Myers v. Blevins; Ex parte Blevins, [Ms. SC-2023-0545; SC-2023-0638, Aug. 23, 2024] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2024). The Court (Shaw, J.; Parker, C.J., and Wise, Bryan, Sellers, Mendheim, Stewart, Mitchell, and Cook, JJ., concur) dismisses Kenneth Myers’s appeal from a default judgment entered by the Elmore Circuit against him and in favor of attorney Jerry Blevins in a defamation action. Ms. *2. The Court holds “Myers’s apparent attempt to directly appeal from the default judgment is untimely and any attempt to appeal the denial of his Rule 60(b) motion is premature” because the trial court had not ruled on the Rule 60 motion. Ms. *14.
The Court dismisses as moot Blevins’s mandamus petition seeking to vacate the stay of collection efforts pending resolution of Myers’s appeal. The Court explains “resolution of the direct appeal will necessarily allow proceedings before the trial court – including Blevins’s execution efforts in the absence of an unfavorable ruling on Myers’s Rule 60(b) motion – to resume. As a result of our decision, the trial court’s stay, by its terms, will expire, thus granting Blevins the relief he seeks in the petition.” Ms. *15.