Meridian Savings Ass'n v. Savitz

759 F. Supp. 336, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18908
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 10, 1990
DocketCiv. A. No. 4-89-360-K
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 759 F. Supp. 336 (Meridian Savings Ass'n v. Savitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meridian Savings Ass'n v. Savitz, 759 F. Supp. 336, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18908 (N.D. Tex. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BELEW, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant Sadler’s Motion to Reconsider his Motion for Relief From Judgment, filed August 20, 1990. The Motion asks this Court to decide whether doing justice should ultimately prevail over judicial practicality and the need to preserve the finality of judgments. While the Court recognizes the legitimate concerns of protecting the integrity of our judicial system by upholding the finality of judgments, it nevertheless believes that justice must be the ultimate goal of our system, and a system that promotes injustice is not worthy of protection.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 2, 1989, Intervenor, Resolution Trust Corporation (“RTC”) filed a Motion for Summary Judgment against Sadler. In the motion, the RTC alleged that Sadler was personally liable for the deficiencies on seven (7) promissory notes. Included in the amounts sought were a $3,277,000 Promissory Note dated February 13, 1985, a $4,620,487.50 Wraparound [337]*337Promissory Note dated March 29,1985, and a $14,289,496.87 Wraparound Promissory Note dated March 29, 1985. These three notes are hereinafter referred to as the “Notes”.

By this Court’s Order entered February 20, 1990, summary judgment was granted in favor of the RTC and against Defendant Sadler in the amount of $24,513,511.56. In support of its motion, the RTC submitted the affidavit of Jamie Dies, who testified that Sadler was personally liable on all seven of the Notes in the total amount of $24,513,511.56, the same amount of the judgment later taken against Sadler. Mr. Dies and the RTC were in error, however, as three of the seven Notes specifically provide that Sadler is not personally liable on the Notes in the event of a default and that the only remedy available is foreclosure on the property.1

Before the RTC filed its Motion for Summary Judgment, however, Sadler’s attorney of record withdrew from the case and Sadler was forced to proceed on a pro se basis.2 Unaware of the legal significance of the Motion for Summary Judgment and his opportunity to contest it, Sadler did not file a response to the motion and summary judgment was granted on February 20, 1990.3 Sadler did not receive notice of the order granting summary judgment until February 26, 1990, after the time to appeal had expired.

Realizing the importance of the judgment taken against him, Sadler hired an attorney to represent him who immediately filed this Motion for Relief From Judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.4 Sadler urges this Court to modify its previous summary judgment order by entering a new judgment computed without regard to the three nonrecourse Notes and argues that doing so will create no hardship on the RTC inasmuch as the RTC has taken no actions in reliance on the judgment.

Arguing that the Court’s February 20, 1990 Order should not be disturbed, the RTC has advanced three distinct arguments: (1) Sadler had ample opportunity to respond to the Motion for Summary Judgment but did not. (2) Sadler waited several months after the judgment became final to enlist this Court’s aid in setting aside the judgment. (3) Sadler’s decision to proceed pro se in this matter should not be viewed with sympathetic eyes.

II. ANALYSIS

Given these facts, it is this Court’s responsibility to apply the law to the facts and to arrive at a just result. The starting point for our analysis is the Supreme Court’s decision in Klapprott v. United States, 335 U.S. 601, 69 S.Ct. 384, 93 L.Ed. 266 (1949). The Klapprott Court held that Rule 60(b) vests in the district courts power “adequate to enable them to vacate judg[338]*338ments whenever such action is appropriate to accomplish justice.” 335 U.S. at 614-15, 69 S.Ct. at 390, 93 L.Ed. at 266.

As stated by the Fifth Circuit in its decision in Seven Elves, Inc. v. Eskenazi,

The purpose of Rule 60(b) is to delineate the circumstances under which relief may be obtained from the operation of final judgments.... By its very nature, the rule seeks to strike a balance between two countervailing impulses: the desire to preserve the finality of judgments and the ‘incessant command of the court’s conscience that justice be done in light of all the facts.’

635 F.2d 396, 401 (5th Cir.1981), citing Banker’s Mortgage Co. v. United States, 423 F.2d 73, 77 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 399 U.S. 927, 90 S.Ct. 2242, 26 L.Ed.2d 793 (1970) (Italics in original). The court continued: “In this light it is often said that the rule should be liberally construed in order to do substantial justice, (citations omitted) What is meant by this general statement is that, although the desideratum of finality is an important goal, the justice-function of the courts demands that it must yield, in appropriate circumstances, to the equities of the particular case in order that the judgment might reflect the true merits of the cause.” Id.

Like many other areas of the law, federal district courts have wide discretion in deciding Rule 60(b) motions. See Klapprott, 335 U.S. at 614-15, 69 S.Ct. at 390; Seven Elves, 635 F.2d at 401-02. Furthermore, their decisions will be disturbed on appeal only for abuse of that discretion. Seven Elves, 635 F.2d at 402; Fackelman v. Bell, 564 F.2d 734, 736 (5th Cir.1977). The factors for the court to consider in exercising its sound discretion include:

(1) that final judgments should not be lightly disturbed; (2) that the Rule 60(b) motion is not to be used as a substitute for appeal; (3) that the rule should be liberally construed in order to achieve substantial justice; (4) whether the motion was made within a reasonable time; (5) whether—if the judgment was a default or a dismissal in which there was no consideration of the merits—the interest in deciding cases on the merits outweighs, in the particular case, the interest in the finality of judgments, and there is merit in the movant’s claim or defense; (6) whether—if the judgment was rendered after a trial on the merits—the movant had a fair opportunity to present his claim or defense; (7) whether there are intervening equities that would make it inequitable to grant relief; and (8) any other factors relevant to the justice of the judgment under attack.

Seven Elves, 635 F.2d at 402 (citing United States v. Gould, 301 F.2d 353, 355-56 (5th Cir.1962), quoting 7 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 60.19, at 237-39).

Of these eight factors, the fifth and sixth ones delineated have no bearing on the case at bar.

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Bluebook (online)
759 F. Supp. 336, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meridian-savings-assn-v-savitz-txnd-1990.