Hickey v. RREF BB SBL Acquisitions LLC

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion to quash a subpoena the appellee served on a non-party bank as part of its post-judgment discovery efforts against a judgment debtor, since the issue of whether the debtor had an interest in the funds in his wife's accounts was relevant to the post-judgment discovery and the subpoena did not impermissibly infringe on the wife's privacy rights.

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RREF BB SBL Acquisitions, LLC SBL Acquisitions obtained a judgment against Robert Hickey, Jr., and other defendants, in May 2013. As part of its post-judgment discovery efforts, SBL Acquisitions served a subpoena on nonparty SunTrust Banks, Inc. for deposition and request to produce documents upon appearance the Subpoena. The schedule of documents requested to be produced included documents related to checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts associated with Robert Hickey’s wife, non-party Caroline Hickey,1 and accounts on which she was listed as signatory or owner.2 The Hickeys filed a motion to quash the Subpoena and for sanctions. The trial court denied the motion. The Hickeys sought unsuccessfully to obtain a certificate of immediate review from the trial court, after which they filed this direct appeal. The Hickeys contend that the trial court erred in denying their motion to quash because the Subpoena sought documents which were not relevant to the collection of the judgment, exceeded the scope of permissible post-judgment discovery, and infringed upon Caroline Hickey’s privacy rights. For the reasons set forth below, we disagree and affirm.

1. As a threshold issue, we address SBL Acquisitions’s motion to dismiss this appeal. SBL Acquisitions contends that an order involving a discovery dispute may not be directly appealed under OCGA § 5-6-34 a, but may only be appealed under the procedures for interlocutory appeals under OCGA § 5-6-34 b. It follows, SBL Acquisitions argues, because the Hickeys failed to follow the interlocutory appeal procedures, this Court must dismiss the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction.

Hickey v. RREF BB SBL Acquisitions LLC

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