Court Opinion

ID: 9676159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:16:24.434215+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:44.742736
License: Public Domain

MADDOX, Justice
(concurring specially)-
The majority holds that the trial judge erred, albeit harmless, in concluding that the amended answer, which sought affirmative relief, had to be served on the defaulting parties. I disagree. The amended answer, which asked for a partition in kind, sought additional or supplemental relief. The amended answer was served by mail on counsel representing the plaintiffs on December 18, 1973, five days after the hearing was held by the court. The amended answer specified that the appellants had “leave of court” and the permission of the plaintiffs’ counsel to file the amended answer. Assuming these facts to be true, there was no service made on the defaulting parties as required by Rule 5(a), Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure. As is pointed out in Moore’s Federal Practice, 2d Ed., Vol. 2, p. 1338-1339:
“It should be noted that Rule 5(a) expressly requires pleadings asserting new or additional claims for relief against parties in default for failure to appear to be served upon them in the manner prescribed for the service of summons in Rule 4. This requirement is based on notions of fairness, namely, that a party should receive notice of all claims for relief upon which judgment may be entered against him. Hence, if the defendant fails to appear and the plaintiff amends his complaint, by inserting a new or an additional claim for relief, a copy of the amended complaint must be served in the same manner as a summons. Where there are two defendants, A and B, and A desires to plead in his answer a cross-claim against B, who has not appeared, the pleading containing the cross-claim should be served in the same manner as a summons. And since the cross-claim is essentially an original claim against B, careful practice suggests as the safest course that A file his pleading containing a cross-claim against B, secure the issuance of a summons, and cause a copy of the summons and of the answer, which is essentially a complaint as to B, to be served upon B in the same manner as a copy of the original complaint and of the summons are served. Similarly, if a new or additional claim for relief is asserted by way of intervention, the intervening party must serve the pleading containing the claim for relief upon a defendant, who has failed to appear, in the same manner as a summons. Here, also, careful practice suggests that a summons accompany the pleading when service is made.”
Consequently, I believe the trial court was correct in holding that service of the amended answer should have been made on the defaulting parties.
COLEMAN, J., concurs.