Overland, Inc. v. Nance
Overland, Inc. v. Nance
Opinion
Overland, Inc., filed this lawsuit against Lara Marie Nance, Bank of America, SunTrust Banks, and other defendants seeking damages arising out of Nance's embezzlement of $1,282,000 from the Land Rover dealership Overland operated in the city of Greenville. Nance pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud for stealing the money and was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Overland's theory of liability against Bank of America and SunTrust was that allowing Nance to deposit forged checks into fraudulent accounts she created breached duties the banks owed to Overland. The banks made motions for summary judgment on the ground they owed no duty to Overland, who was not a customer of either bank. The circuit court granted the motions for summary judgment,
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stating, "Overland [was] unable to demonstrate that [the banks] owed it any duty ...." The circuit court denied Overland's Rule 59(e) motion. Overland filed a notice of appeal, which the court of appeals dismissed in an unpublished opinion.
Overland, Inc. v. Nance
, Op. No. 2016-UP-368 (S.C. Ct. App. filed July 20, 2016)
This Court may affirm the trial court on any ground appearing in the record. Rule 220(c), SCACR. After carefully reviewing the record and the parties' briefs to this Court and the court of appeals, we affirm on the merits the circuit court's order granting summary judgment.
See
Rule 220(b)(1), SCACR ;
Oblachinski v. Reynolds
,
We clarify, however, a point of confusion that appears to have existed between the parties and the circuit court. 1 Rule 6(b) of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure gives trial courts limited authority to extend deadlines set forth in the Rules. However, Rule (6)(b) explicitly excludes Rule 59 and certain other rules from that authority. Rule 6(b) states, "The time for taking any action under rules 50(b), 52(b), 59, and 60(b) may not be extended except to the extent and under the conditions stated in them." Rule 59(e) does not have any "conditions stated" which would allow such an extension. Rather, Rule 59(e) states, "A motion to alter or amend the judgment shall be served not later than 10 days after receipt of written notice of the entry of the order."
We have previously held that the ten-day limit for serving a Rule 59(e) motion is an absolute deadline. In
Leviner v. Sonoco Prods. Co.
,
the trial judge's ... order filed February 10, 1997, more than thirty days later, was patently untimely. Under Rule 59(e), SCRCP, the trial judge has only ten days from entry of judgment to alter or amend an earlier order on his own initiative .... When no timely Rule 59 motion was made nor timely sua sponte order filed under Rule 59(e), the January ... order "matured" into a final judgment. The order filed on February 10 was a nullity because the trial judge no longer had jurisdiction over the matter.
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In light of these authorities, we repeat that the ten-day deadline in Rule 59(e) is an absolute deadline. A trial court does not have the power to alter or amend a final order if more than ten days passes and no Rule 59(e) motion has been served,
Leviner
,
The order of the circuit court granting summary judgment to the banks is AFFIRMED on the merits.
BEATTY, C.J., KITTREDGE, HEARN and JAMES, JJ., concur.
Although we affirm the circuit court order pursuant to Rule 220(b)(1), the discussion following this footnote is not in the nature of a memorandum opinion pursuant to Rule 220(b)(1), and is intended to be precedential in all future civil litigation in this State.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- OVERLAND, INC., D/B/A Land Rover Greenville, Petitioner, v. Lara Marie NANCE, Charlie Andrew Nance, Roger Fields, Synovus Financial Corporation D/B/A NBSC, Branch Banking and Trust Company, Bank of America Corporation, and SunTrust Banks, Inc., Defendants, of Which Bank of America Corporation and SunTrust Banks, Inc. Are the Respondents.
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published