MPQ, Inc. v. Birmingham Realty Co.

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court dismissed an appeal and cross-appeal arising from an unlawful-detainer action between Birmingham Realty Company and MPQ, Inc. The court held that Birmingham Realty’s notice of appeal from the district court was untimely because its post-judgment motion was filed outside the applicable seven-day period, depriving the circuit court of subject-matter jurisdiction and rendering its judgment void.

Holdings

1. A postjudgment motion in an unlawful-detainer action must be filed within the seven-day period prescribed by Rule 59(dc), and an untimely motion does not toll the time for filing the notice of appeal.
2. The circuit court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over an appeal from a district-court unlawful-detainer judgment when the notice of appeal is not filed within the statutory seven-day period.
3. A circuit-court judgment entered without subject-matter jurisdiction is void, and the appellate court must dismiss an appeal from that judgment with instructions to vacate it.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Birmingham Realty's postjudgment motion was timely under Rule 59(dc), Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, and therefore tolled the seven-day period for appealing the district court's unlawful-detainer judgment to the circuit court.
2. Whether the circuit court acquired subject-matter jurisdiction over Birmingham Realty's appeal from the district court when the notice of appeal was filed more than seven days after the district court's judgment.
3. What disposition was required when the circuit court judgment addressing the unlawful-detainer appeal was void for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

Disposition

dismissed