Title: Spence v. Baldwin County Sav. & Loan Ass'n
Citation: 533 So. 2d 192
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: September 23, 1988

533 So. 2d 192 (1988)
Edwin J. SPENCE, et al.
v.
BALDWIN COUNTY SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
No. 86-1337.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 23, 1988.
L.P. Sutley of Murchison &amp; Sutley, Foley, for appellants.
Edward S. Sledge III and Walter T. Gilmer, Jr., of Hand, Arendall, Bedsole, Greaves &amp; Johnston, Mobile, for appellee.
ADAMS, Justice.
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to permit the defendants to amend their answer on the first day of trial. See Alabama Farm Bureau Mutual Casualty Co. v. Guthrie, 338 So. 2d 1276 (Ala.1976).
Furthermore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in severing the defendants' counterclaim from plaintiff's complaint. See Ex parte Marcrum, 372 So. 2d 313 (Ala.1979).
Finally, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to allow a continuance of the trial because a witness was unavailable. See Perdue v. Mitchell, 373 So. 2d 650 (Ala.1979).
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and ALMON, SHORES, BEATTY, HOUSTON and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.
MADDOX, J., concurs specially.
MADDOX, Justice (concurring specially).
I concur in summarily affirming the judgment, but only because the parties filed in this Court the following stipulation:
I assume that the legal effect of the affirmance is the same as a dismissal, but I am not sure.
I believe that parties in a civil case should be allowed to settle their case and have the appeal dismissed. In 5 C.J.S. Appeal and Error, § 1354(5) (1958), the following is stated:
"When it appears that there has been a valid settlement or adjustment by the parties of all their rights and differences respecting the subject matter of the controversy, the appeal will be dismissed, even after the cause has been argued and submitted, or a decision has been rendered by the reviewing court but the case is still pending on a motion for rehearing, or after a hearing has been ordered, or even though appellant was induced by fraud to settle the litigation, where he fails to return, or to offer to return, the consideration. It is otherwise, however, if the payment does not settle all the matters involved in the appeal;
The same principle of law is stated by Judge Bricken in Caldwell v. Loveless, 17 Ala.App. 381, 85 So. 307 (1920):
17 Ala.App. at 382, 85 So.  at 307.
To the same effect are several cases from other jurisdictions: Rothenberg v. Connecticut Mut. Life Ins. Co., 161 So. 2d 875 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1964) (settlement after issuance of opinion but before expiration of *194 time for filing petition for rehearing); Payne v. Georgia Power Co., 223 Ga. 273, 154 S.E.2d 440 (1967) (settlement pending appeal from grant of interlocutory injunction); McKenzie v. Chastain, 181 Ga. 807, 184 S.E. 276 (1936) (settlement pending decision on motion for rehearing); Miller v. Miller, 66 N.W.2d 43 (Iowa 1954) (remarriage of parties pending appeal from divorce decree); United Services Automobile Ass'n v. Lederle, 400 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. 1966) (settlement pending appeal from judgment holding insurer liable); Wahpeton Public School Dist. No. 37 v. North Dakota Ed. Ass'n, 166 N.W.2d 389 (N.D. 1969) (settlement pending appeal from grant of temporary restraining order).
While I recognize that this Court, by promulgating an internal rule, has provided that the clerk can dismiss a case except "after circulation of a proposed opinion," I believe that rule merely means that the clerk cannot enter an order of dismissal if a proposed opinion has been circulated.[1] I do not believe that rule should be read as saying that this Court should refuse to dismiss a civil case in which the parties have agreed to a settlement, unless, of course, there are presented some of the reasons set out in the general rule that I have cited hereinabove.
[1]  The Court grants to the clerk's office the authority:

"1. To grant all procedural motions including, but not limited to, the following motions:
"* * * *
"r. for dismissal of appeal on motion by appellant after reasonable notice has been given to appellee or his attorney. Where there is a cross-appeal or where a judgment was rendered for money in the trial court and the judgment has been suspended by a supersedeas bond, the appellee should join in the motion for dismissal; however, no appeal will be dismissed after circulation of a proposed opinion.
"Comment: If the parties are negotiating a settlement of the case after submission, they should notify the Clerk in writing and request that the submission be suspended pending said negotiations. If one of the parties notifies the Clerk that a settlement cannot be reached, the case will be resubmitted. Also, if a party objects to the suspension of submission, the case will remain under submission."