Taylor v. First American Title Co.

477 A.2d 227, 1984 D.C. App. LEXIS 405
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 1984
Docket83-1300, 83-1337, 83-1338, and 84-239
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 477 A.2d 227 (Taylor v. First American Title Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. First American Title Co., 477 A.2d 227, 1984 D.C. App. LEXIS 405 (D.C. 1984).

Opinion

FERREN, Associate Judge:

This appeal arises from a suit for possession of real estate filed in the Landlord and Tenant Division by plaintiff-appellee, First American Title Company, alleging that defendant-appellants, the Taylors, are foreclosed homeowners. The principal issue is the appealability of a pretrial protective order.

I.

Acting pro se, defendants filed a plea of title and a motion to waive undertaking under Super. Ct. L & T R. 5(c). On October 26, 1983, after a hearing at which both parties presented evidence, Judge Graae denied the motion for waiver of undertaking and required defendants both to post a surety bond of $25,000 and to pay $250 monthly under a protective order. On October 31, 1983, defendants appealed the trial court’s ruling (appeal # 1). They neither posted the surety bond nor paid under the protective order at that time.

On November 7, 1983, upon defendants’ failure to post the undertaking, the Clerk of the Superior Court struck the plea of title and set the case for hearing on November 16, 1983. On November 16, Judge Greene granted plaintiff’s motion to strike the pleadings and entered judgment for the plaintiff. He also denied defendants’ oral motion for a stay pending appeal.

On November 17, 1983, plaintiff caused a writ of restitution to be issued; defendants applied to this court for a stay pending appeal and for summary reversal of the trial court’s judgment (appeal # 2). On November 23, 1983, this court accepted jurisdiction of appeal # 1 and held, inter alia, that because an appeal had been taken from the protective order, the trial court on November 16 lacked jurisdiction to strike the defendants’ pleadings or to enter judgment for the plaintiff. We also denied defendants' motion for a stay pending appeal # 2 and remanded the record to permit the trial judge, in his discretion, to allow defendants ten days in which to comply with the protective order. 1

*229 On December 2, 1983, Judge Graae granted defendants ten additional days in which to comply with his protective order of October 26, 1983. Pursuant to that protective order, defendants paid the $250 but failed to post the $25,000 surety bond. On December 19, 1983, defendants filed a new notice of appeal (appeal # 3) alleging that this court’s order of November 23, 1983, had struck the requirement of the surety bond and further alleging that Judge Graae could not enter the December 2 order without affording defendants an additional hearing.

On February 22, 1984, Judge Urbina struck defendants’ pleadings again for failure to post the surety bond and certified the case to the Civil Division of Superior Court for non-jury trial. On February 24, 1984, defendants appealed this order (appeal # 4) and filed an expedited motion to vacate Judge Urbina’s ruling.

Because we conclude that this court’s order of November 23, 1983 was improvidently entered, we vacate that order, as well as the subsequent orders of the trial court (December 2, 1983 and February 22, 1984), and remand this case for further proceedings.

II.

In Bell v. Tsintolas Realty Co., 139 U.S.App.D.C. 101, 430 F.2d 474 (1970), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit accepted the appeal of a pretrial protective order. In Cooks v. Fowler, 141 U.S.App.D.C. 236, 437 F.2d 669 (1971), (Cooks I, January 12, 1971), the court accepted an appeal of a posttrial protective order pending the appeal on the merits:

The [District of Columbia] Court of Appeals’ disposition of the controversy over the protective order ... was a complete and final denial by that court of relief from the requirement of monetary deposits during the pendency of petitioner’s appeal. That requirement, in turn, operating like a supersedeas, conditioned the stay, pending the appeal, of respondent’s judgment for possession. Because the requirement was not met, a writ of restitution is outstanding, and only our temporary stay of eviction stands in the way of execution of the writ. We think, then, that the Court of Appeals’ order with reference to this aspect of the litigation is presently appealable to tender for this court’s decision the issue over the propriety of the protective order.

Id. at 239, 437 F.2d at 672 (footnote omitted). The court explained that it regularly had accepted appeals of both pretrial and posttrial protective orders because “[b]oth types seem to fall within the collateral order doctrine articulated in Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 ... (1949). Compare Redding & Co. v. Russwine Const. Corp., 135 U.S.App.D.C. 153, 417 F.2d 721 (1969).” Id. at 239 n. 7, 437 F.2d at 672 n. 7. 2

*230 Because both Bell and Cooks I were decided before February 1, 1971, they are binding upon this court. M.A.P. v. Ryan, 285 A.2d 310, 312 (D.C.1971). Specifically, this means that no division of this court may ignore the legal rules established by these cases; only our en banc court may do so. Id. In Dameron v. Capitol House Associates Ltd., 431 A.2d 580 (D.C.1981), however, a division of this court held that pretrial protective orders are not appeala-ble. This court, nonetheless, is bound by Bell, as explained by Cooks I, and thus we are constrained to hold that pretrial protective orders are appealable under the collateral order doctrine. This holding, however, squarely presents the question of the effect of the pendency of such an appeal on the case awaiting trial.

Although normally the noting of appeal divests the trial court of jurisdiction, e.g., Abrams v. Abrams, 245 A.2d 843, 844 (D.C.1968), there are exceptions to this rule. See, e.g., 9 J. Moore, B. Ward, & J. Lugas, Moore’s Federal Practice § 203.11 at 3-44 to 3-46 (1983). In this court’s order of November 23, 1983, we held that the noting of an appeal of a protective order divests the trial court of jurisdiction to strike the defendant’s pleadings for failure to pay under such order. Such a rule, however, would allow a defendant to obtain an automatic stay merely by filing an appeal of a protective order. This, in turn, would frustrate the purpose of expedition inherent in the Landlord and Tenant Division of Superior Court.

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Bluebook (online)
477 A.2d 227, 1984 D.C. App. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-first-american-title-co-dc-1984.