Sims v. Circuit Court of Pulaski County

247 S.W.3d 493, 368 Ark. 498, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 37, 2007 WL 114186
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 18, 2007
Docket06-100
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 247 S.W.3d 493 (Sims v. Circuit Court of Pulaski County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sims v. Circuit Court of Pulaski County, 247 S.W.3d 493, 368 Ark. 498, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 37, 2007 WL 114186 (Ark. 2007).

Opinion

Robert L. Brown, Justice.

Petitioner Micheál Dewayne JSims petitions this court for a writ of certiorari or, in the alternative, a writ of prohibition, and application for temporary relief and a stay in response to the circuit court’s December 29, 2005 order, which, among other things, deemed Sims’s June 29, 2004 judgment of the Lonoke County Circuit Court void ab initio with respect to Jewell, Moser, Fletcher & Holleman, P.A. (“JMFH”). In his petition, Sims makes the following five arguments: (1) the Pulaski County Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to retroactively divest the Lonoke County Circuit Court of in personam jurisdiction over JMFH after that court had entered final judgment against JMFH; (2) the Pulaski County Circuit Court exceeded its jurisdiction on the face of the record when it retroactively divested the Lonoke County Circuit Court of in personam jurisdiction over JMFH after that court had entered final judgment against JMFH; (3) the Pulaski County Circuit Court’s decision to retroactively divest the Lonoke County Circuit Court of in personam jurisdiction over JMFH after final judgment had been entered against JMFH was erroneous on its face; (4) the Pulaski County Circuit Court was wholly without jurisdiction to retroactively divest the Lonoke County Circuit Court of in personam jurisdiction over JMFH after final judgment had been entered against JMFH; (5) Sims’s petition for writ of certiorari, or, in the alternative, writ of prohibition and application for temporary relief and stay should be granted because Sims has no other adequate remedy. We deny the petition without prejudice.

On March 26, 2003, Sims filed suit in Lonoke County Circuit Court against Jim David Sims Farms, Inc.; Jimmy B. Sims, in his capacity as Trustee of the Micheál Dewayne Sims Family Trust; and Keith Moser. His complaint requested injunctive relief against the above-named defendants and alleged that all of his real property, including his personal residence, which had been transferred into a limited partnership and irrevocable trust with the assistance of Keith Moser, had been sold over his objection to his nephew, Jim David Sims, by Moser and Jimmy B. Sims.

On July 19, 2003, an action for judicial dissolution and accounting was commenced by Barry Jewell to dissolve JMFH in the Pulaski County Circuit Court. On September 5, 2003, Jewell amended his complaint and requested that the court appoint a receiver.

According to Sims, on or about October 20, 2003, he amended his complaint to include JMFH, among others, as defendants, and alleged conversion and breach of fiduciary duty against Jimmy B. Sims, Keith Moser, Moser & Associates, P.A., and JMFH.

Onjune 3, 2004, the Lonoke County Circuit Court entered a default judgment against Keith Moser, Moser & Associates, P.A., and JMFH in the amount of $650,000 as a result of their failure to abide by the court’s orders and their failure to appear and defend against the Motion for Rule 37 Relief. On June 29, 2004, that same court entered a judgment in which it rendered its June 3, 2004 default judgment final. The court also acknowledged that an action was pending in the Pulaski County Circuit Court to dissolve the defaulted defendant, JMFH.

On July 12, 2004, Sims filed a motion to intervene in the judicial-dissolution case filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Sims claimed an interest in property that formed the subject matter of the litigation based on his status as a judgment creditor. His motion was denied. Sims also filed a writ of execution with the Pulaski County Sheriff that same day.

On September 27, 2004, the Pulaski County Circuit Court entered an agreed order appointing Milas H. “Butch” Hale as receiver for JMFH. The Pulaski County Circuit Clerk was authorized by the court to receive payments from other circuit courts into the registry of the court for further disposition in accordance with the court’s decision in the judicial-dissolution action. Sims next caused the Lonoke County Circuit Court Clerk to issue writs of garnishment to the Pulaski County Circuit Clerk and the appointed receiver for JMFH regarding those payments.

On December 29, 2005, the Pulaski County Circuit Court entered an order, in which it ruled as follows on Sims’s claims:

The claim of Michael Sims is based upon a Final Judgment filed of record onjune 29, 2004, in Sims v. Jim David Sims Farms, Inc., et al., Lonoke County Case No. CV2003-138. Paragraph No. 5 of the Final Judgment evidences that the parties were aware of the pendency of this judicial dissolution proceeding. The circuit courts of the State of Arkansas are normally courts of concurrent jurisdiction provided that jurisdictional and venue requirements are met. In enacting the statutory provisions concerning judicial dissolution, the Arkansas Legislature specifically provided that the court conducting the judicial dissolution and appointing a receiver has “exclusive jurisdiction” over the corporation. Accordingly, with respect to [JMFH], the Lonoke County Circuit Court was divested ofjurisdiction upon the filing of the ComplaintforJudicial Dissolution. Presently, the claim of Michael Sims is supported only by the Final Judgment which is void ab initio with respect to QMFH], The claimant Michael Sims is given thirty (30) days from the date of this order in which to file and tender to the Receiver any and all documents such claimant believes support his claim against [JMFH].

Sims now files his petition for extraordinary relief in this court. He has also filed a direct appeal from the Pulaski County Circuit Court’s order, which has been docketed in this court as Case No. 06-403. A common thread running throughout Sims’s brief in support of his petition for extraordinary relief is that the Lonoke County Circuit Court had in personam jurisdiction over J1VIFH for money damages as opposed to in rem jurisdiction, which lay in Pulaski County Circuit Court over JMFH’s dissolution and its assets filed in the registry of the court.

A second thread that runs throughout Sims’s arguments in support of his petition to this court is his interpretation of the apposite statute:

(a) A court in a judicial proceeding brought to dissolve a corporation may appoint one (1) or more receivers to wind up and liquidate, or one (1) or more custodians to manage, the business and affairs of the corporation. The court shall hold a hearing, after notifying all parties to the proceeding and any interested persons designated by the court, before appointing a receiver or custodian. The court appointing a receiver or custodian has exclusive jurisdiction over the corporation and all of its property wherever located.

Ark. Code Ann. § 4-27-1432(a) (Repl. 2001) (emphasis added). He concludes that a court in a judicial-dissolution proceeding does not have exclusive jurisdiction over a corporation’s property until a receiver is appointed.

Intervenors and appellees John Holleman and Holleman & Associates, P.A. (“Holleman”) respond by asserting that the Pulaski County Circuit Court did not lack jurisdiction to retroactively divest the Lonoke County Circuit Court of in personam jurisdiction over JMFH. According to Holleman, under § 4-27-1432, the Lonoke County Circuit Court was divested of jurisdiction upon the filing of the judicial-dissolution complaint in the Pulaski County Circuit Court on July 19, 2003.

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Related

Jewell v. Fletcher
2010 Ark. 195 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2010)
Helena-West Helena School District 2 v. Circuit Court
247 S.W.3d 823 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2007)
Sims v. Fletcher
243 S.W.3d 863 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
247 S.W.3d 493, 368 Ark. 498, 2007 Ark. LEXIS 37, 2007 WL 114186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sims-v-circuit-court-of-pulaski-county-ark-2007.