DocketNumber: 2170025
Citation Numbers: 264 So. 3d 879
Judges: Moore, Thomas
Filed Date: 5/18/2018
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/29/2022
Deronyo Tolbert appeals from a judgment entered by the Baldwin Circuit Court ("the circuit court") in favor of Francesca G. Ervin on his claim alleging that Ervin owed $2,846 for landscaping performed by Tolbert. Tolbert originally sued Ervin in the Baldwin District Court ("the district court"); Ervin answered and counterclaimed, seeking damages for breach of contract and for negligence. After a trial, the district court entered a judgment in favor of Tolbert on his claim and on Ervin's counterclaims. According to Ervin, she filed a notice of appeal indicating her desire to appeal the district court's judgment to the circuit court. Tolbert moved to dismiss Ervin's action in the *880circuit court, arguing that Ervin had not properly perfected her appeal. The circuit court denied that motion, and the case was tried; the circuit court then entered a judgment in favor of Ervin on Tolbert's claim and in favor of Tolbert on Ervin's counterclaims, and Tolbert appealed. On appeal, Tolbert argues only that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to dismiss Ervin's appeal.
Tolbert contends that the record does not contain a copy of the notice of appeal filed in the district court. He also notes that the State Judicial Information System case-action-summary sheet from the district court does not reflect that Ervin filed a notice of appeal in the district court. Thus, he argues, the circuit court never acquired subject-matter jurisdiction over the attempted appeal.
However, the case-action-summary sheet from the circuit-court appeal indicates that the circuit-court clerk had in its possession a copy of the notice of appeal, copies of which were provided with a notice that was served on both parties on March 28, 2017. Thus, the record reflects that Ervin filed her notice of appeal on or before that date, rendering it timely. Furthermore, a copy of the fee sheet from the circuit court reflects that Ervin paid in the circuit court the fee for the appeal and the appeal bond set by the district court.
Tolbert appears to be arguing that the notice of appeal was improperly filed with the circuit-court clerk, as opposed to the district-court clerk, rendering the filing of the notice of appeal ineffective. However, we note that the clerk of the circuit court acts as the ex officio clerk of the district court. See Ala. Code 1975, § 12-17-160 ("Except as otherwise provided in this article, the clerk of the circuit court shall be ex officio clerk of the district court within the circuit and shall have administrative responsibility for and supervision of the records and clerical services of the district court in accordance with applicable general laws and rules."). Although, pursuant to Ala. Code 1975, § 12-17-161(a) and (b), our supreme court has the authority to authorize "the operation of a separate clerk's office for the district court of a county" and the Administrative Director of Courts has the authority to appoint a clerk of the district court in such circumstances, Baldwin County has no district-court clerk, and, as of April 10, 2018, our supreme court has abolished the office of district-court clerk. Thus, because a circuit-court clerk is, in effect, also the district-court clerk, a filing in the "wrong" court is deemed to have been properly filed. See Ex parte Higgins,
The dissent argues, based on Brock v. Stimpson,
Based on the information contained in the record, we are not convinced that Ervin did not timely and properly file her notice of appeal. Although the district-court case-action-summary sheet should reflect the notice of appeal, the fact that it does not is not compelling, in light of the fact that the circuit court case-action-summary sheet shows that a copy of the notice of appeal was provided to both parties by the circuit court within the 14-day period for appeal and that payment for the appeal and the appeal bond were accepted during that same period. Cf. Ex parte Riverchase Galleria Mall,
AFFIRMED.
Thompson, P.J., and Pittman and Donaldson, JJ., concur.
Moore, J., dissents, with writing.