Greenline Equipment Co. v. Covington County Bank

873 So. 2d 950, 2002 Miss. LEXIS 184, 2002 WL 1067962
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 30, 2002
DocketNo. 1999-CA-01753-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 873 So. 2d 950 (Greenline Equipment Co. v. Covington County Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greenline Equipment Co. v. Covington County Bank, 873 So. 2d 950, 2002 Miss. LEXIS 184, 2002 WL 1067962 (Mich. 2002).

Opinions

CARLSON, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. We have before us today a case which the trial court characterized as containing “the second-most convoluted set of facts ever known to Mississippi jurisprudence.” Notwithstanding being confronted with a difficult case, the trial judge, in his original Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, stated that “[wjhile tempted to simply cut this Gordian knot with the judicial sword and make everything go away, this [trial court] has attempted to untie the same.” Although the trial court meticulously considered the record before it and eventually entered the original and then amended findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the original and then amended final judgment in this case, this Court is constrained, as a matter of law, to hold that the trial court did commit error in at least one instance. This finding is made by the Court, acknowledging that it has the advantage of cool and calm reflection based admittedly on a cold record, and affording great deference to the learned trial judge who was “there on the scene”, who “smelled the smoke of battle”, and who “sensed the interpersonal dynamics between the lawyers and the witnesses and [952]*952himself.” See Culbreath v. Johnson, 427 So.2d 705, 708 (Miss.1983).

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 2. This appeal is taken from a final judgment entered in the Circuit Court of Covington County, Mississippi, one of several trial courts which dealt with the parties on the subject matter of this litigation. The life of this protracted civil action commenced on May 26, 1989, when Covington County Bank (Bank) filed its complaint against Glen Eavenson (Eavenson), doing business as Covington Steel Company (Covington Steel), Greenline Equipment Company, Inc. (Greenline), Perma Septic Tank Company, Inc. (Perma Septic), Louis W. Harper, Sr., and Western Surety Company. Sheriff Harper and his bonding company, Western Surety Company, were later dismissed as parties. The focus of this case is a Model 690B John Deere excavator (backhoe), in which the Bank claimed a security interest as a result of Eavenson’s execution of a promissory note and related UCC-1 financial statements. In its suit, the Bank in essence claimed that certain parties had wrongly converted the excavator to the Bank’s detriment and caused the Bank to suffer monetary damages in excess of $60,000. From May 26, 1989, until May 5, 1998 (a period of almost four years), the various parties filed pleadings, which included answers and amended answers, answers and defenses, cross-claims, motions and revised motions, and third-party complaints. Along the way, in addition to the Bank’s claims, the following claims also surfaced: Eavenson’s cross-complaint against Greenline and Perma Septic; Perma Septic’s counterclaim against the Bank and Greenline; and, Greenline’s third-party complaint against its lawyer.

¶ 3. After a five-day non-jury trial between December 1, 1993, and February 2, 1994, the trial court took this case under advisement for subsequent ruling. In the end, the circuit court ruled, inter alia, that both Greenline and Perma Septic had wrongfully converted the subject excavator to the detriment of the Bank, thereby causing both Greenline and Perma Septic to be jointly and severally liable to the Bank for monetary damages in the amount of $35,070.72; that Perma Septic was not entitled to indemnification on its counterclaim against Greenline, nor entitled to relief on its counter-claim against the Bank; that Eavenson could not maintain his claims against Greenline and Perma Septic; and, that the applicable statute of limitations had run, thereby causing Greenline to take nothing on its third-party complaint against its lawyer for legal malpractice. The trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed on September 8, 1998, and its final corrected findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed on November 24, 1998. The trial court’s final judgment was filed on September 10, 1999, and its amended final judgment was filed on September 28, 1999. The Order Denying Motion to Set Aside Final Judgment was filed on October 15, 1999. Based on these actions of the trial court, Greenline and Perma Septic have appealed to this Court for relief. Eaven-son (Covington Steel) has also raised issues on this appeal, claiming that the trial court improperly dismissed his claims against Greenline and Perma Septic.

FACTS

¶ 4. On January 2, 1985, Glen Eavenson, doing business as Covington Steel Company, borrowed $30,037.50 from the Coving-ton County Bank. Eavenson used a Model 690B John Deere excavator (backhoe) as collateral for this loan. The pertinent documents reveal that this loan was actually a renewal of a previous loan made in 1984, and was not for the purchase of the exea-[953]*953vator. Eavenson signed a promissory note, security agreement, disclosure statement, and a UCC-1 statement in favor of the Bank. The Bank, in turn, filed the UCC-1 in the office of the Chancery Clerk of Covington County, Mississippi on January 11,1985. The note on the loan became due and payable on January 2,1986.

¶ 5. On June 18, 1985, Eavenson bought a used engine from Greenline, and Eaven-son’s employees installed the engine in the excavator. While working in Lowndes County, Eavenson and a couple of his employees noticed a “fuel knock” and, therefore, on October 21, 1985, Eavenson sent the excavator to the Greenline shop in Columbus for repairs. Disputes arose as to whether or not certain repair work had been authorized. Greenline billed Coving-ton Steel (Eavenson) $8,784.33 for the total cost of the repairs; however, Covington Steel failed to remit any payment on this bill.

¶ 6. On January 20, 1986, Greenline’s attorney, Jack H. Hayes, Jr. (Hayes), sent a letter to Covington Steel stating that because it had failed to pay for the repairs, Greenline had a mechanic’s lien on the excavator and would commence legal action to foreclose on the lien if payment still was not forthcoming. Eventually Hayes, in representing Greenline, filed a mechanic’s lien suit in Covington County Circuit Court on March 12, 1986, but later dismissed that suit. Another mechanic’s lien suit was filed by Hayes, on behalf of Greenline, in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County on March 28, 1986. In this suit, Greenline requested that a monetary judgment be awarded against Covington Steel (Eavenson) for the amount of the mechanic’s bill ($8,802.77), as well as attorney’s fees and costs, and that the excavator, which was still in the possession of Green-line, be sold by order of the court to generate the money to satisfy the judgment. In its complaint, Greenline alleged that the defendant, Covington Steel, was a Mississippi corporation which could be served with process through its agent, Ea-venson. As it turned out, Covington Steel was not a Mississippi corporation and the properly named defendant should have been Eavenson, doing business as Coving-ton Steel.

¶ 7. On May 6, 1986, Hayes filed a request for entry of default against Coving-ton Steel and received a clerk’s default. On May 13, 1986, the Circuit Court of Lowndes County entered a default judgment in favor of Greenline and against Covington Steel in the amount of $8,802.77 and all costs, and further ordered, based on the mechanic’s lien, that the Sheriff of Lowndes County sell the excavator at public auction to satisfy Greenline’s monetary judgment against Covington Steel. The sheriff conducted a public auction on May 30, 1986, and Perma Septic purchased the excavator for $9,500.00.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
873 So. 2d 950, 2002 Miss. LEXIS 184, 2002 WL 1067962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenline-equipment-co-v-covington-county-bank-miss-2002.