Howard Ross v. West Wind Condominium Association

• Court: Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama
• Decided: February 13, 2026
• Docket: CL-2025-0534
• Status: Published

Opinion

Rel: February 13, 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 published in Southern Reporter.

ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________

CL-2025-0534 _________________________

Howard Ross

v.

West Wind Condominium Association

Appeal from Madison Circuit Court (CV-22-146)

MOORE, Presiding Judge.

Howard Ross appeals from a judgment entered by the Madison

Circuit Court ("the trial court") in favor of West Wind Condominium

Association ("West Wind") in case number CV-22-146 following the

issuance of this court's substituted opinion on application for rehearing CL-2025-0534

in Ross v. West Wind Condominium Ass'n, [Ms. CL-2023-0829, Feb. 7,

2025] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2025),1 which reversed, in part, a

September 19, 2023, judgment entered by the trial court against Ross

and in favor of West Wind and remanded the case to the trial court. We

dismiss the appeal as arising from a void judgment.

In Ross, this court, on November 8, 2024, initially reversed in part

and affirmed in part a judgment entered by the trial court against Ross

for unpaid homeowners' dues and assessments totaling $29,267.29. On

November 22, 2024, Ross filed an application for rehearing, which this

court granted. On February 7, 2025, this court issued a substituted

opinion reversing the judgment for the unpaid assessments and affirming

the judgment for the unpaid homeowners' dues. We remanded the case

to the trial court with instructions that it "recalculate the amount of its

judgment," and we affirmed the trial court's judgment in all other

respects. Ross, ___ So. 3d at ___. On February 21, 2025, Ross filed a

second application for rehearing; on March 21, 2025, this court entered

1This court, ex mero motu, incorporated the record on appeal in

Ross into the present appeal. 2 CL-2025-0534

an order overruling Ross's application for rehearing. On April 9, 2025,

this court issued its certificate of judgment.

Meanwhile, on November 20, 2024, the trial court, in response to

our opinion on original submission in Ross, purported to enter an

amended judgment against Ross in the amount of "$29,721.83, plus

interest[] and costs." On February 14, 2025, in response to our opinion

on application for rehearing in Ross, West Wind filed a motion requesting

that the trial court reenter its amended judgment reflecting the

recalculated amount owed by Ross to West Wind. On that same date, the

trial court entered an order granting West Wind's motion, and, in a

separate order, it again purported to render a judgment against Ross in

the amount of "$29,721.83, plus interest[] and costs." On May 6, 2025,

Ross filed a motion to vacate the trial court's February 14, 2025, amended

judgment; the trial court entered an order denying Ross's motion on May

15, 2025. On April 17, 2025, the trial court ordered the clerk of the court

to satisfy the February 14, 2025, amended judgment, along with

postjudgment interest and costs, out of a cash bond that Ross had

submitted as security for his appeal in Ross, and, on May 1, 2025, a

document was filed indicating that a $36,584.12 check had been

3 CL-2025-0534

disbursed from Ross's cash bond. On June 26, 2025, Ross filed a notice

of appeal from the February 14, 2025, amended judgment.

Ross argues on appeal that the trial court's February 14, 2025,

amended judgment is invalid and is due to be vacated. We agree. "It is

well settled that a trial court does not have jurisdiction to enter any order

on remand until this court has entered its certificate of judgment." Ex

parte Wynn, 227 So. 3d 534, 535 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). This court had

not yet entered its certificate of judgment in Ross when the trial court

entered its amended judgment on February 14, 2025, and, therefore, that

amended judgment is void for lack of jurisdiction. Because the trial

court's February 14, 2025, amended judgment is void, its subsequent

order to release funds from Ross's cash bond to West Wind, to the extent

that that order is based on the trial court's February 14, 2025, amended

judgment, is also void. See Noll v. Noll, 47 So. 3d 275, 279 (Ala. Civ. App.

2010).

Because this court does not have jurisdiction to review a void

judgment, which will not support an appeal, we dismiss Ross's appeal for

lack of jurisdiction, see Lovering v. Lovering, 399 So. 3d 295, 297 (Ala.

Civ. App. 2024), albeit with instructions to the trial court to vacate its

4 CL-2025-0534

February 14, 2025, amended judgment and any subsequent orders it

entered based on that amended judgment. See Hathaway v. Foos, 254

So. 3d 230, 232 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). West Wind is ordered to return the

funds improperly released by the clerk to satisfy the judgment. See Rule

62(g), Ala. R. Civ. P. Because we are dismissing this appeal, we pretermit

discussion of the remaining issue raised by Ross on appeal. Id.

West Wind's request for an award of attorney's fees on appeal is

hereby denied.

APPEAL DISMISSED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

Edwards, Hanson, Fridy, and Bowden, JJ., concur.