Min Kyu Sue v. Sung Hoon Park

70 Va. Cir. 113, 2005 Va. Cir. LEXIS 301
CourtFairfax County Circuit Court
DecidedDecember 28, 2005
DocketCase No. CH 2005-4370 (transferred from CL 05-532)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 70 Va. Cir. 113 (Min Kyu Sue v. Sung Hoon Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Fairfax County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Min Kyu Sue v. Sung Hoon Park, 70 Va. Cir. 113, 2005 Va. Cir. LEXIS 301 (Va. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

BY JUDGE STANLEY P. KLEIN

This matter is before the court on Defendants’ Motion to Enter a Final Order and Plaintiff’s Motion for Nonsuit. Defendants Sam Sung Realty, Inc. (Sam Sung) and Sung Hoon Park seek to have this matter dismissed based upon a prior order of this court which sustained their demurrers as to all counts against them, granted Plaintiff leave to amend within a time frame which has now expired, but which did not dismiss those claims. Plaintiff Min Kyu Sue now seeks to nonsuit the counts against Sam Sung and Park. For the reasons set out below, Plaintiff’s Motion for Nonsuit is granted and Defendants’ Motion to Enter a Final Order is denied.

[114]*114I. Background

On January 6, 2005, Sue filed a three count Motion for Judgment against Defendants Park, Sam Sung, and Oasis Business Consulting, Inc. (Oasis). Sue averred misuse of escrow funds deposited with the Defendants pursuant to an offer to purchase the assets of a business. Count 1 of the Motion for Judgment was a claim for breach of contract; Count 2 was titled Agency - Breach of Duty; and Count 3 alleged violations of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA). Sue sought monetary damages plus interest and attorney’s fees. All counts were brought against all three Defendants.

After service was properly effected upon all defendants and no answer was timely filed, Sue filed a Motion for Default Judgment. Defendants obtained leave of the court to file late responsive pleadings, and Park and Sam Sung demurred to all counts against them. In their demurrers, Park and Sam Sung argued that, because they were not parties to the written contract upon which counts 1 and 2 were predicated, they could not be individually liable under those counts. Additionally, all three Defendants demurred to the VCPA claim, asserting that the alleged transaction between the parties did not constitute a consumer transaction as defined by Virginia Code § 59.1-198. Finally, all three Defendants claimed that the theory of joint and several liability upon which all three claims were predicated would require this court to pierce the corporate veil, an equitable remedy not available in a matter at law.

The court conducted a hearing at which each of the demurrers was sustained. Counsel for the Defendants submitted an order which was entered on July 22, 2005. The order stated, in relevant part, as follows:

Sung Hoon Park’s demurrer is sustained. Sam Sung Realty, Inc.’s demurrer is sustained .... Plaintiffs motion for leave to amend its Motion for Judgment is granted. Plaintiffs Motion to transfer this matter to the Chancery Docket is granted. Plaintiff shall file its amended Bill of Complaint within 21 days and Defendants shall respond within 21 days.

On September 20,2005, Defendants Park and Sam Sung filed aMotion to Enter a Final Order. As grounds for the motion, Park and Sam Sung stated that their demurrers were sustained, that Sue was granted twenty-one days to file an amended pleading, that Sue did not file an amended pleading, and that [115]*115this matter should be dismissed with prejudice as to Defendants Park and Sam Sung.

On September 23,2005, Sue filed an opposition to the Motion to Enter a Final Order and simultaneously filed a Motion to Nonsuit pursuant to Virginia Code § 8.01-380. Sue prayed that, in the event the nonsuit was not granted, a further extension of time to file an amended pleading be granted, pursuant to Rule 1:9 of the Rules of Virginia Supreme Court.

II. Analysis

This court must resolve two distinct issues. First, this court must decide whether an order which sustains a demurrer with leave to amend, but which does not dismiss the relevant counts, constitutes a final order pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 1:1 after the expiration of the period during'which amended pleadings could have been filed. Second, if the court determines that the order sustaining the demurrer is not a final order unless the order expressly dismisses the claims, this court must then determine whether a party plaintiff is still entitled to a nonsuit, pursuant to Virginia Code § 8.01-380, after a Motion to Enter a Final Order has been filed based upon the Plaintiffs failure to file an amended pleading during the period established by the court. This issue requires the court to assess when a matter is “submitted to the court for decision,” pursuant to Virginia Code § 8.01-380(A).

A. Whether the Order is a Final Order

Rule 1:1 of the Rules of Virginia Supreme Court states in relevant part the following:

all final judgments, orders, and decrees, irrespective of terms of court, shall remain under the control of the trial court and subject to be modified, vacated, or suspended for twenty-one days after the date of entry, and no longer.

Rules of Virginia Supreme Court, Rule 1:1 (2005). A final order, for purposes of Rule 1:1, “is one which disposes of the whole subject, gives all the relief contemplated, provides with reasonable completeness for giving effect to the sentence, and leaves nothing to be done in the cause save to superintend ministerially the execution of the order.” James ex rel. Duncan v. James, 263 Va. 474, 481, 562 S.E.2d 133, 137 (2002) (internal citations omitted). After [116]*116the expiration of twenty-one days from the entry of a final order, the court rendering the order loses jurisdiction and the judgment is final. See Norris v. Mitchell, 255 Va. 235, 495 S.E.2d 809 (1998). The court would, thereafter, no longer have jurisdiction to grant a nonsuit or to enter an order allowing leave to amend a pleading. If, however, an order is not final, the court retains jurisdiction and may enter an order of nonsuit or allow extensions to the time allotted for filing of amended pleadings. Thus, the principal issue in the instant case is whether the July 22, 2005, order constitutes a final order.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has considered whether an order sustaining a demurrer constitutes a final order in a variety of circumstances. In London-Virginia Min. Co. v. Moore, the Court addressed the finality of a demurrer which was sustained with leave to amend, but which further provided “that unless the plaintiff shall amend the bill in sixty days from this date, the same shall be dismissed at plaintiffs costs.” London-Virginia Min. Co. v. Moore, 98 Va. 256, 35 S.E. 722, 723 (1900) (emphasis added). The Court opined that “an order sustaining a demurrer to a bill and giving the plaintiff leave to amend in a specified time cannot be regarded as a final order or as settling the principles of the cause, until after the time limited therein for the plaintiff to amend his bill has expired.” Id. The London Court cited to Commercial Bank of Lynchburg v. Rucker, 2 Va. Dec. 350, 24 S.E. 388 (1896) (holding that an appeal was “improvidently awarded” upon a demurrer sustained with leave to file an amended bill). The Court observed that, “as long as the privilege of filing an amended bill can be exercised, the decree is not final, and the rights of the parties have not been settled.” Id. See also Winston v. Winston, 144 Va. 848, 130 S.E.

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Bluebook (online)
70 Va. Cir. 113, 2005 Va. Cir. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/min-kyu-sue-v-sung-hoon-park-vaccfairfax-2005.