Court Opinion

ID: 9680394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:31:28.764869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:28.427596
License: Public Domain

LEIBSON, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority decision in this case is in conflict with the concept of notice pleading established by the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure.
*86The respondent was properly served with a complaint and an amended complaint. He was put on notice by these pleadings that the movants claimed he had wrongfully caused Quality Home Aluminum Company, Inc. to proceed through a voluntary dissolution in violation of statutory requirements as to unpaid debts and that he was responsible to them for the debt of the corporation for which they demanded judgment. This complaint fell well within the liberal policy related to notice pleadings. See Johnson v. Thoni Oil Magic Benzol Gas Stations, Inc., Ky., 467 S.W.2d 772 (1971); Pike v. George, Ky., 434 S.W.2d 626 (1968).
All that our procedure requires at the present time is a notice pleading setting out conclusions “sufficiently to identify the basis of the claim.” Clay, Ky.Prac., 3rd Ed., Rule 8.01. The former debate about “ultimate facts” or “conclusions of law” or “statements of evidence” is no longer viable.
This respondent was properly served and before the court, with sufficient notice of the nature of the claim against him. If he had any doubt about the sufficiency of the claim, he should have proceeded by Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim under CR 12.02(f). If he believed that the claim was “so vague or ambiguous” that he could not reasonably respond, he should have filed a Motion for More Definite Statement under CR 12.05. He has done neither. But he has succeeded in this case in making a CR 12.02(f) motion or, worse yet, in filing an old fashioned demurrer via CR 60.02.
The grounds for setting aside a final judgment under CR 60.02 require a great deal more than is required by a motion to dismiss under CR 12.02. The grounds are set out in the Rule and none apply here. The policy in favor of finality of judgments is significantly impaired if by CR 60.02 procedure the judgment debtor can search the complaint for defects in the manner in which the movant has stated the cause of action.
Johnson v. Coleman, Ky., 288 S.W.2d 348 (1956), cited by the respondent, does not support his position. Johnson involved a CR 12.02 Motion to Dismiss the Complaint, not a CR 60.02 Motion to Set Aside a Judgment.
The case in point in the present situation is Crowder v. Am. Mutual Liability Ins. Co., Ky., 379 S.W.2d 236 (1964). In Crowder, we refused to set aside a default judgment on grounds that the complaint did not state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted, holding at p. 238:
“It is true that a default judgment may not be based on a complaint which completely fails to state a cause of action, but it is also true that much leniency is shown in construing such a complaint; it need not possess the qualities of immunity to attack by demurrer [or attack under CR 12.02(7) (sic. 12.02(6))].”
The complaint in this case would have been sufficient to meet the threshold requirements in Crowder as long as it alleged the corporation owed the plaintiffs money and the defendant was liable for the debt of the corporation. The complaint in this case went much further. It was more than adequate to advise respondent of the nature of the claim.
The respondent has cited no cases since the adoption of the Civil Rules in 1954 as authority for his collateral attack upon the judgment against him in this case. None of the grounds set out in CR 60.02 for a collateral attack on the judgment apply.
When one reads the record in this case, it is evident that the issue before the trial court on the CR 60.02 Motion to Set Aside the Judgment was whether or not the respondent had been properly served and was before the court at the time when the court rendered judgment against him. The attack on the sufficiency of the complaint appears to have been largely, if not entirely, an afterthought dredged up for the appeal.
The majority opinion in this case is the tail wagging the dog. In my view of this case neither the tail nor the dog will hunt. I predict much mischief will result from *87permitting this type of attack on the finality of judgments.