American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. v. Yeung

• Court: Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
• Decided: January 13, 2010
• Docket: 30057
• Status: Published

Opinion

NOT F()R I’UBLICATI()N IN WF,S'I"S HA\VAI‘I REP()RTS A_ND PAC`IFIC REPORTER

NO. 30057

IN THE INTERMEDlATE COURT OF APPEALS

oF THE STATE oF HAWAI‘I

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AMERlCAN HOME MORTGAGE SERVICING, INC., Plaintiff$Appelleey KIN~CHUNG ROCKY YEUNG, Defendant-Appellant and JOHN and MARY DOES 1-lO, Defendants APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT (ClVIL NO. 09-l-O8l6) ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION (By: Foley, Presiding Judge, Fujise and Leonard, JJ.) Upon review of the record in this case, it appears that we lack jurisdiction over the appeal that Defendant~Appellant Kin-Chung Rocky Yeung (Appellant Yeung) has asserted from the Honorable Bert I. Ayabe's September 2, 2009 announcement in circuit court minutes that the circuit court intends to grant Plaintiff~Appellee American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc.'s (Appellee American Home Mortgage Servicing) motion for summary judgment, because the record on appeal does not contain a separate, appealable final judgment that resolves all claims in this case. Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS)§ 641-l(a) (l993 & Supp, 2008) authorizes appeals to the intermediate court of appeals only from final judgments, orders, or decrees. Appeals under HRS § 64l~l "shall be taken in the manner . . . provided by the rules

of the court." HRS § 641-l(c). Rule 58 of the Hawafi Rules of

Civil Procedure (HRCP) requires that "[e]very judgment shall be

N()T FOR _PUBLICATI()N WEST’S HAW'AI‘I R,EP()RTS ANI) PAClFIC RE'PORTER set forth on a separate document." Based on HRCP Rule 58, the Supreme Court of Hawafi has held that "[a]n appeal may be taken . . . only after the orders have been reduced to a judgment and the judgment has been entered in favor of and against the appropriate parties pursuant to HRCP [Rule] 58[.]" Jenkins v. trades schut;te Fleminq s wriqhc, 76 Hawai‘i 115 , 119, 369 P . 2d 1334, 1338 (1994). Thus, "an order disposing of a circuit court case is appealable when the order is reduced to a separate judgment." Alford v. City and Count of Honolulu, 109 Hawafi 14, 20, 122 P.3d 809, 815 (2005) (citation omitted) (emphasis added)). "An appeal from an order that is not reduced to a judgment in favor or against the party by the time the record is filed in the supreme court will be dismissed." Jenkins, 76 HawaiE. at 120, 869 P.2d at 1339 (footnote omitted).

The appellate court clerk filed the record on appeal for this appellate case on November 10, 2009, at which time the record did not contain a final judgment that resolves all claims against all parties in this case. The record on appeal also did not contain a dispositive written order. The circuit court has merely indicated through the circuit court minutes that the circuit court orally announced its intention to enter a written order granting Appellee American Home Mortgage Servicing's motion for summary judgment. As the Supreme Court of Hawafi has explained, "a minute order is nQt an appealable order." Abrams v. Cades, Schutte, Fleming & Wright, 88 HawaiH.319, 321 n.3, 966 P.2d 631, 633 n.3 (1998) (emphasis added). Absent an appealable final judgment in the record on appeal, Appellant Yeung‘s appeal

is premature and we lack appellate jurisdiction.

_2_

NOT FOR PUBLICATI_()N' IN WEST'S HA\V'AI‘I RI?I~_P()RTS AND PACI`P`IC REPORTER

Therefore, 1T 15 HEREBY ORDERED that this appeal is

dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.

DATED: Honolulu, HawaiUq Janu5ry 13, 2010.

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Presiding Judge