Goetz v. Asset Acceptance, LLC

513 S.W.3d 342, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 187, 2016 WL 6818921
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 18, 2016
DocketNO. 2014-CA-000749-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 513 S.W.3d 342 (Goetz v. Asset Acceptance, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goetz v. Asset Acceptance, LLC, 513 S.W.3d 342, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 187, 2016 WL 6818921 (Ky. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

ACREE, JUDGE:

We must determine if the circuit court erred when it denied Michael Goetz’s motion to enforce a previously entered agreed judgment. For the following reasons, we reverse' and remand for additional proceedings.

The factual circumstances of this case are largely undisputed.

Appellee Asset Acceptance, LLC, sued Appellant Michael Goetz for money allegedly due and owing on a credit card account originating with Citibank.1 Asset claimed Goetz was indebted over $11,000.00. The parties quickly entered into settlement negotiations. These discussions resulted in an agreed judgment containing the following provisions:

1. [Asset] shall have Judgment against [Goetz] for the settlement amount of $3,500.00.
2. [Goetz] shall pay to [Asset] the settlement amount of $3,500.00, to be paid over the next twelve (12) months in equal payments of $291.67 and a final payment of $291.63, with the first payment due on August 31, 2012, with a like payment due on the 30th of each month thereafter, until the full $8,500, is paid. ... [Goetz] shall have the option, at any time, to pay any and all amounts then due and owing fully or to prepay payments. Upon payment by [Goetz] of the full $3,500, as provided in the schedule herein, [Asset] shall file a [344]*344satisfaction of judgment within 30 days and, if [Asset] shall fail to do so, [Asset] shall be liable to Goetz in the amount of $10 per day. The payments due and owing hereunder shall be made to Lloyd and McDaniel PLC[.] ...
3. It is further agreed that if [Goetz] defaults from the payment schedule set forth in paragraph 2 hereinabove, [Asset] shall have Judgment against [Goetz] for the sum of $11,219.00 [plus interest.]

(R. at 10) (emphasis added). Counsel for both parties signed the agreed judgment. It was then tendered to and signed by the circuit court, and entered of record on August 22, 2012.

Goetz made a lump sum payment in September 2012 satisfying the full amount owed under the settlement agreement. Asset does not dispute Goetz’s claim that he made the $3,500 check made payable and delivered to Lloyd and McDaniel, PLC, and that the check was cashed on September 7, 2012.

Fifteen months later, Goetz filed a motion to enforce the agreed judgment. In that motion, Goetz stated he learned, upon applying for and being denied credit, that Asset had failed to file a satisfaction of judgment as Asset promised to do in the agreed judgment. Goetz sought $4,250.00 from Asset in accordance with paragraph two of the agreed judgment.2 Asset opposed the motion. By order entered April 4, 2014, the circuit court denied Goetz’s motion. This appeal followed.

Goetz argues the August 2012 Agreed Judgment should be enforced according to its terms. This is a question of law and our review proceeds de novo. Ragland v. DiGiuro, 352 S.W.3d 908, 912 (Ky. App. 2010)(“Questions of law are reviewed de novo by an appellate court.”).

In denying Goetz’s motion, the circuit court ruled, without reliance on any specific rule of law as follows: “this Court finds that the recitation in the Agreed Judgment that [Asset] would be ‘liable to [Goetz]’ does not constitute an enforceable Judgment.” (R. at 100). We cannot agree.

No less than any other judgment, an agreed judgment is a judgment of the court. Barrett v. Barrett, 287 Ky. 216, 152 S.W.2d 610, 612 (1941). Like all judgments, an agreed judgment that is signed by the trial court and entered of record has the force and effect of a judgment. Id. And, trial courts are fully empowered to enforce their judgments and to remove any obstructions to such enforcement. Akers v. Stephenson, 469 S.W.2d 704, 706 (Ky. 1970); E.I.C., Inc. v. Bank of Virginia, 582 S.W.2d 72 (Ky. App. 1979).

In this case, as noted, the August 2012 Agreed Judgment was signed by counsel for both parties, signed by the trial judge, and entered of record. It carried the force of law, and Goetz was entitled to have it enforced. The circuit court’s basis for denying Goetz’s motion has no foundation in Kentucky law.

Our inquiry, however, is not at an end. Asset offers alternative justifications upon which this Court may affirm the circuit court’s decision.3 It is “the rule in [345]*345this jurisdiction that the judgment of a lower court can be affirmed for any reason in the record.” Fischer v. Fischer, 348 S.W.3d 582, 591 (Ky. 2011). And, “[i]f an appellate court is aware of a reason to affirm the lower court’s decision, it must do so, even if on different grounds.” Mark D. Dean, P.S.C. v. Commonwealth Bank & Trust Co., 434 S.W.3d 489, 496 (Ky. 2014) (citing Fischer v. Fischer, 197 S.W.3d 98, 103 (Ky. 2006) (“If the summary judgment is sustainable on any basis, it must be affirmed.”)).

Asset contends that, to be valid, the agreed judgment should have stated Goetz would have a “judgment” against Asset instead of stating only that Asset “shall be liable to Goetz.” Asset cites no authority in support of its claim, and we have found none. The phrase “shall be liable” plainly means that Asset agreed to be held legally responsible or answerable if it failed to uphold its end of the bargain. See,Black's Law Dictionary LIABLE (10th ed. 2014) (defining “liable” as “[responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated”). We believe this language sufficiently clear to constitute a judgment.

Noting that the parties agreed Goetz would make payments over the course of a year, Asset contends that damages should not start accruing until September 2013, i.e., thirty days after the expiration of that one-year period following entry of judgment. Accordingly, Asset argues, the damages Goetz now seeks are not clearly outlined in the terms of the Agreed Judgment. We disagree.

The Agreed Judgment expressly afforded Goetz the option “to pay any and all amounts then due and owing fully or to prepay payments.” Goetz exercised this right when he fully satisfied his obligation by paying $3,500 in September 2012. That started the time running during which Asset was obligated to satisfy its obligation under the agreement to file a satisfaction of judgment within thirty days. Asset failed to do so. In fact, Asset did not file a satisfaction of judgment until December 2013, fifteen months after Goetz’s payment-in-full. Asset’s argument here is without merit.

Asset also presented two arguments that the circuit court declined to address. The first was that Goetz failed to comply with a local rule. The second was that the $10 per day liquidated damages provision in the Agreed Judgment is an unenforceable penalty. Asset repeats the arguments before this court.

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Bluebook (online)
513 S.W.3d 342, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 187, 2016 WL 6818921, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goetz-v-asset-acceptance-llc-kyctapp-2016.