Bentley Terrace Dillard Family Trust v. Mark E Schlussel

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 20, 2017
Docket330288
StatusUnpublished

This text of Bentley Terrace Dillard Family Trust v. Mark E Schlussel (Bentley Terrace Dillard Family Trust v. Mark E Schlussel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bentley Terrace Dillard Family Trust v. Mark E Schlussel, (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

THE BENTLEY TERRACE DILLARD FAMILY UNPUBLISHED TRUST and BENTLEY TERRACE DILLARD, April 20, 2017

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v No. 330288 Oakland Circuit Court MARK E. SCHLUSSEL, LC No. 2009-100856-CZ

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: SAWYER, P.J., and SAAD and RIORDAN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals as of right the Oakland Circuit Court’s order granting plaintiffs’ motion to renew and amend a judgment that was adjudicated in Arizona and previously domesticated in Michigan. We affirm.1

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Defendant and plaintiffs are once again before this Court, engaged in a continuing legal battle over the substantial judgment that plaintiffs hold against defendant arising from a prior Arizona lawsuit. See Dillard v Schlussel, 308 Mich App 429; 865 NW2d 648 (2014). Most relevant to the instant appeal, on March 27, 2009, plaintiffs obtained a judgment following a jury trial in the Superior Court in Maricopa County, Arizona, resulting in a total award of $523,171.39 (hereinafter “the 2009 Arizona judgment”).2 On May 15, 2009, plaintiffs filed an

1 As an initial matter, we disagree with plaintiffs that we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. We conclude that the trial court’s June 8, 2015 order constitutes a final order appealable as of right. See MCR 7.202(6)(a)(i); MCR 7.203(A). Nevertheless, even if we were to conclude that defendant is not entitled to appeal the trial court’s order as of right, “we would still, in the interest of judicial economy, exercise our discretion to treat defendant’s claim of appeal as an application for leave to appeal, grant leave, and address the . . . issue presented.” Wardell v Hincka, 297 Mich App 127, 133 n 1; 822 NW2d 278 (2012). 2 The Arizona judgment was signed on March 27, 2009, but was not entered by the Superior Court for Maricopa County, Arizona, until April 17, 2009.

-1- affidavit and notice of entry of foreign judgment with the Oakland Circuit Court, along with a copy of the authenticated 2009 Arizona judgment. On November 4, 2009, the Oakland Circuit Court entered a notice of judgment lien pertaining to the 2009 Arizona judgment. On November 4, 2009, after the stay ordered by the Oakland Circuit Court in June 2009 was lifted, enforcement of the judgment was permitted to proceed in Michigan. In the meantime, however, the Arizona trial court entered a judgment on September 21, 2009, granting plaintiffs and third-party defendants an additional amount as a final statement of costs.

On February 1, 2010, the trial court in Arizona entered an amended and consolidated final judgment (hereinafter “2010 amended and consolidated judgment”), which incorporated the amounts awarded under the March 27, 2009 and September 21, 2009 judgments with additional amounts for reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in responding to defendant’s motion for a new trial. The amended 2010 Arizona judgment “ordered, adjudged, and decreed that [the] First Amended Final Judgment be entered, consolidating all existing judgments in this case into a single judgment . . . .”

On January 21, 2015, plaintiffs filed a renewal affidavit with the Arizona court concerning the 2010 amended and consolidated judgment. The renewal affidavit delineated the various awards and interest, as well as the payments that had been made and applied toward accrued interest, indicating that “[t]he principal amount now due and owing on the judgment is $542,001.79,” with “a total of $188,513.14 in accrued unpaid interest to date.” Plaintiffs never renewed the original 2009 judgment.

In May 2015, defendant moved to quash garnishment in Michigan, asserting that plaintiffs’ failure to renew the 2009 Arizona judgment within the requisite five-year period under Arizona law caused the original judgment to expire on March 26, 2014. As a result, defendant argued that the 2009 judgment domesticated in the Oakland Circuit Court “is of no force and effect.” Defendant further asserted that, because the 2010 amended and consolidated judgment related back to the original 2009 Arizona judgment, the 2010 judgment “does not constitute a new judgment on the total amount,” only adding taxable costs and appellate attorney fees to the amount due, such that it “does not extend the mandatory ‘five-year’ renewal date for the March 27, 2009 judgment . . . .” Accordingly, defendant contended that plaintiffs were improperly “attempting to unlawfully extend the period authorized under Arizona law for collection actions” by relying on the 2010 amended and consolidated judgment, even though all of their previous enforcement and collection efforts had been taken in conjunction with the 2009 judgment.

In response, plaintiffs asserted, inter alia, that the domesticated 2009 Arizona judgment remained valid and enforceable in Michigan, as it became a “Michigan judgment[] subject to Michigan procedure,” including “Michigan’s ten-year limitations period for enforcement of judgments” under MCL 600.5809(3) and Michigan’s procedures for judgment renewals. Plaintiffs also argued that the 2010 amended judgment, having incorporated the 2009 judgment, was enforceable. Based on this reasoning, plaintiffs contended that the renewal affidavit filed in Arizona on January 21, 2015, was within five years after the 2010 judgment was entered and, therefore, was timely.

Soon afterward, plaintiffs filed a motion in the Oakland Circuit Court seeking to “renew and amend the 2009 Michigan Judgment” to reflect the additional compensation awarded by the

-2- Arizona trial court in 2010. In addition to reasserting his other arguments, defendant denied that the domesticated Arizona judgment “constitutes a Michigan Judgment,” explaining that it is simply a foreign judgment authenticated for filing to permit enforcement in this state. Defendant argued that MCL 691.1172 “does not authorize or create a new Michigan judgment,” and that the foreign judgment “must remain valid” in order to be enforceable under Michigan’s Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (“UEFJA”), MCL 691.1171 et seq. Accordingly, he again asserted that the 2009 judgment was no longer valid and, therefore, is unenforceable in Michigan. He also asserted that the 2010 amended and consolidated judgment cannot be renewed or amended by the Oakland Circuit Court given that it was never domesticated in this state. In reply, plaintiffs denied that the Arizona judgments were invalid and asserted that their current motion to amend and renew achieved the same purpose as filing a separate affidavit and notice of entry of a foreign judgment with regard to the 2010 amended and consolidated judgment. Plaintiffs also rejected defendant’s other arguments.

After holding a hearing, the Oakland Circuit Court granted plaintiffs’ motion to amend and renew the domesticated judgment. The written order memorializing the court’s ruling on the record stated, in relevant part, “that Plaintiff[s’] Motion to Renew and Amend Judgment is granted,” and “that the 2009 Michigan Judgment entered in this matter against Defendant Schlussel and in favor of Plaintiff[s] is renewed and amended to include the additional $12,664.84 set forth in the First Amended and Consolidated Final Judgment, making the total principal owed by Defendant under the renewed and amended Judgment $542,001.79 . . . .” The court later denied defendant’s motion for reconsideration.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Defendant preserved his claims pertaining to the domestication of the 2009 Arizona judgment, the procedural requirements under Arizona statutory law to renew the judgment, and the effect of the 2010 amended and consolidated Arizona judgment.

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Bentley Terrace Dillard Family Trust v. Mark E Schlussel, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bentley-terrace-dillard-family-trust-v-mark-e-schlussel-michctapp-2017.