Appellate Law

Void Judgment Will Not Support Appeal

By Ivan B. Cooper

In Claridy v. Claridy, [Ms. 2080385] (Ala. Civ. App. Feb. 5, 2010), the Court of Civil Appeals dismissed an appeal as being from a void judgment after the order was entered after the post-judgment motion had already been denied by operation of law. 

The trial court entered an order modifying a divorce decree more than 90 days after the post-judgment motion had been filed. Pursuant to Ala. R. Civ. P. 59.1, however, the post-judgment motion was denied by operation of law at the end of 90 days, and the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter an order after the expiration of that 90 day period.  Therefore, the order modifying the divorce decree was void.

Because a void judgment will not support an appeal, the appeal was dismissed.  But the appeal was dismissed with instructions to the trial court to vacate the void order.

Full post as published by Alabama Appellate Watch on February 12, 2010 (boomark / email).