Gerrish & McCreary, PC v. Carri Chandler Lane

Syllabus

Appellant appeals the trial court's denial of her Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 60.02 motion. In 2003, the trial court entered judgment against Appellant and in favor of Appellee/law firm. In her role as Appellee's bookkeeper, Appellant committed fraud, misrepresentation, conversion, and negligence in stealing funds from the Appellee's operating account. The 2003 order of judgment also contains a separate judgment for conversion against Appellant's then-husband, who is not a party to this appeal. However, there is no finding of joint-and-several liability in the 2003 order, and Appellant did not appeal the order. After receiving an extension of its judgment, in July 2021, Appellee filed a garnishment against Appellant, claiming that the outstanding balance on the judgment, with interest, was in excess of $1,000,000.00. After the garnishment was filed, Appellant sought a finding that she should receive a credit against the judgment based on the payment made by her then-husband in satisfaction of the 2003 judgment entered against him. Appellant also sought credit for monies paid by Appellee's bank under a private settlement. The bank was never sued. The trial court denied the credits on its finding that the bank and Appellant's then-husband were neither joint tortfeasors, nor jointly and severally liable. The trial court noted that any relief from the 2003 judgment for mistake in the omission of joint-and-several language was time-barred as Appellant failed to bring her Rule 60.02 motion, under subsection (1) for mistake, within the one-year time period contemplated in the rule. Having determined that there was no joint-and-several liability, the trial court determined that Appellant was not entitled to credits for either her then-husband's payment or the bank's payment and denied relief under Rule 60.02(4) for satisfaction of the judgment. Appellant appeals. Discerning no error, we affirm.