MARS HILL CH. OF ANNISTON, ALABAMA, INC. v. MISSIONARY BAPTIST

• Decision Date: 12 November 1999
• Citation: 761 So.2d 975
• Parties: MARS HILL BAPTIST CHURCH OF ANNISTON, ALABAMA, INC. v. MARS HILL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

761 So.2d 975

MARS HILL BAPTIST CHURCH OF ANNISTON, ALABAMA, INC. v. MARS HILL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH.

1970.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

November 12, 1999.

Rehearing Denied March 3, 2000.

Collins Pettaway, Jr., and April England of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders & Pettaway, P.C., Selma, for appellant.

Donald W. Stewart, Jason Knowles, and Susanna B. Smith of Stewart & Smith, P.C., Anniston, for appellee.

MADDOX, Justice.

These appeals involve a contentious and procedurally complex dispute between two factions of a once united church congregation, Mars Hill Missionary Baptist Church ("Mars Hill Missionary Baptist"). They arise out of an action filed by the church charging a chemical company, the Monsanto Corporation ("Monsanto"), with extensive contamination of the church site with polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB. After the action was filed, Monsanto agreed to a settlement whereby Monsanto would give Mars Hill Missionary Baptist a new van and would pay $2.5 million to the church for it to finance the construction of a new sanctuary at a new location.

Some disgruntled members of the church formed an entity called the Mars Hill Baptist Church of Anniston, Alabama, Inc. ("Mars Hill Baptist"); that entity filed in the pending action a document styled "Petition in Intervention, Declaratory Judgment and Injunction." In that document, Mars Hill Baptist alleged that the deacons and pastor of the church had acted without legal authority when they retained counsel to represent the church to file the action against Monsanto, and were without authority to enter into the agreement settling the case. It based this allegation on a claim that the deacons and the pastor had been terminated from their positions by a majority of the church's members.

The trial court treated the document filed by Mars Hill Baptist as a motion to intervene in the pending action, and denied it. Mars Hill Baptist appeals from the order denying its motion to intervene. It also purports to appeal from the final judgment entered by the trial court in the litigation between Mars Hill Missionary Baptist and Monsanto.

There are two issues before this Court. The first issue is whether Mars Hill Baptist's motion to intervene is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Mars Hill Missionary Baptist argues that the merits of the petition had been adjudicated earlier when the trial judge, without holding a hearing, denied a prior motion by Mars Hill Baptist to intervene; Mars Hill Baptist did not appeal from the earlier order denying intervention, although it sought review of that order by filing a mandamus petition in this Court. The second issue is whether Mars Hill Baptist has standing to appeal from the judgment entered in the action against Monsanto, and, if so, whether the trial judge should have recused himself. We hold that the doctrine of res judicata bars the second motion to intervene, and that Mars Hill Baptist consequently lacked standing to appeal from the judgment entered in the Monsanto litigation and to raise the issue of recusal.

Facts and Procedural History

Some of the facts are set out above, but additional facts are necessary to a complete understanding of what occurred in the case. As mentioned above, Mars Hills Missionary Baptist and Monsanto reached a settlement; three days later, they informed the court of that settlement. Mars Hill Baptist then filed its first motion to intervene, seeking a declaratory judgment and an injunction, based on its claim that the pastor, the board of deacons, and the attorney for Mars Hill Missionary Baptist had been dismissed and that all of them had acted without legal authority in negotiating the settlement. The motion did not contain a request for a hearing, and no hearing was held. On July 6, 1998, the trial judge denied the motion, finding that Mars Hill Missionary Baptist's pastor, deacons, and attorney properly represented the entire congregation. Mars Hill Baptist did not seek review of the order denying intervention.

On July 25, 1998, the trial court issued a final judgment in the Monsanto litigation, awarding Mars Hill Missionary Baptist $2.5 million and a church van upon the church's delivering to Monsanto good title to, and exclusive possession of, the contaminated property. Three days later, on July 28, 1998, Mars Hill Baptist petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to vacate its order denying the motion to intervene and ordering the trial court to hold a hearing on that motion. This Court, without opinion, denied the mandamus petition on September 9, 1998, and denied rehearing on October 28, 1998. Ex parte Mars Hill Baptist Church (No. 1972160).

Before this Court acted on its mandamus petition, Mars Hill Baptist, on August 7, 1998, filed a second motion to intervene, again seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, based upon the same grounds it had asserted in its previous motion to intervene. The trial court held a hearing on the second motion, as requested by Mars Hill Baptist, and it denied the motion on September 8, 1998. Mars Hill Baptist now appeals, in case no. 1972232, from the September 8, 1998, order denying its second motion for intervention and in that case it also purports to appeal from the final judgment of July 25, 1998. In case no. 1980170, Mars Hill Baptist attempts to appeal from an order of the circuit judge refusing to recuse himself.

Discussion

The dispositive issue before this Court is whether the doctrine of res judicata barred Mars Hill Baptist's second motion to intervene. For the doctrine of res judicata to apply, four elements must be satisfied: There must have been "(1) a prior judgment on the merits, (2) rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction, (3) with the same parties, and (4) with the same subject matter presented in both actions." Smith v. Union Bank & Trust Co., 653 So.2d 933, 934 (Ala.1995). Mars Hill Baptist argues that the denial of the first motion did not constitute a judgment on the merits of the second petition, although the grounds for the second motion were the same as those stated in the first one. Mars Hill Baptist makes this argument solely because the trial court denied the first motion without a hearing. We disagree with Mars Hill Baptist's argument.

The denial of a motion for permissive intervention or for intervention as of right is an adjudication disposing of a case or controversy. See Universal Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Anglen, 630 So.2d 441, 443 (Ala.1993)

(holding that an order denying permissive intervention is appealable as a final order); Thrasher v. Bartlett, 424 So.2d 605, 607 (Ala.1982) (holding that an order denying intervention as of right is appealable as a final order). Whether an order constitutes a ruling on the merits depends upon the scope of the court's inquiry as to the rights and obligations of the underlying dispute rather than upon the method employed by the court to determine the question:

"A judgment is on the merits when it amounts to a decision as to the respective rights and liabilities of the parties, based on the ultimate fact or state of the parties disclosed by the pleadings or evidence, or both, and on which the right of recovery depends, irrespective of formal, technical, or dilatory objections or contentions. Key factors in determining whether a judgment may be considered as on the merits are that there have been notice and an opportunity to be heard....

"It is not necessary, however, that there should have been a trial. If the judgment is general, and not based on any technical defect or objection, and the parties had a full legal opportunity to be heard on their respective claims and contentions, it is on the merits, although there was no actual hearing or argument on the facts of the case."

50 C.J.S. Judgment § 728 (1997) (emphasis added). Where pleadings or other written attestations sufficiently and appropriately address an issue, that issue may be fully adjudicated on its merits without a hearing. Cf. Buck Creek Indus., Inc. v. Alcon Constr., Inc., 631 F.2d 75 (5th Cir. 1980)

(holding that a garnishment proceeding applying § 6-6-458, Ala.Code 1975, has a res judicata effect, despite the absence of a hearing, where the judge considers solely the pleadings).

Our examination of the record in this case convinces us that Mars Hill Baptist had the opportunity to fully present its position in the materials accompanying its motion to intervene, and that, in fact, it did so. In the motion itself, Mars Hill Baptist carefully explained why it believed it was a proper entity to file the motion and why it believed its interests would be adversely affected if the Monsanto litigation proceeded in its absence. Mars Hill Baptist even included an affidavit and exhibits in support of its motion to substantiate its claims. The information before the trial court was sufficient for the court to arrive at an informed decision when it denied the motion. It is irrelevant that the court's order does not include findings of fact and conclusions of law; the court is not required to make such findings and conclusions when it denies a motion to intervene. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 630 So.2d at 443.

Based on the record, we conclude that when the trial court denied the first motion to intervene it did so with an understanding of the arguments Mars Hills Baptist was...