Gary Stripling v. Shauna

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 13, 2012
Docket28,729 28,942 28,988
StatusUnpublished

This text of Gary Stripling v. Shauna (Gary Stripling v. Shauna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gary Stripling v. Shauna, (N.M. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

1 This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Reports. Please see 2 Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please 3 also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other 4 deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the 5 filing date.

6 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

7 GARY STRIPLING and LOUISE PARTEN, 8 f/k/a LOUISE STRIPLING,

9 Plaintiffs-Appellees,

10 v. NO. 28,729, 28,942 & 28,988 11 (Consolidated)

12 SHAUNA, INC., dba 13 SOLITAIRE HOMES,

14 Defendant-Appellant,

15 Joined with

16 GARY STRIPLING and LOUISE PARTEN, 17 f/k/a LOUISE STRIPLING,

18 Plaintiffs-Appellees,

19 v.

20 SHAUNA, INC., 21 GEORGE and SHARI SULIMA, 22 SOLITAIRE HOLDINGS, LLC, 23 DIAMOND HOME TRANSPORT, INC., and 24 SOLITAIRE HOME TRANSPORT, L.P.,

25 Defendants-Appellants, 1 and

2 SOLITAIRE HOLDINGS, LLC,

3 Garnishee-Appellant.

4 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF SAN JUAN COUNTY 5 Thomas J. Hynes, District Judge

6 Feferman & Warren 7 Charles Parnall 8 Susan Warren 9 Richard Feferman 10 Albuquerque, NM

11 for Appellees

12 Vance, Chavez & Associates, LLC 13 James A. Chavez 14 Albuquerque, NM

15 for Appellants

16 Moses, Dunn, Farmer & Tuthill, P.C. 17 Terry D. Farmer 18 Mark A. Glenn 19 Jason M. Wexler 20 Albuquerque, NM

21 for Solitaire Holdings, LLC

22 MEMORANDUM OPINION

23 GARCIA, Judge.

24 This case initially presented the issue of whether two separate cases were joined 1 and consolidated by the district court for purposes of enforcement and collection. In

2 the first lawsuit, a judgment was entered against Shauna, Inc., and in favor of the

3 Striplings. In the second lawsuit, the judgment contained unique language

4 specifically entitling the Striplings to collect their first judgment against additional

5 parties. The additional parties were the Sulimas, who owned Shauna, Inc. The

6 Sulimas were not parties in the first lawsuit involving fraud committed by Shauna,

7 Inc., but were parties in the second lawsuit dealing with fraudulent transfers from

8 Shauna, Inc., committed by the Sulimas. The first issue we must resolve deals with

9 the finality of the district court’s orders entered in the two lawsuits. These orders

10 addressed a writ of garnishment in the first lawsuit and joinder of the two lawsuits.

11 The issue of standing also became ripe in this matter when George Sulima, the only

12 remaining judgment debtor in the second lawsuit, failed to file any briefs and

13 abandoned his appeal. We recognize the unique factual and procedural circumstances

14 presented in this case. We hold that the district court’s orders dealing with

15 garnishment and joinder shall be recognized as final for the purposes of this appeal.

16 We further hold that, as garnishee, Solitaire does not have standing to attack the

17 consolidated judgment and writ of garnishment entered against George Sulima, the

18 judgment debtor. As a result, Solitaire did not have standing to appeal the district

19 court’s rulings regarding the joinder of the two cases. We affirm.

2 1 BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

2 This case had a complicated procedural history. In 2003, Plaintiffs, the

3 Striplings, initiated an arbitration and a lawsuit (the 2003 Case) that involved fraud

4 claims regarding the sale of a mobile home by Shauna, Inc., (Shauna). Shauna was

5 a wholly-owned entity of George and Shari Sulima (the Sulimas). The Striplings

6 prevailed in the 2003 Case, and the district court entered judgment solely against

7 Shauna (the 2003 Judgment). Before the 2003 Judgment was entered, however,

8 Shauna transferred significant portions of its assets and other funds to the Sulimas and

9 to Solitare Holdings, LLC (Solitaire), a related business entity. As a result of these

10 transfers, the Striplings were unable to collect the full amount of the 2003 Judgment

11 against Shauna. In 2006, the Striplings initiated a separate fraudulent transfer lawsuit

12 (the 2006 Case) against Shauna and additional defendants, including the Sulimas and

13 Solitaire. Solitaire was dismissed by stipulation from the 2006 Case prior to trial.

14 Again, the Striplings prevailed in the 2006 Case and, on May 6, 2008, a judgment for

15 fraudulent conveyance was entered against Shauna and the Sulimas individually (the

16 2006 Judgment). The 2006 Judgment did not award a specific monetary damage

17 amount in favor of the Striplings. Instead, the district court awarded the Striplings the

18 right to collect the 2003 Judgment against the Sulimas as follows:

19 Plaintiffs are entitled to collect from George Sulima and Shari 20 Sulima, jointly and severally, [the 2003 Judgment], in favor of Plaintiffs

3 1 and against Shauna, Inc., in the action filed in this judicial district and 2 entitled Stripling v. Shauna, D-1116-200300169, [the 2003 Case].

3 (emphasis added). The 2006 Judgment did not award any damages against the

4 remaining three defendants, one of the three being Solitaire. As part of the 2003 Case,

5 the district court entered an additional arbitration award of attorney fees in favor of

6 the Striplings on July 23, 2008 (the Judgment Awarding Attorney Fees). On August

7 20, 2008, the district court issued a sua sponte order of joinder (the Order of Joinder)

8 to formally join the 2003 Case with the 2006 Case (the Consolidated Cases).

9 On June 2, 2008, prior to the Order of Joinder and pursuant to the language

10 contained in the 2006 Judgment, the Striplings filed an application for a writ of

11 garnishment against George Sulima in the 2003 Case to collect the 2003 Judgment

12 against him personally (the Writ of Garnishment). The Writ of Garnishment was

13 issued and served on Solitaire, George Sulima’s employer on June 6, 2008. Solitaire

14 and the Sulimas both filed motions to quash the Writ of Garnishment. The district

15 court denied the motions to quash the Writ of Garnishment on August 20, 2008, and

16 found that the Sulimas were jointly and severally liable for the 2003 Judgment (the

17 Denial to Quash Garnishment). On August 22, 2008, George Sulima appealed the

18 order of Denial to Quash Garnishment and the Judgment Awarding Attorney Fees.

19 On September 11, 2008, Solitaire also filed an appeal from the Denial to Quash

20 Garnishment. On September 19, 2008, Solitaire amended its appeal to include and

4 1 add the Order of Joinder. George Sulima did not file any briefs with this Court to

2 pursue his appeal. Because George Sulima was the only judgment debtor remaining

3 in the case and he chose not to pursue his appeal, we requested that the remaining

4 parties address the issue of standing.

5 ANALYSIS

6 I. Finality

7 The Striplings have raised the issue of whether the Denial to Quash

8 Garnishment and the Order of Joinder are final appealable orders that may be heard

9 by this Court. We address the garnishment issue first. “Ordinarily [an] order denying

10 [a] motion to quash a writ of garnishment is neither a final judgment nor an

11 interlocutory judgment, order or decision practically disposing of the merits of a case.

12 Hence, it is not appealable.” Alfred v. Anderson, 86 N.M. 227, 230, 522 P.2d 79, 82

13 (1974).

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