LAMOREAUX v. BLACK DIAMOND HOLDINGS LLC
Feb 07, 2013OUTCOME: Client prevailed at the District Court and at the Court of Appeals
Michael W. Park, Attorney for Appellant. David L. Elmont and R. Daren Barney, Attorneys for Appellee. Opinion ¶ 1 David Lee Lamoreaux appeals from the district court's order dismissing this action ... , which Lamoreaux originally initiated against Black Diamond Holdings, LLC (Black Diamond) in 2008. After a bench trial but before any ruling on the merits, Black Diamond purchased Lamoreaux's interest in the action at a judicial sale and successfully moved to be substituted as the party plaintiff. Black Diamond then filed a motion to dismiss the action in its capacity as the plaintiff, which the district court granted. We affirm. We reject Lamoreaux's challenges to the execution and sale of his cause of action against Black Diamond, the substitution of Black Diamond into the Black Diamond action as the party plaintiff, and the district court's ultimate dismissal of the action on Black Diamond's motion. We conclude that the current Utah Rules of Civil Procedure continue to allow execution against choses in action. We also conclude that Lamoreaux was required to assert the alleged divestiture of his interest by replying to the writ in the Fisher action. Because Black Diamond's purchase of Lamoreaux's cause of action was valid, the district court did not abuse its discretion in substituting Black Diamond for Lamoreaux as plaintiff and ultimately dismissing the action. Affirm
