Case Title: Bob J. Harden v. Bennie C. Laney and Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company

Citation: 

Docket Number: 1111130

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 2013-01-04T00:00:00Z

Document:
REL: 01/04/2013
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-
0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before
the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2012-2013
____________________
1111130
____________________
Bob J. Harden
v.
Bennie C. Laney and Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance
Company
Appeal from Cleburne Circuit Court
(CV-07-38)
STUART, Justice.
Bob J. Harden appeals the trial court's order striking
his notice of appeal.  Because we hold that the trial court
1111130
lacked jurisdiction to enter that order, the order will not
support an appeal, and we must dismiss Harden's appeal.
On June 26, 2007, Harden sued Bennie C. Laney, alleging
that Laney's negligence and wantonness resulted in an
automobile accident in which Harden was injured.  Georgia Farm
Bureau Mutual Insurance Company ("GFB") intervened in the
action to protect its rights as an  uninsured- or
underinsured-motorist insurance carrier or subrogee and moved
for a summary judgment.  On February 16, 2012, the trial court
entered a summary judgment for GFB and dismissed the case with
prejudice.   On March 29, 2012, Harden filed a notice of
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appeal in the trial court.  On April 9, 2012, GFB moved the
trial court to strike the notice of appeal, arguing that,
because Harden's notice of appeal was filed by an attorney
who, at the time the notice of appeal was filed, did not
possess an active license to practice law in the State of
Alabama, Harden's notice of appeal was a nullity.  In its
motion, GFB acknowledged that Harden's notice of appeal was
filed on "the forty-second day following this Court's entry of
its final order –- the deadline to file such a notice pursuant
Earlier in the proceedings, the trial court had entered
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a summary judgment for Laney.
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to Rule 4 of the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure."  The
trial court entered an order striking Harden's notice of
appeal on the basis that Harden's attorney "was in an
'Inactive' status with the Alabama State Bar Association." 
Harden appeals the trial court's order striking his notice of
appeal.
  
"[J]urisdictional matters are of such magnitude that we
take notice of them at any time and do so even ex mero motu."
Nunn v. Baker, 518 So. 2d 711, 712 (Ala. 1987).  The timely
filing of a notice of appeal invokes the jurisdiction of an
appellate court and divests the trial court of jurisdiction to
act except in matters entirely collateral to the appeal. 
Altmayer v. Stremmel, 891 So. 2d 304, 309 (Ala. 2004);  Osborn
v. Riley, 331 So. 2d 268 (Ala. 1976).  See also Committee
Comments to Rule 3, Ala. R. App. P. ("Timely filing of the
notice of appeal is a jurisdictional act. It is the only step
in the appellate process which is jurisdictional.").
In this case, the trial court did not have jurisdiction
to entertain GFB's motion to strike Harden's notice of appeal. 
Harden states, and GFB admits, that Harden's notice of appeal
was timely filed in the trial court.  The timely filing of 
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Harden's notice of appeal divested the trial court of
jurisdiction to act in this case and invoked this Court's
jurisdiction to act as to matters concerning Harden's appeal.
See Ex parte P&H Constr. Co., 723 So. 2d 45, 48 (Ala.
1998)("'Failure of an appellant to take any step other than
the timely filing of a notice of appeal with the clerk of the
trial court does not affect the validity of the appeal, but is
ground only for such action as the appellate court deems
appropriate, which may include dismissal of the appeal.'"
(quoting Committee Comments to Rule 3, Ala. R. App. P.)). 
Because jurisdiction over Harden's 
appeal 
rested in this Court
when the trial court entered its order purporting to strike
Harden's notice of appeal, the trial court's order is a
nullity and will not support an appeal; therefore, Harden's
appeal from that order is dismissed.
APPEAL DISMISSED.
Malone, C.J., and Parker, Shaw, and Wise, JJ., concur.
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