James and Son Metal Products, Inc., et al. v. Renasant Bank, [Ms. CL-2025-0656, Oct. 24, 2025] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. Civ. App. 2025). The court (Fridy, J.; Moore, P.J., and Edwards, Hanson, and Bowden, JJ., concur) dismisses James and Son Metal Products, Inc., and McCreless Holdings, LLC’s (“the business entities”), appeal from the Morgan Circuit Court’s (“the trial court”) judgment on the pleadings entered in favor of Renasant Bank (“Renasant”) in an action involving a property dispute.
The court explains that “James E. Norsworthy, Jr., acting pro se, filed against Renasant an ‘emergency motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction’ seeking to halt a foreclosure sale regarding real property located in Morgan County…. He did not, however, file a complaint….” Ms. *2. Renasant then “filed what it styled as an ‘answer’ that responded to Norsworthy’s motion for injunctive relief… Renasant also, within its filing, purported to assert a third-party complaint against the business entities.” Ms. **2-3.
The court holds:
Rule 3(a), Ala. R. Civ. P., like Rule 3, Fed. R. Civ. P., provides that “[a] civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court.” Upon filing a complaint, the plaintiff must provide instructions to the clerk for how service of process is to be completed, along with, if requested, copies of the summons to accompany the complaint. Rule 4(a), Ala. R. Civ. P. A motion – even one requesting injunctive relief – is not a substitute for a complaint and cannot by itself invoke the trial court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. ...
Here, Norsworthy never filed a complaint. Instead, he filed an emergency motion seeking to halt foreclosure. Because Norsworthy never filed a complaint, an action never commenced, and the trial court never obtained subject-matter jurisdiction over the matter.
Ms. **7-8.