Ala.1979). On the contrary, Buddy's concedes to this Court that the Minnesota judgment obtained by Lyon should eventually be enforced by Alabama courts, under the full-faith-and-credit principle. Instead, Buddy's argues that execution on the Minnesota judgment should be stayed until the action by Buddy's against...