Walker v. Carolina Mills Lumber Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 23 November 1983 |
| Citation | 441 So.2d 980 |
| Parties | Elizabeth W. WALKER v. CAROLINA MILLS LUMBER COMPANY, INC. Civ. 3895. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Irvin Grodsky of Grodsky & Mitchell, Mobile, for appellant.
Wade B. Perry, Jr. and K.W. Michael Chambers of Johnstone, Adams, May, Howard & Hill, Mobile, for appellee.
This garnishment proceeding comes before this court for a second time. Plaintiff appeals the money judgment entered by the trial court on remand, contending that the trial court failed to properly implement the mandate issued by this court on the prior appeal of this action. See Walker v. Carolina Mills Lumber Co., 429 So.2d 1065 (Ala.Civ.App.1983).
At this point we note that some might consider our prior opinion and mandate not to be a paragon of clarity. However, the facts of the case and other factors may in large measure have contributed to any misunderstanding as to what this court held. In any event, by virtue of this appeal we have an opportunity to hopefully to some be more precise. See Walker v. Humana Medical Corp., 423 So.2d 891 (Ala.Civ.App.1982).
After having considered the briefs of counsel, this court's earlier opinion, and the judgment entered by the trial court on remand, this court finds that the trial court properly implemented the earlier opinion of this court and that its judgment is due to be affirmed.
The complicated facts of this proceeding are as follows: plaintiff, Elizabeth W. Walker, was divorced from her husband, Richard D. Walker, Jr., in 1960. On February 12, 1980, she filed a petition for rule nisi in Mobile County Circuit Court to collect $41,200 worth of child support and alimony arrearages. (At about this same time, Mr. Walker talked with his employer about having his new wife's name substituted for his own on the company payroll records.) On May 26, 1980, the circuit court entered a judgment in favor of the former Mrs. Walker, fixing arrearages at $43,561. Thereafter, on July 21, 1980, Mrs. Walker caused a writ of garnishment to be served on her ex-husband's employer, Carolina Mills Lumber Co. On that date Mr. Walker's commission account with Carolina Mills carried a balance of $7,365.09.
Carolina Mills structured its financial relationships with its salesmen on commission in a peculiar manner. A thorough understanding of that procedure is necessary for review of the trial court's action; however, for the sake of brevity, that procedure will not be described here; instead, the reader is referred to the earlier opinion. See 429 So.2d at 1067, 1069-70. Suffice it to say here that many of the payments Carolina Mills made to its salesmen did not represent an earned salary, but were instead cash advances, or loans, and put the salesmen in a position of being "net debtors" to Carolina Mills. In our earlier opinion this court found that such cash advances (which are in reality loans) are not subject to the garnishment process. Id. at 1070.
Sometime in late July, after having been served with the garnishment writ, Carolina Mills allowed both Mr. Walker and his current wife to withdraw amounts from Mr. Walker's account. Then, on July 31, 1980, at the end of its accounting year, Carolina Mills simultaneously credited Walker's account for an additional $7,972.10 in commissions earned and debited it for $23,156.95, representing an uncollectable account. This large debit left Mr. Walker's account with a negative balance, making him a net debtor to Carolina Mills.
During August of 1980 both Mr. Walker and his current wife again made withdrawals from his account. However, on August 31, 1980, the company transferred the commission account into his current wife's name and all subsequent withdrawals were made by her. Because of her withdrawals and because of various chargebacks made by Carolina Mills, the account carried a negative balance through at least March 31, 1981. In issuing a judgment for plaintiff on the garnishment writ, the trial court allowed the writ to attach to the $7,365.09 balance in the account on July 21, 1980, and to all draws made by Mr. Walker after that date, finding that all payments to Walker by Carolina Mills were garnishable. The trial court also found that fraudulent intent motivated Mr. Walker to assign his account to his current wife. However, the court refused to garnish any amounts drawn by the current Mrs. Walker, because it was under the mistaken impression that a finding of fraudulent collusion on the part of Carolina Mills was necessary as a matter of law to set aside the...
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