Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II v. Braxton L. Kittrell IV

CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 20, 2026
DocketSC-2025-0526
StatusPublished

This text of Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II v. Braxton L. Kittrell IV (Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II v. Braxton L. Kittrell IV) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II v. Braxton L. Kittrell IV, (Ala. 2026).

Opinion

Rel: February 20, 2026

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.

SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026

_________________________

SC-2025-0526 _________________________

Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II

v.

Braxton L. Kittrell IV

Appeal from Mobile Circuit Court (CV-22-900290)

MENDHEIM, Justice. SC-2025-0526

Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions

("GTS"), and GTS's owner and CEO, Peter Spano II, appeal from an order

of the Mobile Circuit Court that denied their Rule 60(b), Ala. R. Civ. P.,

motion for relief from a default judgment entered against them and in

favor of Braxton L. Kittrell IV. We dismiss the appeal.

I. Facts

On February 24, 2022, Earth Resources and Recycling, A

Greenwise LLC ("Earth Resources"), and Kittrell, Earth Resource's

owner and CEO, commenced an action in the Mobile Circuit Court

against GTS, Spano, Michael Mearman, Charles B. Neil, and fictitiously

named defendants. The complaint listed Mearman as "Director of

Operations" for GTS, Neil as "National Accounts Manager" for GTS, and

Spano as "the CEO" of GTS. The complaint listed GTS as a "foreign

corporation" that "did in fact sell their products in the State of Alabama,

County of Mobile."

Earth Resources and Kittrell alleged that on December 7, 2020,

Kittrell, as the owner of Earth Resources, contracted with GTS "to

purchase a 60[-inch] Horizontal Baler, left hinge chamber door -- Heavy

Duty" for a cost of $79,750, a price that included shipping and

2 SC-2025-0526

installation.1 A signed copy of the contract was attached to the complaint.

Under the contract, Kittrell agreed to make a $40,000 down payment

followed by 24 monthly installment payments of $1,562.06 to purchase

the baler. In the complaint, Earth Resources and Kittrell alleged that

Kittrell made the $40,000 down payment on December 16, 2020, and

that, after that payment, the baler was supposed to be delivered "to his

place of business at 709 Western Dr., Mobile, AL 36607," after which he

would begin making the installment payments. It is undisputed that GTS

never delivered the baler to Earth Resources. The complaint asserted

claims of fraud, conversion, and violations under the Alabama Deceptive

Trade Practices Act ("the ADTPA"), § 8-19-1 et seq., Ala. Code 1975.

A signed certified-mail receipt shows that the original complaint

was served on Neil on February 28, 2022. It listed Neil's address as 824

U.S. Highway 1, Suite 100, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408.

Likewise, a signed certified-mail receipt dated February 28, 2022,

shows that the original complaint was served on "Global Environmental

1In a hearing on April 17, 2023, Kittrell testified that a baler "basically compacts all the -- you know, whether it be plastic or cardboard, it compresses it into a big block and makes it ready for transport." 3 SC-2025-0526

Group, LLC"; the same address is listed on that certified-mail receipt as

was listed for Neil -- except that it did not list "Suite 100" as part of the

address. The initials signed on the mail receipts look similar or nearly

identical to one another. In a deposition, the designated corporate

representative for GTS, Tammy Torres, stated that she could not identify

the signature on the certified-mail receipt sent to "Global Environmental

Group, LLC."

A signed certified-mail receipt dated April 7, 2022, shows that the

original complaint was served on Spano. That certified-mail receipt listed

Spano's address as 907 Lake Shore Drive, #111, Lake Park, Florida

33403. Torres testified that the address was an apartment Spano was

renting at that time. However, Torres also testified that Spano currently

lives in Connecticut and that she believed that he first moved there in

September 2021.

On April 7, 2022, Mearman and Neil filed a "Motion to Dismiss or

for More Definite Statement" in the circuit court. That motion argued

that the complaint claimed that both Earth Resources and Kittrell could

"maintain the exact same cause of action for damages" even though,

"[h]ad the transaction been completed as anticipated, the company

4 SC-2025-0526

[Earth Resources] -- not Mr. Kittrell -- would have owned the equipment."

The motion contended that the asserted cause of action was contrary to

Alabama limited-liability-company law because, under that law, an LLC

is a separate legal entity from its members, and a member has no interest

in any specific property purchased by the LLC. Based on that law,

Mearman and Neil contended that the complaint should be dismissed for

failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

The circuit court set Mearman and Neil's motion for a hearing to be

held on April 22, 2022. However, on April 21, 2022, Earth Resources and

Kittrell filed a "First Amended Complaint." The amended complaint

asserted that, "at all relevant times referenced herein, [Kittrell was] the

owner and principal of [Earth Resources]." The amended complaint

reasserted the claims of fraud and violations under the ADTPA, but it

removed the claim of conversion because, it stated, "[a]fter this lawsuit

was filed, Plaintiff Earth Resources received a refund for the $40,000

from Peter Spano." That refund is confirmed in the record with a cashed

check from GTS to Earth Resources dated March 29, 2022, in the amount

of $40,000. With respect to the fraud claim, the amended complaint

requested "lost revenue damages plus costs associated with this filing

5 SC-2025-0526

and attorney's fees" because Earth Resources and Kittrell allegedly

"suffered consequential damages in terms of opportunity costs, fines, and

penalties associated with operating [the] business" and were limited in

their "ability to perform ... normal business operations."2 (Id. at C. 73.)

On April 21, 2022, Kittrell, "individually and as principle of [Earth

Resources]" also filed a response to Mearman and Neil's motion to

dismiss.

On January 27, 2023, Earth Resources filed in the circuit court a

"Motion for Default" against GTS and Spano in which it asserted that

GTS and Spano had been served with the original complaint on February

28, 2022, and April 7, 2022, respectively, but that neither defendant had

responded to the complaint. Earth Resources requested an entry of

default and a hearing to determine damages.

On February 3, 2023, the circuit court granted the motion for an

entry of default against GTS and Spano, and the circuit court set a

hearing to prove damages for March 10, 2023.

2It appears that the amended complaint was sent to the defendants

by regular United States mail rather than by certified mail. 6 SC-2025-0526

On March 7, 2023, Mearman and Neil filed a "Motion for Summary

Judgment" concerning the claims asserted against them. In their

summary-judgment motion, Mearman and Neil contended that they

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

Related

Moore v. Prudential Residential Services
849 So. 2d 914 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2002)
Dykes v. Lane Trucking, Inc.
652 So. 2d 248 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1994)
McGowin Investment Company v. Johnstone
287 So. 2d 835 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1973)
Jimmy Day Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v. Smith
964 So. 2d 1 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2007)
Hamm v. State
913 So. 2d 460 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2002)
White Sands Group, LLC v. PRS II, LLC
998 So. 2d 1042 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2008)
Ex Parte Ocwen Federal Bank, FSB
872 So. 2d 810 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2003)
Butler v. Town of Argo
871 So. 2d 1 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2003)
Arrington v. Mathis
929 So. 2d 468 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2005)
Powell v. Republic National Life Insurance Co.
300 So. 2d 359 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1974)
Ex Parte Monsanto Company
794 So. 2d 350 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2001)
Beam v. Taylor
149 So. 3d 571 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Global Environmental Group, Inc., d/b/a Global Trash Solutions, and Peter Spano II v. Braxton L. Kittrell IV, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/global-environmental-group-inc-dba-global-trash-solutions-and-peter-ala-2026.