 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Bryant v. Robledo6/30/2005
James R. Bryant and his wife, Beth Bryant, appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of Betty Jean Robledo and her husband, Guadalupe Robledo, in the Robledos' action to recover $15,000 plus interest.
On June 11, 2002, the Robledos filed a complaint in the Calhoun Circuit Court alleging that the Bryants had fraudulently obtained $15,000 from them on June 13, 2000, or, in the alternative, that the Bryants had breached a contract to perform legal services for the Robledos.
In July 2002, the Bryants filed a motion to dismiss. In that motion, they asserted that at all times pertinent to the pending action there existed no contract between the Robledos and the Bryants. The Bryants instead contended that Betty Jean Robledo's father, Marshall Nave, had been a client of James Bryant for several years and asserted that the Robledos did not have standing to sue on behalf of Nave. The Robledos responded to the motion to dismiss by filing copies of correspondence that, they said, supported their contention that James Bryant had agreed to provide legal services for them. Because the parties submitted materials outside the pleadings in support of the dismissal motion, the trial court's ruling was in the nature of a ruling on a summary judgment motion. See Rule 12(b), Ala. R. Civ. P., and Phillips v. AmSouth Bank, 833 So. 2d 29, 31 (Ala. 2002). In addition, the Robledos filed a motion requesting that all costs and fees of the action be paid by the Bryants, pursuant to ยง 12-19-270, Ala. Code 1975.
The trial court denied the Bryants' motion to dismiss on September 10, 2002. The next day, the Robledos filed an amended complaint that added a conversion claim against the Bryants.
On October 4, 2002, attorney Raymond C. Bryan filed a notice of appearance on behalf of the Bryants. Twice, in early September and in early October 2002, the Robledos' attorney prepared requests for admissions and purportedly served those requests upon counsel for the Bryants. On November 13, 2002, the Robledos filed a request for a default judgment based upon the failure of the Bryants to file an answer to the complaint as amended or to file answers to the requests for admissions. The trial court set the motion for a hearing on November 27, 2002. The day before the hearing, the Bryants' attorney filed a consolidated answer to the complaint and the amended complaint in which the Bryants again generally denied that James Bryant had entered into a contract with the Robledos and again asserted that the Robledos did not have standing to sue for legal services that had been rendered for James Bryant's alleged client, Nave. Additionally, the Bryants' answer noted that Beth Bryant had filed objections to the requests for admissions on September 5, 2002. We note, however, that the record on appeal does not indicate that any such objections were filed.
On December 3, 2002, the trial court entered an order stating that because the Bryants had not responded in a timely manner to the Robledos' requests for admissions, the matters set forth in the admission requests would be deemed admitted. The Robledos filed a motion requesting a summary judgment on December 6, 2002; eleven days later, the Bryants filed a response to the Robledos' motion together with a cross-motion for a summary judgment in which the Bryants again asserted that no contract for legal services had existed between the Bryants and the Robledos and that the Robledos lacked standing to sue on behalf of Nave. Additionally, the Bryants filed affidavits and items of correspondence between the parties that, they said, conclusively established that the $15,000 in dispute was actually a loan from the Robledos to Nave to defray his legal fees duri
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|