Opinion ID: 1446423
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: pleading failures

Text: Although the Wilkinsons acknowledge that a constructive trust may be imposed against a fraudulent transferee in appropriate circumstances, they contend that the trial court erred in doing so because that relief was not sought in the pleadings. They cite a number of old cases from other jurisdictions for the proposition that the failure to seek money damages in a claim based upon a fraudulent conveyance precluded the award of money damages, namely, Riverside Brick Co. v. Wheatley, 92 Md. 410, 48 A. 715 (1901); Chatterton v. Mason, 86 Md. 236, 37 A. 960 (1897); Hy-Lo Unit & Metal Products Co. v. Ryon, 21 Cal. App.2d 38, 68 P.2d 393 (1937); and Wright v. Salzberger, 121 Cal. App. 639, 9 P.2d 860 (1932). Their argument is plainly without merit. These cases all antedate the adoption of the modern rules of pleading and procedure first embodied in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and later adopted by most of the states, including Utah in 1950. The cases reflect the severity of the old code pleading, a position abandoned long ago. Rule 54(c)(1) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure provides that every final judgment shall grant the relief to which the party in whose favor it is rendered is entitled, even if the party has not demanded such relief in his pleadings. That rule requires the courts to be liberal in awarding appropriate relief and to award all appropriate relief justified by the facts developed as long as the failure to request a particular form of relief does not prejudice a party in the preparation or trial of the case. Taylor v. E.M. Royle Corp., 1 Utah 2d 175, 176-77, 264 P.2d 279, 280 (1953). If there is no prejudice, it is necessary only that the relief granted be supported by the evidence and be a permissible form of relief for the claims litigated. Combe v. Warren's Family Drive-Inns, Inc., 680 P.2d 733, 735 (Utah 1984). Rule 54(c)(1) has been utilized in a variety of contexts to afford litigants appropriate relief, including relief that is different from the type demanded in the complaint. Thus, injunctive relief has been granted even though damages were prayed for and vice versa. 10 C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2664, at 163 (2d ed. 1983). That same principle applies here with respect to the constructive trust. But the rule is otherwise as to the judgment creditors who failed to intervene in the fraudulent conveyance case. Rule 54(c)(1) cannot dispense entirely with the necessity that a claimant make some claim in the lawsuit against the defendant. The trial court held that all Themy's judgment creditors who participated as parties in the lien case could also recover in the fraudulent conveyance case, even though they had not moved to intervene and were never parties in the separate case of Butler v. Wilkinson. Those parties were Zions First National Bank, Hart, Schaffner & Marx, and the Lawsons. We hold that was error. A court may not grant relief to a nonparty. Clearly, the relief afforded was not responsive to the claims asserted in the lien case by the judgment lienors. Combe v. Warren's Family Drive-Inns, 680 P.2d at 735. There is no basis for affording any relief to Hart, Schaffner & Marx, Zions First National Bank, or the Lawsons. Finally, the Wilkinsons also assert that Pearl Shaw and Edward P. Ramras are not entitled to any recovery in the fraudulent conveyance case, even though the trial court granted their motions to intervene, because they failed to file complaints in intervention and Ramras did not file a written motion to intervene. We agree that they should have filed a complaint in intervention, but their failure to do so was not prejudicial. The complaint filed by Butler and the Toomers alleged only one count. The defendants knew precisely what issues were being litigated. Indeed, the defendants made no objection at trial to the intervention. On similar facts, we held in Behrens v. Raleigh Hills Hospital, Inc., 675 P.2d 1179, 1182 (Utah 1983), that failure to offer an amended complaint on a motion to amend was not fatal to the amendment.