Village Mortgage Company

The plaintiff mortgage company sought declaratory relief related to the defendant's failure to comply with its corporate bylaws, which required the defendant to satisfy state and federal licensing requirements related to the plaintiff's mortgage loan business. The defendant was a founding shareholder and former employee, officer, and director of the plaintiff. The trial court, relying on a stipulation entered into by the parties, ordered the defendant to satisfy the licensing requirements by a certain date, or, in accordance with the plaintiff's bylaws, his stock in the plaintiff would be surrendered. After finding that the defendant had failed to comply with its order, the court rendered judgment ordering the defendant's shares to be surrendered to the plaintiff, from which the defendant appealed to this court. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that the court erred in its interpretation of the parties' stipula- tion. The plaintiff subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground that this court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal because the defendant's claims were moot. The plaintiff argued that during the pendency of the present appeal, it had taken the defen- dant's stock in satisfaction of a judgment rendered in certain prior litigation between the parties, and, therefore, the defendant was unable to demonstrate that he was entitled to any practical relief. Held that this court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, and, therefore, the appeal was dismissed: there did not appear to be any dispute between the parties that this court was unable to afford the defendant any direct, practical relief from the reversal of the judgment from which he appealed as the subject of the judgment in the present action was the defendant's stock in the plaintiff, which, during the pendency of the appeal, the plaintiff has taken in satisfaction of the judgment rendered in a prior action; despite the defendant's claim that this court may affor