Chiodini v. Lock

281 S.W.3d 728, 373 Ark. 88, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 211
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 3, 2008
Docket07-969
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 281 S.W.3d 728 (Chiodini v. Lock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chiodini v. Lock, 281 S.W.3d 728, 373 Ark. 88, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 211 (Ark. 2008).

Opinion

TOM GLAZE, Justice.

The court of appeals certified this appeal to our court in order to address the writ of certiorari that is sought by appellant Rodrick Chiodini. See Ark. Sup Ct. R. 1-2 (a) (3).

The underlying lawsuit in this case began when Chiodini filed a pro se complaint in the Stone County Circuit Court against appellee David Lock, alleging that Lock had trespassed on Chiodini’s property by building a fence that encroached on Chiodini’s land. Chiodini’s complaint was accompanied by a request for admissions and a set of interrogatories. Lock filed a timely answer on January 20, 2006. Lock also later provided his responses to Chiodini’s requests for admissions and interrogatories, but the responses were unsigned by either Lock or his attorney. Dissatisfled with Lock’s responses, Chiodini began to file repeated motions seeking “more responsive answers” to his discovery requests. Eventually, he asked the trial court to deem admitted his requests for admission; however, the circuit court denied his request.

Chiodini kept up his demands for answers to his discovery requests throughout 2006, complaining, among other things, that Lock’s responses were disorganized, unsigned, and untimely. In June of 2006, the circuit court held a hearing on Chiodini’s many motions and ultimately denied Chiodini’s request to have his requests for admission deemed admitted. In July 2006, the court rejected Chiodini’s motion for reconsideration of that ruling; the court further entered an order granting Lock’s request to prohibit Chiodini from seeking further discovery.

On August 2, 2006, Chiodini filed a “motion for an order prohibiting defendant’s entry on disputed land.” In this motion, Chiodini alleged that Lock had been entering the disputed property, and he asked the court to “issue an order (pendente-lite) [prohibiting [Lock] . . . from entering upon or performing any activity south of the fence line . . . that exists between defendant’s and plaintiffs property, without written consent from the plaintiff” Lock responded on August 10, 2006, generally denying the allegations in Chiodini’s motion and denying that Chiodini was entitled to relief

In September of 2006, Judge Tim Weaver, who had originally been assigned the case, recused, and Judge Stephen Choate subsequently acquired the case. On October 12, 2006, Chiodini filed a motion for rehearing of Judge Weaver’s decisions. After a hearing in May 2007, the court sent a letter opinion to the parties. In that letter, the court found that Judge Weaver had found that Lock’s answers to Chiodini’s requests for admission were not deficient, and that there was nothing there for the court to rule on. The court also found that Judge Weaver had “effectively dismiss [ed] Chiodini’s complaints concerning Lock’s answers to interrogatories. The court further noted that Judge Weaver had granted Lock’s motion for a protective order and prohibited any additional discovery. Next, the court stated that it “did not see the necessity to have hearings on the motions to prohibit [Lock’s] entry on the disputed land or for appointment of a neutral master. I believe a trial will cure these two motions. Therefore, both motions filed on August 2, 2006, are denied.”

On August 20, 2007, the trial court entered a series of orders reiterating the findings made in its letter. In the first, it specifically adopted Judge Weaver’s oral decisions from the bench regarding Chiodini’s June 20, 2006 and July 12, 2006 motions. The court noted that Judge Weaver had ruled on these motions from the bench, but had not reduced his findings to written orders because he recused from the case prior to doing so. The court also entered orders specifically denying Chiodini’s requests regarding Lock’s discovery responses, finding the responses were adequate and Chiodini’s motion to deem admitted would be denied. In addition, the court denied Chiodini’s motion for a hearing on his “motion for order prohibiting defendant’s entry on disputed lands.” Finally, the court rejected Chiodini’s request for a certification pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 54(b), finding that such certification would be inappropriate.

Chiodini filed a notice of appeal on August 20, 2007. His notice declared his intent not only to appeal from the court’s refusal to hear his motion for a restraining order pendente-lite, but also to seek a writ of certiorari or prohibition due to the “abuse of discretion wherein the circuit court has exceeded its authority in law, thereby creating proceedings that are illegal.”

In his first point on appeal, Chiodini takes issue with the trial court’s denial of his request to hold a hearing on his August 2, 2006 “motion for an order prohibiting defendant’s entry on disputed land.” In his brief, he calls this motion a “motion for restraining order pendente-lite.” On appeal, he argues that it was “a clear error of law for the circuit court to refuse to even consider Chiodini’s motion and give him an opportunity to produce evidence to meet the required burden of proof for a preliminary injunction.” He goes on to assert that, if he were to prevail at trial, the court’s “affirmative act of refusing to grant [him] a hearing would be a denial of [his] present right to ask that the status quo be preserved, pending a judgment that would eventually be entered in his favor.” He asks this court to “reverse the circuit court’s ruling and authorize Chiodini to pursue his motion for injunctive relief.”

To the extent that Chiodini appeals from the trial court’s ruling that denied a hearing on his motion for injunctive relief, such an order is not appealable under Ark. R. App. P. — Civ. 2(a). Under Rule 2(a)(6), an appeal may only be taken from “[a]n interlocutory order by which an injunction is granted, continued, modified, refused, or dissolved, or by which an application to dissolve or modify an injunction is refused.” (Emphasis added.) An order denying a hearing, even on a motion for injunctive relief, is not appealable.

Moreover, even if we should consider Chiodini’s appeal to be from the denial of his request for injunctive relief, there is no merit to his claims. The issuance of a preliminary injunction is a matter addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and we will not reverse absent an abuse of that discretion. See Manila Sch. Dist. No. 15 v. Wagner, 356 Ark. 149, 148 S.W.3d 244 (2004); Custom Microsystems, Inc. v. Blake, 344 Ark. 536, 42 S.W.3d 453 (2001). In determining whether to issue a preliminary injunction, two factors must be considered: (1) whether irreparable harm will result in the absence of an injunction, and (2) whether the moving party has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits. Wagner, supra.

Nowhere in his motion before the trial court did Chiodini address either of these two prerequisites to obtaining injunctive relief. In addition, Chiodini’s brief before this court makes no mention of either factor, nor does he cite any authority in support of his argument that the trial court should have granted his request for a restraining order. 1

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
281 S.W.3d 728, 373 Ark. 88, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chiodini-v-lock-ark-2008.