Satterwhite v. Rodney Byrd Millenium Props., Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 April 2015
• Docket Number: 2140149.,2140148
• Citation: 180 So.3d 890
• Parties: Martha S. SATTERWHITE, Larry G. Satterwhite, and Sara J. Satterwhite v. RODNEY BYRD MILLENIUM PROPERTIES, INC. Martha S. Satterwhite, Larry G. Satterwhite, and Sara J. Satterwhite v. Saddle Lake Farms Association, Inc., and Mutual Savings Credit Union.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

180 So.3d 890

Martha S. SATTERWHITE, Larry G. Satterwhite, and Sara J. Satterwhite

v.RODNEY BYRD MILLENIUM PROPERTIES, INC.

Martha S. Satterwhite, Larry G. Satterwhite, and Sara J. Satterwhite

v.Saddle Lake Farms Association, Inc., and Mutual Savings Credit Union.

2140148

2140149.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

April 24, 2015.

Donald H. Brockway, Jr., Birmingham, for appellants.

J. Frank Head of Ellis, Head, Owens & Justice, Columbiana, for appellees Saddle Lake Farms Association, Inc.

Foster D. Key of Key Greer Harrison & Casey, Birmingham, for appellees Mutual Savings Credit Union.

THOMAS, Judge.

These appeals, which were consolidated by this court ex mero motu, arise out of a property dispute regarding the propriety of certain easements. The basic facts are undisputed. In 1982 Ruby P. Levy and Harry Scheinert conveyed a 60–foot–wide easement to Wayne R. Satterwhite. In 1984 H.E. Wills and Maria Wills conveyed a separate 60–foot–wide easement to Wayne, Martha S. Satterwhite, Larry G. Satterwhite, and Sara J. Satterwhite (Martha, Larry, and Sara are hereinafter referred to collectively as "the Satterwhites"). The two easements ("the historical easements") were within property that would eventually be developed into Saddle Lake Farms—"a land condominium with units/lots containing houses for sale, with platted streets and roadways." The property upon which Saddle Lake Farms was developed is contiguous to a 60–acre parcel that was owned by Wayne and the Satterwhites, and the historical easements were intended to be access easements to the 60–acre parcel.

On June 5, 1995, Saddle Lake Farms Association, Inc. ("the HOA"), recorded its articles of incorporation, a survey of Saddle Lake Farms, a property description of Saddle Lake Farms, and a declaration establishing the neighborhood covenants for Saddle Lake Farms ("the incorporation documents"), and the HOA received a certificate of incorporation. Gerd Anderson was the president of the HOA. Per the incorporation documents, EnviroBuild, Inc., a property-development company, held the management rights of the HOA until private owners owned 75% of the units that composed Saddle Lake Farms. Anderson was also the president of EnviroBuild.

In 1997 Satterwhite Enterprises, LLC (owned by Wayne and the Satterwhites),¹ and EnviroBuild entered into a joint-venture agreement to equally divide the profits and losses of developing Saddle Lake Farms. In 2001 Satterwhite Enterprises conveyed a 77.89–acre parcel to EnviroBuild. The deed, which appears in the record, conveyed a parcel within the area to become Saddle Lake Farms, subject to "easements of record[ ]," and included an express condition that an access-and-utilities easement would be created in the future for access to Satterwhite Enterprises' contiguous 60–acre parcel.²

On July 26, 2004, Anderson, on behalf of both EnviroBuild and the HOA, executed an easement document ("the easement document"), which purported to convey to Wayne and the Satterwhites a specifically identified 60–foot–wide "permanent ingress/egress and utilities easement over, across, and under the property formerly granted to EnviroBuild by Satterwhite Enterprises." The easement document described an easement running across, among others, a lot identified in the record as Lot 208; the easement document was recorded. On July 26, 2004, Anderson, on behalf of the HOA, executed an "agreement for ingress egress easement" in which the HOA conveyed to EnviroBuild "perpetual use" of

"a permanent ingress-egress easement within the streets and roadways located in Saddle Lakes Farms Condominium which are more readily depicted and described as a common element in the condominium's recorded plans. This easement is granted for the purpose of providing permanent access to and from all the real properties [ (sic) ] owned by [EnviroBuild], which adjoins and is contiguous to Saddle Lake Farms."

According to business letters contained in the record, 75% of the units of Saddle Lake Farms were owned by private owners by November 16, 2004; thus, on January 5, 2005, the management rights of the HOA transferred from EnviroBuild to the newly elected board of the HOA.

In 2005 EnviroBuild sold, among other lots, Lot 208, subject to any existing easement, to Rodney Byrd Millenium Properties, Inc. ("Millenium"). The lot was surveyed, but the surveyor failed to discover the easement document, and Anderson, on behalf of EnviroBuild, executed a sworn statement indicating that no easements existed on the lot. Millenium contracted to build a house on Lot 208 for prospective buyers, Shane Sumrall and his wife, Kristina Sumrall. Due to their eventual discovery of the easement document, the Sumralls never purchased the house, and Millenium was thereafter unable to sell the house. Mutual Savings Credit Union ("MSCU") eventually foreclosed upon the house and Lot 208.

On September 11, 2006, Millenium and the Sumralls filed in the Shelby Circuit Court a complaint against EnviroBuild, Wayne, Anderson, Stewart Title Guaranty Co., and Satterwhite Enterprises, which was assigned case no. CV–06–900038 ("the 06 action"). On May 15, 2007, the Satterwhites filed a complaint against Millenium, Rodney Byrd (the president of Millenium), the Sumralls, the surveyor of Lot 208, and the surveyor's employer, which was assigned case no. CV–07–900173 ("the 07 action"). The circuit court granted MSCU's motion to intervene in the 07 action on February 4, 2009; MSCU aligned itself with the Satterwhites.³ The HOA was added as a defendant in the 07 action on October 10, 2010.

On December 20, 2007, the circuit court entered an order consolidating the 06 action and the 07 action "for purposes of discovery and trial." We discuss each action in turn.

The 06 Action—Appeal No. 2140148

On September 11, 2006, Millenium and the Sumralls filed a complaint against EnviroBuild, Wayne, Anderson, Stewart Title Guaranty Co., and Satterwhite Enterprises, asserting various causes of actions and requesting an order that would void the purported easement over Lot 208, quiet title to Lot 208, and vest ownership of Lot 208 in Millenium or the Sumralls. EnviroBuild, Wayne, Anderson, and Satterwhite Enterprises filed a motion seeking a dismissal of the complaint or, in the alternative, the entry of a summary judgment in the 06 action based on the arguments that Millenium had purchased Lot 208 "as is" in the lot-sale contract and that, under the doctrine of caveat emptor, EnviroBuild had had no duty to provide notice of the easement; therefore, they contended, Millenium could not have reasonably relied on Anderson's misrepresentation in light of the recorded easement document. Millenium opposed the motion to dismiss the 06 action, asserting that an exception to the doctrine of caveat emptor applied and that further discovery was necessary. On July 3, 2008, the circuit court entered a partial summary judgment in favor of EnviroBuild, Anderson, and Satterwhite Enterprises in the 06 action.

The circuit court determined that EnviroBuild had granted Wayne and the Satterwhites—i.e., the owners of Satterwhite Enterprises—a permanent easement over a portion of Lot 208, that the easement document had been recorded, that, one year later, EnviroBuild had sold Lot 208 to Millenium, that Anderson had executed a sworn statement indicating that no easements existed on the lot, that Millenium had constructed a house on Lot 208 for the Sumralls, that the Sumralls had discovered that the easement document existed, and that Millenium had not sold the house to the Sumralls. The circuit court concluded that, although Anderson had made a false representation, the partial summary judgment in favor of EnviroBuild, Anderson, and Satterwhite Enterprises was proper because Millenium had been on notice of the existence of the recorded easement document; thus, the circuit court concluded, Millenium could not have reasonably relied on Anderson's false representation. The circuit court certified the partial summary judgment as a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. Millenium filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the judgment, which was denied. Millenium did not file an appeal in the 06 action.

On March 20, 2014, the Satterwhites, presumably on behalf of Satterwhite Enterprises (see supra note 1), filed an appeal in the 06 action. Although the parties do not raise any argument regarding this court's jurisdiction to consider appeal no. 2140148 (the Satterwhites' appeal in the 06 action), "jurisdictional matters are of such magnitude that we take notice of them at any time and do so even ex mero motu. " Nunn v. Baker, 518 So.2d 711, 712 (Ala.1987). See also Ex parte Smith, 438 So.2d 766, 768 (Ala.1983) ("Lack of subject matter jurisdiction may not be waived by the parties and it is the duty of an appellate court to consider lack of subject matter jurisdiction ex mero motu. ").

As an initial matter, we must, therefore, consider whether the Satterwhites' notice of appeal was timely filed so as to properly invoke the appellate jurisdiction of this court. See, e.g., Rudd v. Rudd, 467 So.2d 964, 965 (Ala.Civ.App.1985) ("The timely filing of the notice of appeal is a jurisdictional act."). The circuit court certified the partial summary judgment as a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b) on July 3, 2008, and the Satterwhites filed their notice of appeal nearly six years later. See Rule 4(a)(1), Ala. R.App. P. (requiring a party to file a notice of appeal "within 42 days (6 weeks) of the date of the entry of the judgment or order appealed from"). Because the Satterwhites failed to timely file their notice of appeal, this court has no jurisdiction to consider their appeal; we therefore dismiss appeal no. 2140148. See Rule 2(a)(1), Ala. R.App. P. ("An appeal shall be dismissed if the notice of appeal was not timely filed to invoke the jurisdiction of the appellate court."). Moreover, even if the notice of appeal had been timely, Satterwhite Enterprises—an entity owned, in...