Payne v. Donaldson

379 S.W.3d 22, 2010 Ark. App. 255, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 251
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 17, 2010
DocketNo. CA 09-792
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 379 S.W.3d 22 (Payne v. Donaldson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Payne v. Donaldson, 379 S.W.3d 22, 2010 Ark. App. 255, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 251 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge.

| Appellant John T. Payne II brings this second appeal1 before the court challenging various orders entered by the Chicot County Circuit Court, including the final order awarding appellee $11,410.15, the order denying appellant’s motion for a new trial, and the order granting attorney’s fees in the amount of $10,156.04 in favor of appellee. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in (1) finding that appellee had a possessory lien in appellant’s property; (2) awarding a monetary judgment to ap-pellee; (8) denying appellant’s 1 ¡.motion for new trial; and (4) awarding attorney’s fees and costs in favor of appellee. We affirm in part, reverse and dismiss in part, reverse and remand in part, and deny appellant’s motion to strike appellee’s alternative statement of the case.

This case concerns the attempted recovery of a 2004 Yamaha Grizzly 660 four-wheeler (hereinafter “ATV”) by appellant from appellee Keith Donaldson d/b/a Donaldson Wrecker Service. This ATV was towed on July 19, 2006, and stored by appellee at the request of the Chicot County Sheriffs Department in a stolen-property case, after it was recovered during the course of a marijuana-eradication project. The ATV had previously been stolen while being stored on the property of John F. Gibson III. Appellee refused to release the ATV prior to full payment for what it believed it was owed for towing and storage services and asserted a possessory lien for services rendered.

The essential question at the trial court level was the reasonable number of days owed for storing. In earlier proceedings not challenged on appeal, the trial judge in Chicot County Circuit Court determined that $250.00 was owed for towing, and $25.00 per day was owed for storage. Those rates were never a contested issue and were finalized in an order entered in May 2007. In June 2007, appellant tendered $325.00, representing $250.00 for towing and $75.00 for three days’ storage, for which he received credit but not possession of his ATV.

The parties returned to court, arguing their respective positions on the number of days of storage due. Appellant conceded that he owed a minor amount for the recovery and storage of his ATV until he was notified, but he disagreed that the amount accrued under the [¡¡daily rate was proper. Appellant’s attorney argued that, at most, appellant would owe towing and up to eight days of storage. Appellee would not release the ATV, asserting that it was due to be paid for every day that storage services were rendered; in the alternative, appellee asked that it be granted permission to publicly sell the ATV in an effort to collect on its lien and seek the remainder from appellant.

After a hearing on August 8, 2007, the judge found in favor of appellee, entering judgment for a total of $10,686.25, plus $27.57 per day until appellant claimed the ATV or it was disposed of at sale. The judgment further provided that

[Appellant] shall have thirty (30) days from the date of entry of this order to reclaim the ATV, and that if [appellant] has not reclaimed the ATV by that date, [appellee] shall cause a notice of public sale to be published one (1) time in a newspaper of general circulation in Chi-cot County, Arkansas and sell no later than 45 days following the entry of this order the ATV at public sale for cash. [Appellee] shall be allowed to bid on the ATV at the sale should he desire. Following the sale of the ATV, [appellee] shall deduct expenses necessary for publication and other sale costs from the proceeds of the sale, applying any amount above in excess of such expenses to the outstanding balance of the judgment set forth herein.

The judgment was filed on August 29, 2007. Appellant filed a motion for new trial, to which appellee replied, and the motion was denied by the trial court. The motion for new trial focused on the perfection of appellee’s lien concerning proper notice, or lack thereof. A timely notice of appeal followed that denial.

In the initial appeal, appellant asserted that the trial court erred as a matter of law because, absent timely written notice with proper information, appellee was not entitled to a judgment against him; that basic fairness would prevent the owner of a stolen vehicle from 14being saddled with an exorbitant storage charge; and that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for new trial because he was denied a fair opportunity at trial to develop the lack-of-statutory-notice issue. On October 22, 2008, this court dismissed the appeal for lack of a final order because the amount appellant would owe under the judgment was uncertain inasmuch as the number of days elapsing before appellant reclaimed the ATV was not known, whether appellant would reclaim at all was not known, and the publication costs and other costs of attempting to sell the ATV were unknown. The August 29, 2007 judgment contemplated future action to arrive at a certainty of the judgment amount that was simply too tenuous to be a final judgment for purposes of appeal.

Subsequently, the trial court determined appellant had not claimed the ATV as provided in the previous order and that it had been sold on October 16, 2007, for $500.00. A final order dated March 9, 2009, entered judgment against appellant in the amount of $11,410.15. On the same date, appellee filed a motion for attorney’s fees and costs. Appellant filed a response on March 16, 2009, and appellee filed a reply on March 23, 2009.

On March 12, 2009, appellant filed a motion for a new trial, and appellee filed a response on March 23, 2009. The trial court took no action on the motion; accordingly, it was deemed denied on April 11, 2009. Appellant then filed a notice of appeal from the March 9, 2009 final order on April 15, 2009, and an amended notice of appeal on April 22, 2009, that specifically included the denial of the motion for a new trial.

An order awarding attorney’s fees and costs in favor of appellee in the amount of ls$l0,156.04 was filed on April 22, 2009, and appellant filed a second amended notice of appeal on May 7, 2009, that added the order granting attorney’s fees and costs. This appeal followed.

Discussion

I. Trial Court’s Finding That Appellee Had a Possessory Lien in Appellant’s ATV

Appellant maintains that the trial court’s finding that appellee was entitled to retain possession of appellant’s ATV by virtue of a possessory lien without the required statutory notice is an erroneous interpretation of the law. He asserts that the applicable standard of review is found in Davis v. Little Rock School District, 92 Ark.App. 174, 211 S.W.3d 587 (2005), in which this court stated that if the law has been erroneously applied and the appellant has suffered prejudice, the trial court’s erroneous ruling will be reversed. When a circuit court’s interpretation of the law is assigned as error on appeal, the trial judge’s findings are given no deference. See Bill’s Printing, Inc. v. Carder, 82 Ark. App. 466, 120 S.W.3d 611 (2003). Additionally, issues of statutory construction are reviewed de novo on appeal. See Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. Sauer, 358 Ark. 89, 186 S.W.3d 229 (2004).

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Related

Sherman v. Boeckmann II
2016 Ark. App. 568 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2016)
Patton v. Fulmer
2016 Ark. App. 260 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2016)
Dew v. Dew
390 S.W.3d 764 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2012)
Payne v. Donaldson
385 S.W.3d 296 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2011)
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382 S.W.3d 726 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 S.W.3d 22, 2010 Ark. App. 255, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/payne-v-donaldson-arkctapp-2010.