It used to be that supersedeas bonds were obscure, mentioned only by a brief and vague rule, governed by common law and common sense. Few lawyers knew much about them and there weren’t many cases. Then various interests weaponized them and the legislature had to step in. Now we have a statute (12-2108), and a lengthy rule (ARCAP 7), and various changes in both from time to time. The result is that few lawyers know much about them but this is the tenth supersedeas-bond case we’ve blogged.

This special action is about supersedeas bonds on appeal of garnishment judgments.

Its a small piece of long, convoluted litigation spanning several appeals in which debtors appear to be using every conceivable legal maneuver to avoid paying an out-of-state judgment. The court recounts its history at length. This seems unnecessary — and, though not long by CA1 standards, the opinion would indeed have been better at half the length — but in the end there turns out to be a reason for it.

Creditor garnished two of Debtor’s bank accounts; one held about $70,000 and the other about $400,000. Over Debtor’s objection Creditor took garnishment judgments. Debtor appealed them. She asked the trial court to waive supersedeas bonds under Rule 7(a)(6), the funds in the accounts being their own security.  Creditor argued that bonds were required and appropriate under Rules 7(a)(4) and 7(a)(9). After argument the trial court, citing only Rule “7”, ordered a $50,000 bond for each garnishment judgment. Debtor took this special action.

The Court of Appeals accepted jurisdiction, for reasons mentioned in context below. The record doesn’t know the reasons for the trial court’s order, Debtor having not included in it a transcript of the relevant hearing. So the order will be affirmed if it could have been correct for any reason.

The court now discusses rules 7(a)(4) and 7(a)(9) at some length before revealing that the discussion is unnecessary because those rules don’t apply any more. The new rule, 7(a)(6), has applied since last January. (This rule’s novelty is the court’s reason for accepting special action. That really could have gone the other way; nothing here cries out for immediate interpretation.)

So, Debtor is right about which rule applies. It allows a court to protect the status quo and to protect the adverse party against loss potentially caused by the stay.  The court agrees with Debtor that having the funds protected in the bank accounts protects the status quo. So, since 7(a)(6) — unlike other parts of the rule — is permissive, it would have allowed the trial court to waive the bonds. But the court didn’t and the question is whether the rule allows that.

Creditor argued that bonds were appropriate to protect it from the costs and fees of the garnishment appeals. For some reason the court seems to decide that whether costs and fees can be awarded on a garnishment appeal is an issue that it must analyze. 12-1580E specifically answers the question but the court takes most of a page to get around to saying so. The statute allows costs and fees against the debtor if the court finds that the debtor objected to the writ in order to delay or harass the creditor.

The trial court’s order made no such finding. In most contexts that step isn’t skippable. But the opinion, having suggested that there was a basis for a finding — now you know why it explained the history of the litigation — seems to feel that that’s good enough in this situation. It doesn’t address the issue specifically.

So, jurisdiction accepted but relief denied.

(Opinion: Kellin v. Lynch/AmericanWest)