Elmo Greer & Sons, Inc. v. Citizens Bank, Inc.
Kentucky Court of Appeals
2013 WL 2450524 (2013)
- Written by Serena Lipski, JD
Facts
Citizens Bank, Inc. (plaintiff) filed suit against Elmo Greer & Sons, Inc. (Greer Inc.) (defendant) in Tennessee state court. At issue was a returned check that Elmo Greer & Sons, LLC (Greer LLC) (defendant) had received from a customer and then endorsed and deposited. Greer LLC was not named in the complaint, but Greer Inc. and Greer LLC shared the same agent for service of process. Greer Inc., which had been inactive for 10 years, failed to respond, so the Tennessee court granted default judgment against Greer Inc. on April 28, 2010. On June 11, 2010, the court amended the judgment against Greer Inc. to include Greer LLC. Citizens Bank registered the default judgment against Greer Inc. and Greer LLC in Kentucky. Greer Inc. and Greer LLC filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that Citizens Bank’s Tennessee complaint named only Greer Inc., service of process was not perfected on Greer LLC, and the amended judgment was void because it did not comply with Tennessee Civil Rule 59.04, which required a motion to amend a judgment to be filed within 30 days of the original judgment entry. The trial court held that because Greer Inc. and Greer LLC were essentially the same entity—in particular, they shared the same offices and agent, and Greer LLC had endorsed and deposited the check at issue—the judgment was valid and enforceable against both Greer Inc. and Greer LLC. Greer Inc. and Greer LLC appealed. For the first time on appeal, Citizens Bank argued that the Tennessee court had the authority to amend a judgment outside the 30-day window to correct a clerical mistake.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Dixon, J.)
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