Barry Jewell v. Scott Fletcher, Appellee/cross-Appellant, Debra Worley, as Special Administrator of the Estate Of…

Summary

The court affirmed denial of Jewell’s motion to vacate a judgment against him because, even assuming Fletcher’s testimony was fraudulent, Jewell failed to show a prima facie meritorious defense to the underlying oral-contract claim. It reversed and remanded as to the Sims Estate, holding that approving Sims’s claim without providing a mechanism to enforce it after prior distributions had depleted the court registry did not satisfy due process; it also held that the circuit court improperly offset the claim by a Client Security Fund payment but properly offset it by attorneys’ fees recovered from Moser. The court affirmed Fletcher’s cross-appeal because the certified default judgment sufficiently supported Sims’s claim and could not be collaterally attacked. Brown, J., joined by Wills, J., concurred as to Jewell but dissented as to Sims, arguing that failure to obtain a stay or supersedeas bond barred relief.