Astra Bar, Inc. v. Manges

608 S.W.2d 702, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3960
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 30, 1980
Docket1778
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 608 S.W.2d 702 (Astra Bar, Inc. v. Manges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Astra Bar, Inc. v. Manges, 608 S.W.2d 702, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3960 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION

BISSETT, Justice.

This is an original proceeding brought by Astra Bar, Inc., (Astra Bar) for a writ of prohibition to prohibit the Judge of the 49th District Court of Zapata County, Texas, from interfering with its attempts to enforce a judgment rendered in its favor by the District Court of Gonzales County, Texas, against Clinton Manges (Manges).

On April 20, 1978, Astra Bar filed suit against Manges in the 25th District Court of Gonzales County, Texas, to recover the balance of the past due principal and interest on a promissory note in the original *703 principal sum of $631,175.60, executed by Manges on September 20, 1977, payable to Astra Bar on or before six months from date, together with attorney’s fees thereon. The suit was docketed as “Cause No. 13,675,” and was entitled “Clinton Manges v. Astra Bar, Inc.” A partial summary judgment in that action was rendered by the trial court on August 10, 1978, which decreed that Manges was liable on the note and determined the amount of principal and past due interest owing thereon. On October 6, 1978, following a conventional hearing on the matter of attorney’s fees, the trial court rendered judgment which awarded Astra Bar a recovery of the unpaid balance and past due interest on the note ($693,732.48), foreclosed the security agreement lien on certain named properties, and decreed that Astra Bar recover attorney’s fees in the amount of $69,373.25. Following an appeal by Manges, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed by this Court on February 21, 1980, 1 and later writ was Refused with the notation “No Reversible Error” by the Supreme Court of Texas. Mandate was issued on June 9, 1980. That suit will henceforth be referred to as the “prior suit.”

On July 16, 1980, Manges filed suit in the 49th District Court of Zapata County, Texas, against Astra Bar and Southwestern Mud. That suit is docketed as “Cause No. 1,365,” and is styled “Clinton Manges v. Astra Bar, Inc.” It will henceforth be referred to as the “second suit.”

Manges alleged in the second suit: 1) that during the year 1976, he purchased drilling mud from Astra Bar in Zapata County; 2) that he paid for the same by paying cash, by receiving credit, and by executing the aforesaid note to Astra Bar, made the basis of the prior suit; and 3) that thereafter Astra Bar sued him on the note in Gonzales County, Texas, and recovered judgment against him “at a time when it was too late for your Plaintiff (Manges) to litigate the matter” of fraud perpetrated against him by Astra Bar and Southwestern Mud, Inc., individually or in concert with each other. In addition to a recovery of damages, actual and punitive, Manges also asked for a temporary restraining order (and a temporary injunction) against any attempt by Astra Bar to collect upon the judgment rendered against him in the prior suit. The requested temporary restraining order was issued by the Clerk of the District Court of Zapata County on July 17, 1980, pursuant to the order of the District Court of Zapata County, also made on July 17, 1978. It has been continued in force, pending our decision in this proceeding.

In the matter now before us, Astra Bar contends that the suit filed by Manges in Zapata County (the second suit) merely seeks to relitigate controversies which were settled between Manges and it in the prior suit, and that the temporary restraining order issued pursuant to order of the District Court of Zapata County constitutes an unlawful interference with the enforcement of the judgment of this Court in the prior suit. Manges’ response is twofold. He first argues that this Court committed fundamental error when we purported to take appellate jurisdiction in the prior suit because the judgment appealed from was, and still is, interlocutory, since there remains a cross-action filed by Manges in the prior suit which has never been disposed of by the District Court of Gonzales County. Second, he argues that the issues raised in the second suit filed by him in the District Court of Zapata County do not constitute a relitigation of the controversies which were settled in the prior suit, since he had since learned of the “fraudulent conduct of the defendants” in connection with the execution of the note on September 20, 1977, “when it was too late to assert said claim” in the prior suit.

The opinion by this Court in Manges v. Astra Bar, Inc., supra, discusses in detail the several motions, hearings thereon, and rulings by the trial court in the prior suit. We deem it necessary to discuss only the relevant aspects of the prior suit.

*704 On June 16, 1978, in the prior suit Astra Bar filed a motion for summary judgment. It was opposed by Manges. A hearing was set on Astra Bar’s motion for July 21,1978. On July 13, 1978, eight days prior to the scheduled summary judgment hearing, Southwestern Mud, Inc., filed a petition in intervention. It alleged that Astra Bar, as consignor, and it (Southwestern Mud), as consignee, had theretofore executed a consignment contract concerning the same drilling mud which Manges had purchased from Astra Bar, and that the terms of the contract required Astra Bar to remit certain commissions to Intervenor for sale of the drilling mud. It prayed for judgment over against Astra Bar for its share of the unpaid commissions.

On July 20, 1978, one day before the scheduled summary judgment hearing, Manges filed his “first motion for a continuance,” whereby he requested that the hearing be reset because, among other reasons, he had “not had sufficient time” to determine the effect of Southwestern Mud’s petition in intervention on his defenses to the action brought against him by Astra Bar. At the hearing (held on July 21, 1978 as scheduled), two questions were argued. The first was whether Astra Bar was entitled to a summary judgment in light of the affidavits filed by Manges in support of his opposition to Astra Bar’s motion for summary judgment. The second concerned the disposition of Manges’ motion for continuance, which he had filed the day before the hearing. Manges argued that a continuance should be granted to allow him the opportunity to take the depositions of “several parties” in order to “determine what has occurred,” and whether he had any defenses to the action on the note that could be asserted which had not already been asserted against Astra Bar. Astra Bar argued that the petition in intervention showed on its face that Southwestern Mud’s claim for unpaid commissions was a claim asserted against Astra Bar alone, and as such, was immaterial as to Astra Bar’s suit against Manges on the note. The trial judge took both motions under advisement.

On August 4, 1978, Manges filed a “Motion for Leave of Court to File Supplemental Response and Amended Answer.” The contents of the motion disclose that Manges asked leave of the court to enlarge his previously filed motions in opposition to Astra Bar’s motion for summary judgment and to file appropriate pleadings relating to the “relationship between Southwestern Mud, Inc., and Astra Bar, Inc.” On the same day, August 4, 1978, the trial judge signed an order v/hich granted Manges

“Leave of Court to File Supplemental Response and amended pleadings;”

and no more.

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Bluebook (online)
608 S.W.2d 702, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3960, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/astra-bar-inc-v-manges-texapp-1980.