Gentry v. Lindsey
| Decision Date | 15 August 2014 |
| Docket Number | 1121380. |
| Citation | 160 So.3d 271 |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
| Parties | Andrew J. GENTRY III v. Daniel L. LINDSEY, Sr., et al. |
Thomas E. Jones, Auburn, for appellant.
Robert M. Ronnlund and William A. Scott, Jr., of Scott, Sullivan, Streetman & Fox, P.C., Birmingham, for appellees Daniel L. Lindsey, Sr., and Jackson Thornton & Co. P.C.
Joshua J. Jackson of Samford & Denson, LLP, Opelika, for appellee Daniel L. Lindsey, Jr.
Robert T. Meadows III of Capell & Howard, P.C., Opelika, for appellees Charles N. Parnell III, Parnell & Crum, Wilbur Investments, LLC, and Justin M. Parnell.
Andrew J. Gentry III (“Drew Gentry”) appeals the Lee Circuit Court's judgment dismissing his claims against Daniel Lindsey, Sr., Jackson Thornton & Co., P.C. (“Jackson Thornton”), Daniel Lindsey, Jr., Justin M. Parnell (“Matt Parnell”), Parnell & Crum, and Wilbur Investments, LLC (“Wilbur Investments”). For the reasons set forth herein, we conclude that the Rule 54(b) certification was improper, and we dismiss the appeal.
In 1992, Andrew J. Gentry, Jr. (“Andy Gentry”), petitioned for bankruptcy, pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Andy Gentry hired Charles N. Parnell III (“Nick Parnell”), an attorney at Parnell & Crum, to represent him in the bankruptcy proceedings. Nick Parnell hired Daniel Lindsey, Sr., a certified public accountant with Jackson Thornton, to assist him. According to Drew Gentry, who is Andy Gentry's son, Andy Gentry suffered throughout his life from a mental illness, which, Drew Gentry argues, was not controllable by medication at the time of the bankruptcy proceedings. Drew Gentry argues that, at the time of the bankruptcy proceedings, Nick Parnell and Daniel Lindsey, Sr., knew of Andy Gentry's reduced mental capacity and also knew that Andy Gentry was terminally ill with AIDS. Andy Gentry died in 1995, while the bankruptcy proceedings were pending.
During the bankruptcy proceedings and prior to Andy Gentry's death, Nick Parnell and Daniel Lindsey, Sr., incorporated LeeCo Properties, Inc. (“LeeCo”), in the names of their minor sons, Matt Parnell and Daniel Lindsey, Jr. Nick Parnell and Daniel Lindsey, Sr., persuaded Andy Gentry and the bankruptcy court to allow the transfer of certain real estate owned by Andy Gentry to LeeCo in return for either payment of the debts owed on those properties or the assumption of those debts.
The bankruptcy proceedings terminated in 1997. In 2010, Nick Parnell and Matt Parnell acquired the interests of Daniel Lindsey, Sr., and Daniel Lindsey, Jr., in LeeCo. LeeCo's assets were later transferred to Wilbur Investments, and LeeCo was dissolved in December 2010. Drew Gentry argues that neither he nor the bankruptcy court received notice of the transfer of assets from LeeCo to Wilbur Investments.
In April 2011, Michael Kent, who had had some business dealings with Andy Gentry, sued Nick Parnell and LeeCo, alleging claims related to Nick Parnell's conduct during and after his representation of Andy Gentry in the bankruptcy proceedings. In May 2011, Kent moved to add Drew Gentry as a “second-party plaintiff,” arguing that the defendants had inflicted substantial harm upon the Gentry family and that “[t]he interests of justice and the interests of judicial economy [would] be served” by adding Drew Gentry as a plaintiff.
Drew Gentry was added as a party to the action on June 2, 2011, and, on that same day, he filed a complaint against Nick Parnell, LeeCo, Parnell & Crum, and various fictitiously named parties, alleging claims of breach of fiduciary duty and fraud against Nick Parnell, of conspiracy to defraud against Nick Parnell, LeeCo, and fictitiously named defendants, and of negligence against Nick Parnell and Parnell & Crum. Drew Gentry also requested Kent's claims were eventually dismissed on Kent's own motion, and Drew Gentry remains the only plaintiff in the underlying action.
On June 23, 2011, Nick Parnell and Parnell & Crum moved to have Drew Gentry's complaint dismissed.1 After a hearing, the circuit court entered an order on November 2, 2011, denying the motion to dismiss as to the breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim and the request for a constructive trust and granting the motion as to the fraud, conspiracy, and negligence claims. The circuit court determined that the fraud, conspiracy, and negligence claims were governed by the Alabama Legal Services Liability Act, § 6–5–570 et seq., Ala.Code 1975 (“the ALSLA”), because they were related to Nick Parnell's representation of Andy Gentry during the bankruptcy proceedings. The circuit court went on to find that those claims would not form a basis for an action by Drew Gentry and, in the alternative, would be barred by the applicable statute of limitations.
Drew Gentry moved the circuit court to alter, amend, or vacate the November 2 order as to the fraud and conspiracy claims only. He argued that, in order to conclude that those claims were governed by the ALSLA, the circuit court had to find that Nick Parnell was acting at all relevant times in his capacity as a lawyer for Andy Gentry as opposed to his capacity as an officer of LeeCo. Drew Gentry argued that this finding was based on facts that had not yet been established and that Alabama law allows for recovery by a nonclient for harm caused “by a fraud directed at [a] client” by the client's attorney.
In May 2012, Drew Gentry amended his complaint, adding as defendants Wilbur Investments, Daniel Lindsey, Sr., Matt Parnell, Daniel Lindsey, Jr., and Jackson Thornton. He also amended his conspiracy claims to include allegations against the newly added defendants as well as Nick Parnell and added new claims of unjust enrichment and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) against Nick Parnell and the newly added defendants. He also added claims of negligence and willful and wanton misconduct against Nick Parnell. Parnell & Crum was not listed as a defendant in the amended complaint.
Nick Parnell, Matt Parnell, and Wilbur Investments moved the circuit court to dismiss the amended complaint. Daniel Lindsey, Jr., filed a separate motion to dismiss the amended complaint. Daniel Lindsey, Sr., and Jackson Thornton (collectively referred to as “the Jackson Thornton defendants”) also filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. The defendants argued, among other things, that the amended complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because, they asserted, the claims did not survive Andy Gentry's death, the claims were barred by the statutes of limitations, and Drew Gentry did not have standing to bring the claims. Drew Gentry opposed those motions. The defendants filed various motions in reply to Drew Gentry's opposition.
In August 2012, the circuit court held a hearing on the motions to dismiss the amended complaint and, in February 2013, entered an order granting those motions (“the February 2013 order”). The circuit court found that dismissal based on statute-of-limitations grounds was “inappropriate at [that] time” because “it [could not] be said as a matter of law that the statutes should not be tolled due to [Drew Gentry's] incompetency.”2 The circuit court went on to find, however, that “the claims expressed in the First Amended Complaint [did] not survive the death of Andy Gentry and that [Drew Gentry] lack[ed] standing to bring them.” The circuit court concluded:
The Jackson Thornton defendants, Daniel Lindsey, Jr., and the Parnell defendants (comprising Nick Parnell, Matt Parnell, Parnell & Crum, and Wilbur Investments) moved the circuit court to make its February 2013 order a final judgment, pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. Drew Gentry “conditional [ly] assent[ed]” to the Rule 54(b) motions, arguing that he “ha[d] no objection to the February [2013] order being made final” but only after he had had time to file, and the circuit court had had time to consider, a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the February 2013 order. He filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the order on March 7, 2013. He later amended that motion to add additional authority in support of his arguments. Daniel Lindsey, Jr., and the Jackson Thornton defendants separately responded to the motion to alter, amend, or vacate, and the Parnell defendants adopted their arguments.
The circuit court denied Drew Gentry's motion and, on March 20, 2013, entered a certification, pursuant to Rule 54(b), making final the dismissal of the claims against Daniel Lindsey, Jr., the Jackson Thornton defendants, Matt Parnell, Parnell & Crum, and Wilbur Investments. The circuit court did not make final the dismissal of the claims in the amended complaint against Nick Parnell, presumably because claims remained pending against him in the original complaint.
Drew Gentry appealed the circuit court's judgment to the Court of Civil Appeals. In August 2013, the Court of Civil Appeals transferred the appeal to this Court, citing a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Daniel Lindsey, Jr., and Nick Parnell separately moved this Court to dismiss them from the appeal. Daniel Lindsey, Jr., argued that Drew Gentry had not listed him on the notice of appeal and that the notice of appeal did not “give[ ] any indication of an intent to appeal the judgment in favor of [Daniel]...
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