Gordon v. Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc.

139 So. 2d 296, 273 Ala. 254, 1962 Ala. LEXIS 573
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMarch 22, 1962
Docket3 Div. 988
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 139 So. 2d 296 (Gordon v. Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc.) 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
Gordon v. Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc., 139 So. 2d 296, 273 Ala. 254, 1962 Ala. LEXIS 573 (Ala. 1962).

Opinion

MERRILL, Justice.

This appeal is from an order of discontinuance in favor of defendant and from the order overruling a motion designated as-a “motion for a rehearing.”

Appellant sued “Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc., a corporation, X and Y Corporations, and John Doe and Richard Roe whose names are unknown to plaintiff but will be supplied on information,” for $5,000 damages.

The sheriff’s return shows that the summons and complaint was served “on J. S. Hailey, defendant” on June 15, 1960. The-defendant filed the following verified plea on July 11, 1960:

“Comes Hailey and Bumpass, defendant in the above entitled cause, and appears solely and specially for the purpose of filing this plea in abatement, and for no other purpose, and pleading in abatement says:
“That it is and at all times mentioned in the complaint was, a partnership-composed of J. S. Hailey and F. H. Bumpass; that it is not now, and at no time mentioned in the complaint was, a corporation.
“WHEREFORE, defendant says that this suit should be abated, and should not be allowed to proceed.”

The record shows no further action until the cause came on to be heard on October 10, 1961. The plaintiff announced ready and the defendant announced ready on its plea of nul tiel corporation and the matter [256]*256was argued and submitted to the court for decision upon the plea which was confessed by the plaintiff. At that time, the plaintiff filed the following amendment:

“Comes the Plaintiff, Ardelia Gordon, and amends her complaint heretofore filed by striking from defendant’s name, ‘Inc., a Corporation’, and by adding, after the words, 'Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors,’ the words, ‘a Partnership ■composed of J. S. Hailey and F. H. Bumpass’.
“Plaintiff avers that this amendment seeks to properly designate the legal entities subject to suit and intended to be sued in the first instance, and serves to correct the error made in the name of this defendant, and does not relate to a new party.”

On October 18, 1961, the court ordered that the case be discontinued. The court order reads in part:

“Defendant Hailey and Bumpass introduced a duly executed copy of the contract of partnership, and the allegations of the verified plea were confessed by the attorneys for the plaintiff in each case. The Court therefore finds the issues in favor of the defendant in each case on the plea of nul tiel corporation.
“Plaintiff in each case has filed an amendment, the effect of which is to seek to substitute Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, a partnership composed ■of J. S. Hailey and F. H. Bumpass, as the party defendant in these cases. The Court is of the opinion and so finds that Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc., a Corporation, and Hailey and Bum-pass, Contractors, a partnership composed of J. S. Hailey and F. H. Bum-pass, are two separate and distinct legal entities. Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc., a corporation, is the only defendant served with process, and the sole defendant before the Court. The so-called fictitious defendants are not fictitious, as their identity was disclosed by the duly verified plea filed ■ in this Court on to-wit, July 15, 1960.
“Our cases hold that an action commenced against a corporation, and upon a plea of nul tiel corporation being filed, it cannot be amended to a suit against a partnership. The corporation and the partnership being separate legal entities, such an amendment works a complete change of parties and a discontinuance of the action. May v. Dothan Buick Co., 243 Ala. 37, 8 So.2d 448; Deason v. Alpine Coal Co., 22 Ala.App. 254, 114 So. 423; Roth v. Scruggs, 214 Ala. 32, 106 So. 182; Steele v. Booker, 205 Ala. 210, 87 So. 203. An amendment which works a complete change of parties effects a discontinuance of the action. Authorities, supra: Mc-Kelvey-Coats Furniture Co. v. Doe, 240 Ala. 135, 198 So. 128; Covington v. Robinson, 242 Ala. 337, 340, 6 So.2d 421.”

The order denying the “motion for rehearing” was dated December 5, 1961.

On February 6, 1962, appellant filed objections to the transcript alleging that her amendment filed on October 11, 1961, was not included in the record. That amendment reads:■

“Comes the plaintiff in this cause and amends her complaint heretofore filed in this cause by substituting as parties defendants the names, J. S. Hailey and F. H. Bumpass, in lieu of the words, ‘John Doe and Richard Roe whose names are otherwise unknown, but will be supplied upon information.’ ”

The trial court ordered the amendment included in the transcript, and after explaining that the cause was actually submitted on October 10, 1961, but the order was not written until October 18, the court said:

“It appears from an inspection of the file in this case that there was an amendment filed by the plaintiff on October 11th, 1961 which sought to substitute as parties defendant the names of Hailey and Bumpass as individuals in lieu of the names of John Doe and [257]*257Richard Roe, fictitious defendants who had not been served.
“The court is of opinion that after the matter was submitted to it on October 10th, 1961, it was under consideration by the Court and no further amendment should be allowed. Appelant having filed his motion in the Office of the Clerk of the Court is entitled to have said amendment incorporated as a part of the record but the Court holds that said amendment was filed without any leave of the Court had and obtained. The ruling of the Court was based upon the state of the pleadings at the time of submission to it on October 10th, 1961.”

The first question to be decided is whether the court erred in ordering the discontinuance on the pleadings and proof at the time of submission on October 10, 1961.

The cases of May v. Dothan Buick Co., 243 Ala. 37, 8 So.2d 448, and Deason v. Alpine Coal Co., 22 Ala.App. 254, 114 So. 423, are in point and support the holding of the lower court. In the first cited case, the plaintiff sued “Dothan Buick Company, a corporation” in trover and trespass. Later, the complaint was amended by striking the corporation and inserting in lieu thereof the names of the partners doing business as Dothan Buick Company.

Still later, the defendant appeared specially, as here, and filed its plea of nul tiel corporation. The circuit court and the Court of Appeals held that the cause had been discontinued. This court said on certiorari:

“The purpose and effect of the amendment was, not to change the description of the defendant in the summons and complaint by striking ‘a corporation’ and substituting the words ‘partnership composed of J. M. Stallings and J. F. Stallings,’ but its purpose and effect was to strike the original defendant and both counts of the original complaint, and substitute therefor the individuals doing business as a partnership, and charge trover and trespass . against said individuals.
“This was an entire change of parties defendant and an entire change of the cause of action. Steele v. Booker, 205 Ala. 210, 87 So. 203; Alabama Great Southern R. Co. v. Lawler, 213 Ala. 119, 104 So. 412.
“The rulings of the circuit court and Court of Appeals are free from error.”

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

Related

Hughes v. Cox
601 So. 2d 465 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1992)
Gordon v. Hailey and Bumpass, Contractors, Inc.
139 So. 2d 300 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 So. 2d 296, 273 Ala. 254, 1962 Ala. LEXIS 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-hailey-and-bumpass-contractors-inc-ala-1962.