Court Opinion

ID: 9686063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:23:34.59982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:16.693316
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING

Motion for Ten per cent damages.

Subsequent to original deliverance, Stamper has filed a motion asking that the judgment of this court be amended so as to include the ten per cent award of damages as required by § 814, Title 7, Code 1940, as amended, which, in pertinent part recites:
“When a judgment or decree is rendered for money, whether debt or damages, and the same has been superseded on appeal by the execution of bond, with surety, if the appellate court affirms the judgment of the court below, it must also render judgment against all or any of the obligors on the bond, for the amount of the affirmed judgment, ten percent damages thereon, and the costs of the appellate court; . . . . ”
Stamper says that it was awarded a money decree for $2,000.00 by the trial court and that, on appeal, the money decree was not only affirmed but the amount thereof was increased; and, therefore, Stamper, as an appellee, is entitled to 10% damages in addition to the amount of the money decree.
The rule for determining when an appellee is entitled to the 10% penalty has been stated as follows:
“ . . . . The conditions are (1) a moneyed judgment or decree; (2) that it is superseded on appeal by bond; (3) and an affirmance of that judgment on appeal. The only province of this court is to determine whether those conditions exist. When so, we have no discretion.
“If there is a situation in which doubt exists as to the existence of any of them, so that an interpretation is necessary, we may consider the purpose of the statute to aid us in so doing. For that reason, in the case of Montgomery Light & Water Power Co. v. Thombs, supra (204 Ala. 678, 87 So. 205), its purpose was mentioned as an aid to construction. In line with that purpose, it has been uniformly held that the judgment or decree must be affirmed in fact and not merely in form. New York Life Ins. Co. v. Reese, 201 Ala. 673, 79 So. 245; United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Millonas, 206 Ala. 147, 89 So. 732, 29 A.L.R. 520; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Bashinsky, Case & Co., 217 Ala. 661, 117 So. 289; Alabama Great Southern R. R. Co. v. Norrell, 225 Ala. 503, 143 So. 904.
*645“Those cases settle the question that those damages are not applicable, when, on the appeal by a defendant in a moneyed judgment, there is a substantial change in the amount or terms of judgment, as respects appellant.” Snellings v. Builders’ Supply Co., 229 Ala. 1, 155 So. 858.
See also: Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Parker, 223 Ala. 626, 647, 138 So. 231 [49]; Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Grizzard, 238 Ala. 49, 62, 189 So. 203 [27].
In the cited cases, supra, this court has consistently held that the appellee is not entitled to the 10% penalty when the amount of the judgment is reduced by the appellate court and the judgment is affirmed on condition that appellee agree to remit all of the judgment in excess of the amount to which it is reduced by the appellate court.
Referring to § 2893, Code 1907, (§ 814, Title 7), this court has said:
“ . . . . This statute (section 2893) was evidently intended to penalize frivolous or delay appeals and did not contemplate that an appellant would be penalized on account of the mere form of the judgment as last rendered by this court, notwithstanding there was a substantial change or alteration of the judgment in his favor.....” Montgomery Light & Water Power Co. v. Thombs, 204 Ala. 678, 684, 87 So. 205, 211.
In the instant case, the amount of the money decree is not reduced on appeal. In that respect, “the terms of the judgment” on appeal are not favorable to appellant.
The trial court, however, awarded to Stamper a lien to secure the money decree. The judgment on appeal reversed in that respect and discharged the lien. In that respect, “ . . . . there was a substantial change or alteration of the judgment . ” in favor of appellant. Because there was such a change in the decree, we are of opinion that Stamper is not entitled to an award of the 10% penalty.
Motion denied.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and SIMPSON, BLOODWORTPI, and MADDOX, JJ., concur.