Sanders v. Sanders

502 P.3d 1230

Kristine L. SANDERS, Appellee,

v.Travis James SANDERS, Appellant.

No. 20200618-CA

Court of Appeals of Utah.

Filed November 12, 2021

S. Grace Acosta, Attorney for Appellant

Steven M. Rogers, Nic R. Russell, Salt Lake City, Kelly J. Baldwin, and Wylie C. Thomas, Attorneys for Appellee

Judge Gregory K. Orme authored this Opinion, in which Judges Michele M. Christiansen Forster and Jill M. Pohlman concurred.

Opinion

ORME, Judge:

¶1 Travis James Sanders appeals the district court's order dismissing his motion brought under rule 60(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure to invalidate a "renewed" judgment Kristine L. Sanders obtained against him. We reverse and remand to the district court with instructions to consider the motion on its merits.

BACKGROUND

¶2 Travis and Kristine divorced in 2001.¹ Soon thereafter, Kristine obtained several judgments against Travis. In 2011, the district court renewed these judgments at Kristine's request. Kristine was unable to fully collect on these judgments, and in January 2019, she again moved to have them renewed. Travis opposed the renewal and moved under rule 60(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure to set aside the judgments, primarily arguing that he had already satisfied them. The court denied Travis's 60(b) motion, consolidated the judgments into a single lump-sum judgment, and renewed the judgment for a second time in May 2019. Travis did not appeal this order.

¶3 Nearly a year later, Travis filed a second 60(b) motion, this time under rule 60(b)(4) seeking to set aside the consolidated judgment as void on the theory that the court lacked jurisdiction under the Renewal of Judgment Act to renew the judgment for a second time. See Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-1802 (LexisNexis 2018). The district court denied the second motion, ruling that it was "procedurally improper" because "[t]he arguments raised in that motion could and should have been raised in the prior motion."² Travis appeals.

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶4 Travis argues that the district court erred in denying his motion on procedural grounds.³ Normally, "we review a district court's denial of a 60(b) motion under an abuse of discretion standard of review." Menzies v. Galetka , 2006 UT 81, ¶ 54, 150 P.3d 480. But when dealing with a rule 60(b)(4) motion seeking to set aside a judgment as void, we review the district court's decision for correctness. See Migliore v. Livingston Fin., LLC , 2015 UT 9, ¶ 25, 347 P.3d 394. In addition, we review a district court's interpretation and application of our rules of civil procedure for correctness. Conner v. Department of Com. , 2019 UT App 91, ¶ 15, 443 P.3d 1250. Kristine implores us to review the court's decision for abuse of discretion. But here, given that the district court's ruling dealt with a rule 60(b)(4) motion to set aside the judgment as void and because the court was interpreting our rules of civil procedure when it ruled Travis's motion was procedurally improper, we do not grant the district court any discretion, and we review its decision for correctness. Compare Menzies , 2006 UT 81, ¶ 54, 150 P.3d 480, with Conner , 2019 UT App 91, ¶ 15, 443 P.3d 1250.

ANALYSIS

¶5 As relevant here, rule 60 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure provides as follows:

(b) Mistakes; inadvertence; excusable neglect; newly discovered evidence; fraud, etc. On motion and upon just terms, the court may relieve a party or its legal representative from a judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons:

(1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect;

(2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b);

(3) fraud ... , misrepresentation or other misconduct of an opposing party;

(4) the judgment is void;

(5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or vacated, or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application; or

(6) any other reason that justifies relief.

(c) Timing and effect of the motion. A motion under paragraph (b) must be filed within a reasonable time and for reasons in paragraph (b)(1), (2), or (3), not more than 90 days after entry of the judgment or order or, if there is no judgment or order, from the date of the proceeding. The motion does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation.

(d) Other power to grant relief. This rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment ....

Utah R. Civ. P. 60(b)–(d).

¶6 The district court dismissed Travis's second 60(b) motion on the basis that "[t]he arguments raised in that motion could and should have been raised in the prior motion," thereby rendering the motion "procedurally improper." Travis argues that the court erred in this ruling because our rules of civil procedure do not prohibit him from bringing a second motion on the ground that the judgment was void due to the court's lack of subject matter jurisdiction given the terms of the Renewal of Judgment Act. This argument appears to be sound.

¶7 Kristine disagrees. She defends the district court's waiver ruling and advances two alternative grounds on which she believes we should uphold the ruling. Her first alternative argument is that Travis's second motion was simply a motion to reconsider, which is not allowed. Second, she contends that the district court's ruling can be upheld because Travis failed to file his second motion within ninety days of entry of the judgment as renewed a second time or in a reasonable time as provided in rule 60(c). We first address and reject the court's ruling that Travis waived his 60(b)(4) argument by not bringing it in his first motion. We then turn to address each of the alternative arguments Kristine believes nonetheless warrant our affirming the district court.

I. Waiver

¶8 Travis asserts that rule 60(b) did not prohibit him from bringing his second 60(b) motion in May 2020, which motion was premised on the judgment being void under rule 60(b)(4). Kristine counters by pointing to Utah v. 736 North Colorado Street , 2005 UT 90, 127 P.3d 693, which states that "a party waives the right to bring [additional defenses] if the party does not raise that defense in his initial rule 60(b) motion." Id. ¶ 11. But 736 North Colorado Street is distinguishable from the case at hand.

¶9 In 736 North Colorado Street , the State initiated forfeiture proceedings against the petitioner to seize his property. Id. ¶ 2. After unsuccessful attempts to serve the petitioner by mail, the State moved for, and was granted, default judgment. Id. After learning of the default judgment, the petitioner filed a 60(b) motion to set aside the judgment. Id. ¶ 3. As part of his motion, the petitioner argued that the Utah Code "mandated that a notice of seizure be personally served and that the service by mail was improper under Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 4." Id. In so doing, the petitioner "did not directly refer to or specifically raise a defense based on insufficient service of the complaint." Id. The district court denied the motion, id. ¶ 4, and the petitioner later filed a second rule 60(b) motion on the ground "that the district court lacked jurisdiction to enter a default judgment against him because he was not personally served with the complaint," id. ¶ 5. The court denied the second motion, "concluding that [the petitioner] had waived that defense by not raising it in his initial rule 60(b) motion." Id.

¶10 Our Supreme Court affirmed the district court's denial of the second motion. Id. ¶ 14. It noted that while the petitioner "did not articulate which prong of rule 60(b) he brought his motions under, it appears that the motions were rule 60(b)(4) motions to set aside a default judgment because ‘the judgment is void.’ " Id. ¶ 3 n.3. It then held that rule 12(h) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure "applies to rule 60(b) motions." Id. ¶ 7. Rule 12(h), in turn, provides,

A party waives all defenses and objections not presented either by motion or by answer or reply, except (1) that the defense of failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, the defense of failure to join an indispensable party, and the objection of failure to state a legal defense to a claim may also be made by a later pleading, if one is permitted, or by motion for judgment on the pleadings or at the trial on the merits, and except (2) that, whenever it appears by suggestion of the parties or otherwise that the court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter, the court must dismiss the action. ...

Accordingly, the Court held that the petitioner waived his 60(b)(4) argument that the judgment was void due to lack of personal jurisdiction, and therefore he could not bring it in a second motion because "[h]e could have asserted his complaint defense in [the first] motion but did not." 736 N. Colo. St. , 2005 UT 90, ¶ 9, 127 P.3d 693.

¶11 This precedent is readily distinguishable from the case before us. For one thing, the motions in 736 North Colorado Street targeted precisely the same judgment while, in this case, Travis's motions attacked two separate renewed judgments. His first motion targeted the judgment as initially renewed and was filed before the judgment was renewed for a second time. In this motion, he sought to prevent its second renewal primarily on the basis that it had been satisfied. But his second motion was squarely directed at the judgment as renewed for a second time, on the ground that the applicable statute does not authorize multiple renewals of the original judgment. Thus, Travis could not have waived the arguments he made in his second rule 60(b) motion because Travis's first motion was brought before the judgment was renewed for a second time, and his second motion came after it had been renewed for that second time and because it was again renewed.⁴

¶12 Be all that as it may, 736 North...