Williams v. Oates

340 S.W.3d 84, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 106, 2010 WL 2428659
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 18, 2010
Docket2009-CA-001182-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 340 S.W.3d 84 (Williams v. Oates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Oates, 340 S.W.3d 84, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 106, 2010 WL 2428659 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

LAMBERT, Judge:

Linda Williams, Executrix of the Estate of Cecil Williams, appeals a July 3, 2008, order of the Warren Circuit Court overrul- *85 mg various motions which sought to enforce an April 15, 1991, judgment against William C. Oates. For the reasons set forth herein, we must vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Cecil Williams loaned William Oates $62,500.00 on August 80, 1990. Oates failed to repay the loan, and Williams sued Oates. Williams secured a default judgment against Oates for the loan amount plus interest on April 15,1991.

Thereafter, various attempts were made to enforce the judgment against Oates. However, for one reason or another, many of which are not clear from this record, no money was ever recovered. In 2006, this Court addressed one of Williams’ attempts to enforce the judgment. As set forth in our previous opinion, the facts proceed as follows:

[Williams] diligently pursued post-judgment discovery efforts to collect the debt, but all efforts were unsuccessful. William C. Oates died intestate on November 26, 1996, leaving his wife, Esther, and son, Billy, who was later named the Administrator of the estate in July of 1998. [Williams] filed a judgment lien against [Oates] and continued in his efforts to enforce the judgment to no avail.
On October 22, 2003, more than ten years after the original default judgment, [Williams] filed a motion with the court to amend and supplement the original complaint. The court granted leave to amend and supplement pursuant to Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR) 15.01. A second motion to amend was also granted and entered on March 26, 2004. [Williams] remained unable to collect on the original default judgment and filed a motion to reinstate and reenter the original judgment on January 12, 2006, due to the approaching end of the fifteen-year statute of limitations on this action pursuant to KRS 413.090. The Warren Circuit Court reinstated and reentered the judgment on February 9, 2006, and additionally reversed the previous two orders allowing [Williams] to amend the original complaint.

Williams v. Oates, 2006 WL 3334046 (Ky.App.2006) (2006-CA-000413-MR).

Williams appealed the trial court’s reversal of its previous orders allowing amendment of the original complaint. This Court held that the trial court did not err in refusing to allow such amendments pursuant to CR 15.01. Id. at 1. We reasoned that complaints may not be amended or supplemented after a judgment is entered and finalized because there is no jurisdiction to conduct such proceedings. Id.; see Yocom v. Oney, 532 S.W.2d 15 (Ky.1975). We also stated as follows:

It is clear that [Williams] wants to enforce the default judgment. [Williams] has not lost any rights or remedies for the enforcement of this judgment, but the appropriate procedure is not found in an attempt to amend a pleading more than ten years after the entry of a default judgment.

Oates, 2006 WL at 2.

On September 21, 2007, Williams moved to file a supplemental complaint pursuant to CR 15.04. The trial court denied this motion by order entered on October 18, 2007.

On November 14, 2007, Williams renewed his motion to file supplemental pleadings pursuant to CR 15.04. Williams also moved the trial court to enter an order of sale against real property that was distributed to Oates’ heirs. On July 3, 2008, the trial court denied Williams’ motions. In so ruling, the court held that it did not have jurisdiction to accept the filing of supplemental pleadings or “to issue *86 any type of findings relating to the status of said property.”

The real property at issue is Oates’ former residence. In 1984, it was purchased in the name of William C. Oates Realty Company, Inc. At some point, the corporation was dissolved and all assets were distributed to the corporation’s only shareholder, Oates. When Oates died, his son, Billy, transferred the residence to his mother, Esther. When Esther died in 2003, Billy became the sole owner of the home. In his motion seeking to have the real property sold, Williams moved the trial court to “pierce the corporate veil and hold that [Williams’] claim is a secured claim against the real property.”

Williams has since died and his widow, Linda, continues to pursue enforcement actions on behalf of the estate. On appeal to this Court, Williams presents various arguments. The gist of her arguments is that the trial court violated her due process rights by refusing to entertain her late husband’s motions seeking to enforce the 1991 judgment. Williams attempted to enforce this judgment in two ways: (1) moving to file supplemental pleadings pursuant to CR 15.04; and (2) moving for the sale of certain real property that was distributed to Oates’ heirs.

As for the filing of supplemental pleadings, we agree with Williams that she may file supplemental pleadings pursuant to CR 15.04 so long as the pleadings seek only to invoke the trial court’s jurisdiction “to enforce its own judgments and to remove any obstructions to such enforcement.” Shelby Petroleum Corp. v. Croucher, 814 S.W.2d 930, 933 (Ky.App.1991) (quoting Akers v. Stephenson, 469 S.W.2d 704, 706 (Ky.1970)).

This Court’s previous opinion addressed an attempt to amend the original complaint pursuant to CR 15.01 after a judgment had long since been entered and finalized. Oates, 2006 WL at 1. As set forth therein, finalized judgments may not be altered or amended. Id. Since amending the original complaint could only result in the alteration or amendment of a finalized judgment, we correctly affirmed the trial court’s denial of such an attempt.

Proceedings seeking to enforce a final judgment, however, do not result in the alteration or amendment of the judgment. Thus, supplemental pleadings pursuant to CR 15.04 are permitted in such instances. Croucher, 814 S.W.2d at 933 (permitting pleadings to be supplemented pursuant to CR 15.04 after entry of final judgment to assert claim for costs incurred and damages sustained as a result of action taken by debtor to thwart collection of judgment, and to join a third party so as to set aside a transfer of claimed property in violation of the Bulk Transfers Act).

In this case, Williams sought to file a supplemental complaint setting forth “transactions or occurrences or events which have happened since the date of the pleading sought to be supplemented.” CR 15.04. Specifically, Williams sought to adjudicate whether certain real property distributed to Oates’ heirs was subject to execution and whether a competing judgment lien had since been extinguished. Both of these issues are related to enforcement and removal of obstructions to enforcement. See Croucher, 814 S.W.2d at 933.

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340 S.W.3d 84, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 106, 2010 WL 2428659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-oates-kyctapp-2010.