United Companies Financial Corp. v. Wyers

518 So. 2d 700, 1987 Ala. LEXIS 4540, 1987 WL 1412
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 25, 1987
Docket86-606
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 518 So. 2d 700 (United Companies Financial Corp. v. Wyers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Companies Financial Corp. v. Wyers, 518 So. 2d 700, 1987 Ala. LEXIS 4540, 1987 WL 1412 (Ala. 1987).

Opinion

ADAMS, Justice.

United Companies Financial Corporation (hereinafter “United”), appeals from a final judgment setting aside United’s mortgage and divesting United of any interest in the property of appellee, Ella Wyers.

Wyers is a 59-year-old woman whose husband died in January 1985, leaving her with no income. However, Wyers did own her home free of any mortgage. A few months after her husband’s death, Wyers met a 29-year-old man, Danny J. Gilreath. Allegedly, Gilreath professed his love for Wyers and offered to marry her. Gilreath also offered to help Wyers with her finances by obtaining a loan for her.

This case involves an allegedly fraudulent conveyance of Wyers’s property to Gil-reath and a subsequent attempt by Gil-reath to mortgage the property through United. Gilreath told Wyers that he needed her to sign some papers. On October 28, 1985, Wyers was taken to a law firm’s offices to sign some papers that she believed regarded a loan. What Wyers signed was a deed conveying her home to Gilreath. There was allegedly no consideration for the conveyance and Wyers alleged that she did not know or understand that she was deeding her home to Gilreath. Wyers continued to live in her home.

Upon receiving the deed, Gilreath attempted to obtain a loan from United. He told United in his loan application that he was a relative of Wyers’s and had inherited the property. However, United learned through a title search that Gilreath had recently obtained title by deed and that Wyers was still in possession of the home.

Though there is some dispute about United’s actual notice of the alleged fraud, the trial record indicates that United expressed a concern that it “wanted to make sure that the person [Gilreath] acquired the property from was aware of what was going on with the transaction.” (R. 15.) However, the deed was in Gilreath’s name and Wyers supposedly had no interest in the property other than possession. To alleviate its “concern,” United contacted Wyers and had her participate in the mortgage process by requiring her to attend the closing and to sign the mortgage along with Gilreath. A check for $13,775.00 was made out jointly to Wyers and Gilreath, but was given to Gilreath.

There is also testimony in the record indicating that Wyers has a limited ability to read and write, and that she had been threatened by Gilreath. In addition, on the day she signed the mortgage she was taking three medications that allegedly impaired her ability to think and reason. Furthermore, Wyers testified that she did not understand that she was mortgaging her house when she was told by United to attend the closing. Finally, after Gilreath and four friends made some threatening remarks and brandished loaded guns while Wyers was in Gilreath’s apartment on the day of the closing, Gilreath allegedly con[702]*702trolled Wyers’s conduct by driving her to the closing and demanding that she not give him any trouble at the closing or answer any questions and that she do as she was told.

In addition to the mortgage agreement, the record also includes evidence of some agreement between Gilreath and Wyers whereby Gilreath was to pay $2,000.00 to Wyers upon obtaining the mortgage, and an additional $300.00 per month for three years. It is unclear from the record whether that agreement was part of the agreement for the initial conveyance or was entered into later and prior to the mortgage. After the check was cashed, Gilreath gave Wyers $300.00. That was the only money received by Wyers. Wyers has since tendered to United the $300.00 that she received.

United never received a mortgage payment from Gilreath or Wyers, and set March 26, 1986, as the date of foreclosure on the property.

On March 21, 1986, Wyers filed suit against Gilreath, alleging fraud and breach of contract, and against United, alleging lack of capacity to contract and duress, as grounds to set aside the mortgage.

A temporary injunction was granted on March 21,1986, enjoining United from foreclosing on Wyers’s property pending a final hearing on the merits. A subsequent motion to dissolve the injunction was denied.

Gilreath filed a motion to dismiss, which was denied on June 23, 1986. Subsequently) Wyers filed a motion for default judgment against Gilreath for failure to show for a deposition. The motion was granted on August 4, 1986.

Gilreath filed an answer on July 30,1986, and moved to set aside default judgment. The motion was denied on September 3, 1986. Gilreath has since disappeared.

After a hearing on the merits, United appealed from the judgment setting aside the mortgage. It bases its appeal on the following grounds:

1.That the trial court erred in setting aside United’s mortgage on Wyers’s property based on the allegations in Wyers’s sworn complaint and on the evidence presented regarding Wyers’s capacity to contract and regarding the duress she was subjected to that led to her signing of the mortgage note.

2. That the trial court erred in not requiring Wyers to tender the sum of $13,-775.00 given to Gilreath at the closing, in return for cancellation of the mortgage.

3. That the trial court evidenced bias toward Wyers and had knowledge of the case acquired outside the pleadings and evidence presented in court.

4. That the trial court erred in granting an injunction because it failed to adhere to Rule 65, A.R.Civ.P.

5. That the trial court erred in granting the default judgment against Gilreath.

Because the last three issues can be answered quickly, we will address them first.

Appellant, United, states in its brief that the trial judge notified counsel for United and Wyers, prior to the hearing, that he had talked to Wyers’s neighbor prior to the filing of the claim, but had come to no conclusions other than that Wyers needed to obtain counsel. No party made any objection to the trial judge’s continuing to sit in the case.

The law is quite clear that failure to object to bias at the trial level precludes that issue from being raised on appeal. Ross v. Luton, 456 So.2d 249, 255 (Ala.1984); Mowery v. Mowery, 489 So.2d 1113, 1114 (Ala.Civ.App.1986). If United had objected at trial, the judge might have re-cused himself. Since United did not raise the question of bias at any time during the trial, issue 3 is precluded on appeal.

United also argues that the court erred in enjoining foreclosure until final judgment, on the grounds that the trial judge did not comply with the security requirement of Rule 65, A.R.Civ.P. Though United recognizes that the issue is moot, since the court has entered a final judgment setting aside the mortgage, United claims that failure to require a bond further evidences the bias of the trial judge. Because the injunction issue is moot, and for the [703]*703reasons stated in regard to issue 3, we find no error in regard to issue 4.

Issue 5 regards the default judgment against Gilreath. United has no standing to appeal from a default judgment against the co-defendant, Gilreath, Therefore, we find no error.

The remaining issues are central to this appeal. United’s issue is whether Wyers failed to meet her burden of proving that the medication and her education, as well as duress by Gilreath, made her incapable of entering into a valid contract.

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Bluebook (online)
518 So. 2d 700, 1987 Ala. LEXIS 4540, 1987 WL 1412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-companies-financial-corp-v-wyers-ala-1987.