Springfield Redevelopment Authority v. Garcia

691 N.E.2d 965, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 432, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 50
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1998
DocketNo. 96-P-1551
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 691 N.E.2d 965 (Springfield Redevelopment Authority v. Garcia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Springfield Redevelopment Authority v. Garcia, 691 N.E.2d 965, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 432, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 50 (Mass. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Dreben, J.

With the assent of the parties, two appeals were consolidated by this court in an attempt to bring to an end the litigation concerning an agreement for the purchase of the Hotel [433]*433Charles in Springfield and the allocation of proceeds resulting from a subsequent taking of the hotel property by eminent domain by the Springfield Redevelopment Authority (SRA).3

1. Proceedings in prior land damage case. To understand the appeals before us, a discussion of the proceedings in the earlier land damage (eminent domain) case is necessary. Before title was conveyed under the agreement to purchase the hotel, the SRA took the hotel by eminent domain. The nominee (Roche) of the purchaser sought a determination of entitlement to the award and an award of damages under G. L. c. 79. He joined as defendants all parties who had an interest in the real estate including two who had commenced separate proceedings against the SRA for damages.4 Although Jose Garcia, a judgment creditor of Robert F. Savoy, trustee of the Hotel Charles Trust, was named as a defendant and was served at his last known address, he no longer lived there, and his claim, among others, was dismissed for failure to appear or file pleadings. Judgment entered on June 21, 1993, awarding damages, allocating them between Roche and Savoy and others, and setting forth the amounts to be deducted from Savoy’s share. The latter’s share was to be subject to attorney’s fees and “other claims not adjudicated herein.” Three of the parties, but not Garcia, filed appeals to this court.

While those appeals were pending, Garcia filed a motion in the Superior Court for relief from the judgment of dismissal. Garcia’s motion was denied on April 20, 1994, with the following notation:

“This is denied without prejudice to Mr. Garcia pursuing any claim against SRA for recovery directly against them alone but not to disrupt the judgment in this case at this late date.”

After the affirmance of the judgment in the land damage case by this court in August, 1994, Roche v. Springfield Redev. Authy., 37 Mass. App. Ct. 1108 (1994), the trial judge revised the judgment in accordance with the rescript of this court and [434]*434an agreement of the parties. Judgment entered on July 5, 1995, and ordered payment of certain sums to Roche, Savoy, and others, with the shares of Roche and Savoy expressly made subject to amounts due to specified persons or entities. Garcia’s claim was not listed.

In a memorandum dated April 22, 1995, ordering final judgment, the judge stated:

“[Fjinal judgment should be entered in this case covering the issues and parties whose rights were adjudicated June 21, 1993. The fact there may be other claims or remedies sought dependent on the money to be received as a result of the judgment of June 21, 1993 should not delay entry of a judgment in these cases, and this court makes no award or judgment on the issues raised in Springfield Redevelopment Authority’s suit 94-1655.”

2. Present appeals. The action referred to in the memorandum (Superior Court No. 94-1655) was one brought in November, 1994, by the SRA, after the denial of Garcia’s motion for reconsideration. The SRA sought to interplead the claimants, primarily Jose Garcia, who had not appeared in the land damage action and whose interests, the SRA asserted, might not have been adjudicated in the land damage case.5 A Superior Court judge denied Garcia’s motion for summary judgment, and dismissed the SRA action at the behest of Savoy and others. Before us is an appeal by Garcia from the dismissal of that action. The second appeal before us is by Robert Savoy, trustee, from a judgment (Superior Court No. 96-108) allowing Garcia’s motion for summary judgment to reach and apply Savoy’s share of the judgment in the land damage case. We affirm both judgments which were entered by the same Superior Court judge.

a. Dismissal of the interpleader action. The Superior Court judge ruled that the judgment dismissing Garcia’s claim in the land damage case was a final adjudication. Since Garcia was a named and served party-defendant in that case, an action against the SRA could not be brought to subject Savoy’s share to Garcia’s claim. We agree.

Garcia’s reliance on the notation on the motion for relief from judgment is misplaced. Under Massachusetts practice, in the absence of leave from an appellate court, a trial judge lacks [435]*435jurisdiction to entertain a motion under Mass.R.Civ.P. 60(b), 365 Mass. 828 (1974), while the judgment is pending on appeal. See Commonwealth v. Cronk, 396 Mass. 194, 197 (1985); Bernard v. United Brands Co., 27 Mass. App. Ct. 415, 417 n.6 (1989). See also Chapman v. University of Mass. Med. Ctr., 423 Mass. 584, 585, 587-589 (1996); Wilkinson v. Guarino, 19 Mass. App. Ct. 1021, 1023-1024 n.6 (1985); Doe v. Roe, 32 Mass. App. Ct. 63, 70 (1992), and cases cited.

The extent of the power of a trial judge to consider a rule 60(b) motion pending appeal has been treated more extensively in the Federal courts than in Massachusetts. The earlier Federal cases took the view that a Federal District Court had no power to consider a motion under that rule after a notice of appeal had been filed. 11 Wright, Miller, & Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2873, at 430 (2d ed. 1995 & Supp. 1997). The authors of that treatise suggest that the better view — a position that, according to 12 Moore’s Federal Practice par. 60.67[2][b] (3d ed. 1997), is the view of all the Federal Circuits except the Ninth Circuit — is that a District Court may deny the motion while an appeal is pending. If, however, the lower court is inclined to grant the motion, the appellate court should be asked for leave for the lower court to act.

The reason for this approach is that the denial of a motion for relief from judgment does not affect the judgment on appeal, while the allowance of such a motion may render the appeal moot or otherwise affect the issues before the appellate court. Here, the trial court judge did purport to affect the rights of the parties, i.e., the finality or the effect of the judgment on SRA. If the notation were operative, SRA could not rely on the judgment even after appeal and would have to file, as it did here, another action. Thus it would seem that, even under the modem Federal practice, the trial judge in this case was without power, in the absence of leave from the appellate court, to allow Garcia to proceed once more against the SRA. Cf. Hager v. Hager, 12 Mass. App. Ct. 887, 888 (1981) (trial judge may not modify judgment while an appeal is pending). But see Stone v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 514 U.S. 386, 401 (1995). Moreover, as noted by the motion judge in the interpleader action, the notation in the land damage case specifically prohibits [436]*436any claim of Garcia from “disrupting the judgment in this case at this late date.”6

Accordingly we hold that the judge did not err in dismissing the interpleader action. The only claim, that of Garcia, was barred by the prior adjudication from which he did not appeal.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

M.B. v. A.G.
Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2025
Cambridge Street Realty, LLC v. Stewart
113 N.E.3d 303 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2018)
Holmes v. Anderson
114 N.E.3d 982 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2018)
De Prins v. Michaeles
236 F. Supp. 3d 482 (D. Massachusetts, 2017)
Quinn v. Gjoni
50 N.E.3d 448 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2016)
Butler v. Wojtkun (In re Wojtkun)
534 B.R. 435 (D. Massachusetts, 2015)
Kelso v. Kelso
15 N.E.3d 767 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2014)
Braun v. Braun
865 N.E.2d 814 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)
Farnum v. Mesiti Development
862 N.E.2d 425 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)
Newell v. Department of Mental Retardation
446 Mass. 286 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2006)
Lee v. Daniel
20 Mass. L. Rptr. 481 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2006)
Griffith & Associates, PLLC v. Malouf, Inc.
22 Mass. L. Rptr. 612 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2005)
Innis ex rel. Estate of Innis v. Robertson
16 Mass. L. Rptr. 86 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2003)
Hennessey v. Sarkis
764 N.E.2d 873 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2002)
O'Meara v. Doherty
761 N.E.2d 965 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Montgomery
759 N.E.2d 714 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2001)
Lake States Insurance v. Consumer Insurance Services of America
13 Mass. L. Rptr. 104 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2001)
Richmond v. Tankenow
11 Mass. L. Rptr. 644 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2000)
Garland v. Beverly Hospital Corp.
720 N.E.2d 838 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
691 N.E.2d 965, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 432, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/springfield-redevelopment-authority-v-garcia-massappct-1998.