The ELLIOTT LAW GROUP, P.A., and William C. Elliott,
v.
FIVE STAR CREDIT UNION.
Rehearing
Denied December 13, 2019.
Appeal
from Montgomery Circuit Court (CV-08-900863)
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William C. Eilliott of The Elliott Law Group, Vestavia, for
appellants.
Leonard N. Match and Katherine E. Luders of Chambless Math
& Carr, P.C., Montgomery, for appellee.
MITCHELL,
Justice.
Five
Star Credit Union ("Five Star") has attempted for
over a decade to collect a debt owed by William C. Elliott.
Five Star obtained a judgment against Elliott in 2011, but he
never paid. In 2017, Five Star sought to garnish
Elliott's wages by filing a process of garnishment in the
Montgomery Circuit Court against Elliott's employer, The
Elliott Law Group, P.A. ("ELG"), a law firm that is
under Elliott's complete control. ELG opposed the process
of garnishment. Following a hearing, the trial court found
that the assertions in ELG's opposition were untrue and
ordered that Elliott's income from ELG be garnished.
Elliott and ELG (hereinafter referred to collectively as
"the appellants") now appeal. Because the
appellants' arguments lack merit, we affirm the judgment
of the trial court.
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Facts and Procedural History
This
case began more than a decade ago. In August 2008, Five Star
sued Elliott alleging breaches of various loan agreements. On
February 22, 2011, the trial court entered a judgment for
Five Star in the amount of $777,655.98 plus court costs.
On
September 25, 2017, following other attempts to collect on
the judgment, Five Star filed a process of garnishment
against ELG in the amount of $1,011,112.83.[1] On October
28, 2017, ELG filed a garnishment answer in which it stated:
"[Elliott] is employed, but [Elliott] is indebted to
[ELG] in an amount greater than [Elliott's] wages. [ELG]
has right of sett-off [sic] and consensual lien on
wages." On December 27, 2017, 60 days after ELG filed
its garnishment answer, Five Star filed a verified contest of
ELG's answer ("the contest"), in which counsel
for Five Star stated (1) that he believed ELG's answer to
be untrue and (2) that the parties had agreed to waive the
requirement in § 6-6-458, Ala. Code 1975, that contests
to a garnishee's answer be filed within 30 days after
notice of the filing of the answer.
Following
a hearing on the contest, the trial court concluded that
ELG's garnishment answer was untrue. The trial
court's conclusion was ...