Harris v. National Judgment Recovery Agency, Inc.

819 So. 2d 850, 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 6907, 2002 WL 1021593
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 22, 2002
DocketNos. 4D01-1850, 4D01-2826, 4D01-3318
StatusPublished

This text of 819 So. 2d 850 (Harris v. National Judgment Recovery Agency, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. National Judgment Recovery Agency, Inc., 819 So. 2d 850, 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 6907, 2002 WL 1021593 (Fla. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OWEN, WILLIAM C„ JR., Senior Judge.

In an attempt to fend off collection of a fifteen year old judgment against him, appellant, Robert G. Harris, (“Harris”), filed a rule 1.540 motion to vacate the judgment and, in a separate action, filed a motion to vacate/quash writ of execution. The denial of those motions, as well as a subsequent motion for rehearing, have spawned these three non-final appeals which we have consolidated for disposition. We affirm the several orders appealed.

In 1985 L.A. Baarcke, Jr., recovered judgment for approximately $110,000.00 against several defendants, including the appellant (the “Baarcke judgment”). A certified copy of the judgment was recorded and writ of execution delivered to the sheriff; otherwise, the judgment apparently remained dormant for the next fifteen years. In 2000, Baarcke assigned the judgment to appellee, National Judgment Recovery Agency, Inc. (“National”). The latter filed suit against Harris and others seeking a determination that the judgment lien had priority over other liens on certain real property titled in Harris’ name.1 Harris filed an answer containing a general denial of the allegations of the complaint, but no affirmative defenses. On July 24, 2000, the trial court entered an order granting National’s motion for summary judgment against Harris. That order expressly withheld entry of final judgment pending resolution of issues between National and other defendants. On September 6, 2000, the court entered a final judgment authorizing National to foreclose on the real property.2

No. W01-1850

In January 2001, appellant filed, in the foreclosure suit, a motion pursuant to 1.540(b)(4) and (5), Fla.R.Civ.P., captioned “Motion to Vacate the Final Judgment of July 24, 2000.”3 The order of July 24, 2000 was a non-final order not subject to relief under rule 1.540, see Badger v. Badger, 568 So.2d 79 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990), and on that basis alone the trial court would have been justified in denying the motion had it, as its caption indicated, actually sought to have the order of July 24, 2000 vacated. What the motion actually sought, apparent from a cursory glance, was to have the underlying Baarcke judgment vacated on the ground that the judgment was void or that it was no longer equitable for it to be enforced.4 [853]*853The trial court treated it as a motion to vacate the Baarcke judgment and granted appellant an evidentiary hearing.5

Appellant’s own testimony on direct examination supported the allegations of the motion. Additionally, he produced a certified copy of a recorded 1984 deed from Baarcke to one Robbey, conveying a 2.3 acre parcel of land, to which deed were affixed canceled state documentary stamps indicating a consideration of $100,000.00, and a certified copy of the clerk’s progress docket in the Baarcke case, which described the final judgment as being in the amount of $44,184.90, plus $4,500.00 attorneys’ fees.

However, appellant’s credibility was somewhat impaired on cross-examination. For example, he was unable to furnish any corroboration that the deed from Baarcke to another had any connection to Baarcke’s pending case against him; nor, was he able to provide any plausible reason why neither he nor his attorney made any effort to have the case dismissed, i.e., “to go away,” after Baarcke’s sale of the subject property, nor to explain why he did not amend his pleadings to allege this defense. As to his cláim of lack of notice after his attorney withdrew, appellant admitted knowing his attorney had withdrawn, never having personally made inquiry as to the status of the case even though his counterclaim was still pending, and, despite changing his address about that time, continuing to receive his mail. He also admitted that in 1998 he had signed an affidavit that he was not the same Robert G. Harris named in the 1985 Baarcke judgment. Finally, the court had before it a certified copy of the recorded Baarcke judgment which stated on its face that the judgment was for “the sum of SIXTY-ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED SIXTY SEVEN AND 92/00 DOLLARS, together with interest thereon from May 23, 1981 at the rate of EIGHTEEN (18%) percent per annum in the amount of $Jpk,18Ip.90, also ... an attorney’s fee of $Jp,500.00 ..” ■

The trial court denied the motion to vacate without making any factual findings. Appellant argues here that the trial court abused its discretion by (1) disregarding the certified copy of the progress docket and appellant’s unrebutted testimony; (2) not finding that under the circumstances it was no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; and (3) denying the motion to vacate without findings of fact or conclusions of law. No abuse of discretion has been shown.

This court has held that a judgment entered against a defendant without notice is void, see, e.g., Polani v. Payne, 654 So.2d 202 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); however, whether appellant failed to receive notices after his attorney withdrew was a fact issue. As noted earlier, appellant’s credibility was drawn into question and, under the circumstances, the trial court, as trier of fact, could, accept or reject appellant’s testimony.

The totality of the circumstances did not require the court to find that it was no longer equitable that the judgment [854]*854should have prospective application. Appellant cites Cutler Ridge Corp. v. Green Springs, Inc., 249 So.2d 91 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971), as authority for his argument, based primarily on his assertions (1) that Baarcke’s sale of the property extinguished his cause of action, and (2) after Baarcke sold the property he did not dismiss the suit as he had agreed to do, but instead he proceeded to obtain a judgment for an amount that was inexplicably greater by $61,367.92 than the amount of the judgment as shown by the clerk’s progress docket. Obviously, the trial court was not persuaded that appellant proved any connection between Baarcke’s sale of a 2.3 acre parcel of land and Baarcke’s suit for recission against appellant. Regardless, and totally dispositive of this point as a matter of law, even had the trial court found the events to be as appellant described them, the sale of the property while the suit was pending was a matter available as an affirmative defense in the Baarcke suit, and is not the type of equitable consideration contemplated by rule 1.540. See Gimbel v. International Mailing and Printing Co., 505 So.2d 631, 633 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). Appellant’s claim that the judgment was inexplicably increased, a claim based upon the clerical discrepancy between the clerk’s progress docket and the face of the judgment, is too frivolous to warrant serious consideration. The clerk’s progress docket is a record of the dates on which various documents in a case (pleadings, motions or other papers) are filed with or issued by the clerk or court, with an abbreviated description of such document or instrument. The final judgment, as signed by the judge and sent to the clerk’s office for filing and/or recording, is not changed, altered or modified merely because the clerk, in making a progress docket entry, describes it erroneously.6

Finally, we have recognized that it is neither error nor an abuse of discretion for the trial court to fail to include either findings of fact or conclusions of law in its judgment, when not required by statute or rule. See, e.g., Murphy v. Murphy, 621 So.2d 455 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993), rev.

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Bluebook (online)
819 So. 2d 850, 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 6907, 2002 WL 1021593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-national-judgment-recovery-agency-inc-fladistctapp-2002.