Brown v. First Federal Bank

95 So. 3d 803, 2012 WL 415468, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 37
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 10, 2012
Docket2100921
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 95 So. 3d 803 (Brown v. First Federal Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. First Federal Bank, 95 So. 3d 803, 2012 WL 415468, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 37 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

Geanie Shannon Brown (“Geanie”) appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court in favor of First Federal Bank (“First Federal”), Jerry Dewayne Brown (“Jerry”), and Donielle Eaton. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the judgment in part, reverse it in [807]*807part, and remand the cause for further proceedings.

The trial court resolved this action by a summary judgment; therefore, we consider the evidence of record in the light most favorable to Geanie, the nonmovant, resolving all disputed issues of material fact in Geanie’s favor. See Maciasz v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 988 So.2d 991, 994-95 (Ala.2008). Our consideration of the record under that standard reveals the following pertinent facts. Geanie was married to Jerry. At the times relevant to this action, First Federal employed Jerry as a loan officer and employed Eaton as a commercial-loan processor. Eaton was a notary public.

Geanie and Jerry purchased a house (“the marital residence”) in 2004. They took out a mortgage on the marital residence, and that residence secured an indebtedness of $208,000. On November 21, 2005, Jerry, without Geanie’s knowledge, entered into an agreement with First Federal whereby First Federal extended Jerry a home-equity line of credit with a limit of $30,000. Jerry executed a mortgage on the marital residence securing that line of credit (“the November 2005 mortgage”), and he forged Geanie’s signature on that mortgage.1 Subsequently, Eaton notarized Jerry’s and Geanie’s signatures on the mortgage.

First Federal issued blank checks to Jerry on the line of credit. The checks listed the loan number of the line of credit and indicated that they were to be drawn on an account at First Federal. Geanie used the first check drawn on the line of credit to pay for interior decorating. She filled out the check, and Jerry signed it. She later testified that she did not realize that the check she had used to pay the decorator was drawn on the line of credit Jerry had established; she stated that she believed the parties had an account at First Federal from which proceeds from the sale of their previous house had been deposited.

In January 2006, without Geanie’s knowledge, Jerry entered into an agreement with First Federal for the establishment of a second line of credit with a limit of $62,000, the proceeds of which were used to pay off the first line of credit. Jerry executed a mortgage on the marital residence in favor of First Federal to secure the line of credit (“the January 2006 mortgage”). Again, he forged Geanie’s signature on the mortgage. Eaton subsequently notarized Jerry’s and Geanie’s signatures.

In 2007, Geanie filed an action for a divorce from Jerry. Sometime between March and June of 2008, while the divorce action was pending, she learned of the November 2005 and the January 2006 mortgages for the first time. In July 2008, Jerry and Geanie reconciled, and Geanie dismissed the divorce action. In December 2008, Jerry and Geanie refinanced the debts secured by the marital residence. As part of the refinance, they consolidated the debt associated with the existing line of credit with their other mortgage debt into a single debt secured by the marital residence. Also as part of the refinance, they received proceeds of approximately $10,000, which were deposited into a checking account primarily used by Geanie. Geanie testified that those funds were used to pay household bills. In [808]*808April 2008, First Federal recorded a cancellation of the November 2005 mortgage; in December 2008, First Federal recorded a release of the January 2006 mortgage.

In August 2009, Geanie filed a second action for a divorce from Jerry. On September 18, 2009, she filed the present action against First Federal, Jerry, and Eaton (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the defendants”). Geanie alleged that the defendants had wrongfully executed and recorded the November 2005 and the January 2006 mortgages and that First Federal and Eaton had “actively participated in securing the said mortgages with [Geanie]’s forged signature contained thereon and with knowledge of Jerry’s intent to suppress or conceal from [Geanie] the true facts concerning those documents and the related transactions.” Although she did not separately enumerate her claims against the defendants in her complaint, it appears from the complaint, as well as from subsequent filings and her appellate briefs, that Geanie asserted claims of negligence and fraudulent suppression against Eaton for which she asserted First Federal was vicariously liable; claims of negligence, wantonness, and fraudulent suppression against Jerry; claims of negligence, wantonness, suppression, and negligent and wanton supervision against First Federal; and a claim of conspiracy against all the defendants.

The defendants filed a motion for a summary judgment as to all of Geanie’s claims, raising a host of arguments. Among other things, they argued that Geanie had authorized Jerry to execute the November 2005 and January 2006 mortgages on her behalf and that he had not acted wrongfully in so doing. As to the claim of suppression, the defendants argued that they did not owe a duty to disclose any information to Geanie, that there was no evidence indicating that they had failed to disclose information to Geanie, that Geanie had neither acted to her detriment nor relied on an incomplete set of facts, and that Geanie had not been injured by any alleged fraudulent suppression by the defendants. In addition, they argued that Geanie was on notice of the information she claimed they had suppressed because she had filled out the first check drawn on the original line of credit; because she had received several documents from her property-insurance carrier indicating that there were two mortgages on the marital residence; because a bank statement relating to the checking account Jerry primarily used but to which Geanie had access showed that a check for $13,352 had been drawn on the account and the check was used to pay down the second line of credit; and because the November 2005 and January 2006 mortgages had been properly recorded. As to the claims against Eaton, the defendants argued that she had used reasonable care in performing her duties and that she had had a reasonable belief that the mortgages had been properly executed by Jerry and Geanie. The defendants argued that Geanie had not suffered any injury because, among other things, she had not been obligated on the lines of credit, she never owed any money to First Federal until she voluntarily refinanced the marital residence in December 2008, and any mental anguish she had suffered was attributable to the two divorce actions she had filed against Jerry, not to any actions of the defendants giving rise to the present action. The defendants argued that all of Geanie’s claims were barred by a two-year statute of limitations because her claims accrued at the time of the execution and notarization of the mortgages at issue, which occurred more than three years before she filed the present action. They argued that there was no evidence indicating that the defendants had suppressed or concealed her causes of action [809]*809so as to permit a tolling of the statute of limitations pursuant to § 6-3-2, Ala. Code 1975. Finally, the defendants contended that Geanie had ratified the debt created by the lines of credit when she voluntarily agreed to refinance the marital residence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 So. 3d 803, 2012 WL 415468, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-first-federal-bank-alacivapp-2012.