Prado North Residences, Ltd. v. Prado North Condominium Ass'n, Inc.

• Decision Date: 04 October 1985
• Parties: PRADO NORTH RESIDENCES, LTD. and Gary E. Smith v. PRADO NORTH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. 84-733.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 396

477 So.2d 396

PRADO NORTH RESIDENCES, LTD. and Gary E. Smith v. PRADO NORTH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

84-733.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Oct. 4, 1985.

Ronald L. Stichweh and David J. Vann of Carlton, Vann & Stichweh, Birmingham, for appellants.

Douglas J. Centeno of Najjar, Denaburg, Schoel, Meyerson, Ogle & Zarzaur, Birmingham, for appellee.

JONES, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of Plaintiff/Appellee Prado North Condominium Association, Inc. (PNCA), and against Appellants Prado North Residences, Ltd. (PNR), and Gary E. Smith. We reverse and remand.

PNCA, a Georgia condominium homeowners' association, recovered a judgment against PNR in the state court of Fulton County, Georgia. PNR is an Alabama limited partnership doing business in Birmingham, Alabama, and Fulton County, Georgia. Gary E. Smith is the general partner of PNR, but was not served in the Georgia proceeding and did not appear therein. PNCA brought an action in the Jefferson County Circuit Court to collect the unpaid Georgia judgment debt, naming both PNR and Gary E. Smith as defendants.

PNCA's motion for summary judgment, based on the pleadings, the affidavit of one of the members of PNCA, and the deposition of Gary Smith, was granted by the trial court. The court's order states:

"The Plaintiff recovered a judgment against one of the Defendants, Prado North Residences, Ltd., in the amount of Seventy Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight Dollars and Ninety-One Cents ($73,778.91), on January 1, 1984, in the State Court of Fulton County, Georgia. Prado North Residences, Ltd., is a limited partnership. Gary E. Smith is a general partner of Prado, Ltd. The Plaintiff files suit in Circuit Court of Alabama based on the Georgia judgment and moves for a Summary Judgment against both defendants on the undisputed evidence that a judgment was taken against Prado North Residences, Ltd., in the State of Georgia, and that Defendant Gary E. Smith is a general partner thereof.

"The only question for consideration is whether a Summary Judgment should be entered against Gary E. Smith based upon the undisputed evidence of a judgment against the partnership.

"It is the judgment of the Court that evidence of a judgment against the limited partnership is conclusive upon Defendant Gary E. Smith, its general partner. Title 10-9-50, Code of Ala. (1975); Kelley v. Royal Globe Insurance Company, Inc., 349 So.2d 561 (Ala.1977).

"It appearing that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the Plaintiff is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law, the foregoing Motion for Summary Judgment is granted. A Summary Judgment is rendered in favor of said Plaintiff and against Defendants. It is determined by the Court that there is no just reason for delay and it is directed that this judgment be entered as a final judgment under the provisions of Rule 54(b), ARCP. Any costs incident thereto [are] taxed to the Defendant.

"It is further ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that damages in the amount of Eighty-Two Thousand, Six Hundred and Thirty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Eight Cents ($82,632.38) be paid to the Plaintiff by both Defendants, and the costs to be taxed to both Defendants."

PNR and Gary Smith appeal from the entry of summary judgment, claiming that the Alabama circuit court afforded full faith and credit to a foreign judgment without a copy, certified or otherwise, of the foreign judgment being in evidence before the Alabama court. Alternatively, says Appellant Gary Smith, neither was he served nor did he appear in the Georgia proceeding; therefore, he says, the Georgia judgment, even if properly introduced, cannot be the basis of a finding by an Alabama court that he is liable for PNR's judgment debt and the trial court's finding of individual liability violates the constitutional mandate of procedural due process.

Because of our reversal with respect to the evidentiary issue, we could pretermit any consideration of the due process claim. We address this latter question, however, because of its fundamental importance in the context of an individual partner's liability for partnership debts.

The Evidentiary Issue

Our review of the case law in Alabama reveals a recurring holding in cases involving an attempt to enforce, in an Alabama court, a judgment rendered in another state. We find that it has long been the law in Alabama that in order to obtain enforcement of a foreign judgment, a certified, exemplified, or otherwise properly authenticated copy of that judgment must be before the Alabama court and, therefore, must be a part of the trial record. See, for example, Wheeler v. Buck, 452 So.2d 864 (Ala.Civ.App.1984); MacLeod v. MacLeod, 448 So.2d 361 (Ala.Civ.App.1983); Mitchell v. Mitchell, 437 So.2d 122 (Ala.Civ.App.1982); Wyatt v. Falhsing, 396 So.2d 1069 (Ala.Civ.App.1981); Kroger Co. v. Puckett, 351 So.2d 582 (Ala.Civ.App.1977); Hajovsky v. Hajovsky, 276 Ala. 77, 159 So.2d 194 (1963); Forbes v. Davis, 187 Ala. 71, 65 So. 516 (1914).

The strict adherence over the years to the requirement of having a properly authenticated copy of the foreign judgment before the court in which it is sought to be enforced is not a matter of territorial arrogance or distrust. Indeed, state courts are

"obliged by the federal mandate to accord to such [foreign] judgment the faith, credit, and respect that would be accorded it in and by the courts of the sister state in which such judgment was rendered." Forbes v. Davis, supra, 187 Ala. at 74, 65 So. at 517.

Yet, the certified copy requisite provides the opportunity for the enforcing court to determine whether the court rendering the judgment had the jurisdiction to do so.

In the instant case there was some confusion with regard to the copy of the judgment sought to be enforced. While PNCA's complaint alleged that a copy of the Georgia judgment was attached, it was later determined that through a clerical error no copy was ever attached to the complaint. In a letter to the clerk of the trial court, PNCA's lawyer notified the court of the error and further stated, "I have enclosed herein and properly stamped as Exhibit 'A' the original Certificate of Judgment from the State of Georgia which needs to be attached to Plaintiff's Complaint as Exhibit 'A.' "

We note, however, that the document filed with the court was not the required copy of the Georgia judgment but was, instead, a copy of the "writ of fieri facias" to the marshal of the State Court of Fulton County directing that Georgia court officer to execute on a judgment entered for PNCA and against PNR. This court document, while referring to the judgment PNCA now seeks to enforce, is not a properly authenticated copy of the Georgia judgment (by which that court's jurisdiction over the parties and/or subject matter would have been determined) and cannot be substituted therefor.

The Due Process Issue

We now address the propriety of imposing individual liability on PNR's general partner, Gary Smith, based on the Georgia judgment against the partnership. Before we address this ultimate due process issue, we will discuss what we perceive to be a point of uncertainty in applying Alabama's partnership laws.

Both by statute and by case law Alabama subscribes to the "entity concept" with regard to both general and limited partnerships. The partnership entity concept was specifically recognized by this Court in 1977 when it criticized earlier cases rejecting a partnership/partner entity theory and held:

"The interests of a corporation, a separate legal entity, can be severed more easily from the interests of its officers than can the interests of a partnership, an aggregate of the partners which comprise it. We are not unmindful of the controversy and confusion surrounding the...