Blount v. Squire Padgett

CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 14, 2021
Docket19-CV-1051 & 20-CV-71
StatusPublished

This text of Blount v. Squire Padgett (Blount v. Squire Padgett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blount v. Squire Padgett, (D.C. 2021).

Opinion

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Atlantic and Maryland Reporters. Users are requested to notify the Clerk of the Court of any formal errors so that corrections may be made before the bound volumes go to press.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS

Nos. 19-CV-1051 & 20-CV-71

CHARLOTTE R. BLOUNT, APPELLANT,

V.

SQUIRE PADGETT, ET AL., APPELLEES.

Appeals from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (CAM-1465-14 & CAB-3605-19)

(Hon. William Jackson, Trial Judge)

(Submitted June 23, 2021 Decided October 14, 2021)

Charlotte R. Blount, pro se.

David H. Dupree was on the brief for appellee Eleanor Padgett.

Before GLICKMAN, THOMPSON *, and MCLEESE, Associate Judges.

* Judge Thompson was an Associate Judge of the court at the time of submission. Although her term expired on September 4, 2021, she will continue to serve as an Associate Judge until her successor is confirmed. See D.C. Code § 11- 1502 (2012 Repl.). She was qualified and appointed on October 4, 2021, to perform judicial duties as a Senior Judge and will begin her service as a Senior Judge on a date to be determined after her successor is appointed and qualifies. 2

THOMPSON, Associate Judge: Appellant Charlotte R. Blount appeals from

two rulings of the Superior Court: an October 4, 2019, order denying her request

for a “Determination of Dual Ownership” and for a writ of fieri facias as to the real

property located at 1501 Kalmia Road, N.W. (the “Kalmia Road property”); and an

October 15, 2019, order dismissing as moot her complaint alleging that

defendants/appellees Squire Padgett, Eleanor Padgett, and David Dupree effected a

fraudulent transfer of the Kalmia Road property. 1 We affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

In 2014, appellant Blount brought a legal malpractice action (2014 CA 1465

(hereafter, the “2014 case”) against her former attorneys, Squire Padgett and Lathal

Ponder, seeking damages for their alleged negligence in handling an employment

discrimination lawsuit. In June 2015, Ms. Blount obtained a default judgment

1 Eleanor Padgett filed a brief on behalf of herself and appellee Dupree (Ms. Padgett’s attorney). Appellee Squire Padgett did not file a brief, but Eleanor Padgett’s brief represents that Squire Padgett joins in her brief.

Eleanor Padgett’s brief asserts that Ms. Blount “appeals the denial of her motion to Alter, Amend or Vacate [the] Order Granting [the] Motion to Dismiss[,]” but the Notice of Appeal in No. 20-CV-71 identified only the dismissal order as the order appealed. In any event, our analysis below addresses why the January 14, 2020, order denying Ms. Blount’s Super. Ct. Civ. R. 59(e) motion was correctly decided. 3

against them for over $1 million, a judgment for which they are jointly and

severally liable. After obtaining the judgment, Ms. Blount began efforts to collect

on it. On or about July 15, 2015, she recorded her judgment among the land

records in the District of Columbia Office of the Recorder of Deeds. In addition,

in February 2017, she filed in the land records a Notice of Lis Pendens “against

any sale [o]r transfer of title” of the Kalmia Road property, which was owned by

appellees Squire Padgett and Eleanor Padgett as tenants by the entirety.

The Padgetts, who married in January 1970, acquired the Kalmia Road

property by deed dated September 30, 1975, which conveyed the property to them

as “tenants by the entirety[.]” At the time Ms. Blount filed her lis pendens notice

in February 2017, the Padgetts had been living separate and apart for almost

twenty years. Eleanor Padgett informed the Superior Court that during that time

she “has been solely responsible for mortgage, taxes, repairs and any other

concern, financial or otherwise, related to the property.” In August 2018, after

some delays that they represent related to complications attendant to Squire

Padgett’s tax-lien situation, the Padgetts executed a “Marital Dissolution

Agreement” (the “property settlement agreement”) in anticipation of divorce, and

thereafter filed their petition for absolute divorce on September 4, 2018. Their

property settlement agreement was incorporated in the Judgment of Final Divorce 4

that the Superior Court Family Division entered on September 27, 2018, and that

became final on October 27, 2018. In the property settlement agreement, Squire

Padgett agreed to relinquish all right, title, and interest he had in the Kalmia Road

property and to deed the property to Eleanor Padgett. He executed a warranty deed

conveying that interest on September 27, 2018, the same day the divorce decree

was entered.

As part of her efforts to collect on the malpractice judgment, Ms. Blount

filed in the 2014 case a motion for Determination of Dual Ownership, in which she

sought a writ of fieri facias 2 and a determination that she could attach Squire

Padgett’s share of the Kalmia Road property. Eleanor Padgett moved successfully

to intervene in the post-judgment collection proceedings. 3 For her part, Ms. Blount

2 “A writ of fieri facias is a . . . ‘writ of execution that directs a marshal or sheriff to seize and sell a defendant’s property to satisfy a money judgment.’” Fid. Nat’l Title Ins. Co. of New York v. Tillerson, 2 A.3d 198, 199 n.2 (D.C. 2010) (quoting BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 659 (8th ed. 1999)). 3 Ms. Padgett also moved to cancel the “false notice of lis pendens[.]” She argued that the lis pendens notice was improper because the underlying malpractice lawsuit was not related to the property, and because an attempt to collect on a judgment does not create a case related to a defendant’s property that is unrelated to the underlying litigation. See Tillerson, 2 A.3d at 202 (“Actions to recover a debt . . . do not give rise to lis pendens because no specific property is designated for relief in the judgment.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The Superior Court explained that in any event, “[a] lis pendens doesn’t give you any rights . . . it’s just a notice to third parties[.]” 5

took the additional step of filing a complaint pursuant to D.C. Code § 28-3104

(2012 Repl.), entitled “Verified Complaint for Fraudulent Conveyance of Title,

Concealment to Commit A Fraud, Declaratory Relief to Declare Title in the Names

of Both Parties and to Levy Real Property Located at 1501 Kalmia Road NW,

Washington, DC 20012 and Damages” No. 2019 CA 000075 B (the “2019 case” or

the “2019 complaint”). The Superior Court consolidated the 2019 case with the

2014 (collections) case.

On October 4, 2019, after a series of hearings, the Superior Court denied Ms.

Blount’s motion for a determination of dual ownership, noting that “regardless of

the transfer that took place in late 2018 [in connection with the divorce

proceedings], it is undisputed that when [Ms. Blount] initially attempted to attach

the property in early 2017, [it] was owned by the Padgetts as tenancy by the

entirety.” The court reasoned that Ms. Blount has “a judgment against Squire

Padgett but not Eleanor Padgett,” that “[t]he law is clear that the debt of one

spouse cannot reach . . . property [owned as tenants by the entirety,]” and therefore

that Squire Padgett’s debt to Ms. Blount “is not a joint debt where the property

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Elizabeth B. Argent v. Samuel E. Argent
396 F.2d 695 (D.C. Circuit, 1968)
In Re Wall.
440 F.2d 215 (D.C. Circuit, 1971)
Eleanor M. Benson, James A. Travis v. United States
442 F.2d 1221 (D.C. Circuit, 1971)
Randall E. Sebold, Sr. v. Irene H. Sebold
444 F.2d 864 (D.C. Circuit, 1971)
Estes v. Titus
751 N.W.2d 493 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2008)
Branch Banking and Trust Co. v. Wright
328 S.E.2d 840 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1985)
Burwell v. Burwell
700 A.2d 219 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1997)
Mazza v. Hollis
947 A.2d 1177 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2008)
Webster v. Hope (In Re Hope)
231 B.R. 403 (District of Columbia, 1999)
Morrison v. Potter
764 A.2d 234 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2000)
Fort Lincoln Civic Ass'n v. Fort Lincoln New Town Corp.
944 A.2d 1055 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2008)
Alves v. Alves
262 A.2d 111 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1970)
Barbour v. Barbour
464 A.2d 915 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1983)
Clark v. Clark
644 A.2d 449 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1994)
Executive Sandwich Shoppe, Inc. v. Carr Realty Corp.
749 A.2d 724 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2000)
Kleiman v. Kleiman
633 A.2d 1378 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1993)
Clark v. Clark
535 A.2d 872 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1987)
Finley v. Thomas
691 A.2d 1163 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1997)
King v. King
579 A.2d 659 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1990)
Travis v. Benson
360 A.2d 506 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Blount v. Squire Padgett, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blount-v-squire-padgett-dc-2021.