Brown v. the State Bar of Texas

960 S.W.2d 671, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 1770, 1997 WL 155109
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 3, 1997
Docket08-96-00041-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 960 S.W.2d 671 (Brown v. the State Bar of Texas) 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
Brown v. the State Bar of Texas, 960 S.W.2d 671, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 1770, 1997 WL 155109 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

BARAJAS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment ordering a public reprimand against attorney B.J. Brown. Following a bench trial, the trial court found attorney Brown violated various disciplinary rules by her conduct in two divorce cases. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and render judgment in favor of Appellant.

I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE

This is an appeal from a judgment of the trial court ordering a public reprimand of an attorney following a bench trial. The trial court found that in two different divorces, Appellant violated various rules contained in the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct and the Texas Rules of Professional Responsibility. The two divorces were the Glenda Sue Buttrell nee Gibson (Buttrell) and the Jessica M. Caruso (Caruso) divorce.

A. The Caruso Divorce

In the Caruso divorce, Caruso hired Appellant in November 1988 to file a petition for divorce. The petition was filed February 1989. The divorce hearing was held on September 21, 1989 before Judge Carol Gregg. Brown was instructed to draft the divorce decree. Caruso called Appellant’s office in October, November, and December 1989, and January 1990, inquiring into the status of her divorce decree. On February 1, 1990, Caruso filed a grievance against Appellant. The divorce decree was signed on February 15, *673 1990, some five months from the day of the hearing granting the divorce and the signing of the decree. The explanation given for the delay was the length of time it took to obtain a statement of facts from the court reporter. As noted above, the final divorce hearing occurred on September 21, 1989. At the time of the hearing, the Judge’s father had just been taken to the hospital and so the Judge accelerated the hearing. Appellant was unable to write down all the nonstandard and restrictive possessory conservator provisions regarding the child. Appellant contacted the court reporter and asked him for a transcript to determine what all the conservator provisions were so that they could be incorporated in the divorce decree. The record shows that every few days, Appellant would check to see if the transcript was ready. It was not until late November that the court reporter finally contacted Appellant and read her the requested information concerning the conservatorship provisions. The record further shows that by that time, Appellant was involved in a trial and subsequently became extremely ill with the flu. Appellant recalls on or about December 15, 1989, she took the decree of divorce to the judge but was told the judge would not be back officially until after the first of the year. The record shows that the decree of divorce was not signed until February 15, 1990 and was otherwise completely satisfactory to Caruso in protecting her and her child from her ex-husband.

B. The Buttrell Divorce

In the Buttrell divorce, Buttrell hired Appellant in June 1990 to file a petition for divorce. Appellant filed the original petition in August 1990. The hearing was held on September 24, 1990. Buttrell placed a number of calls to Appellant, although the exact number is disputed. The decree of divorce was signed January 24, 1991, four months after the uncontested divorce had been granted. At trial, Appellant’s explanation for the delay was that her runner had taken the decree to the office of the Judge of the County Court at Law, Judge Svanas, because the decree reflected on its face that it was a ease filed in that court. The record shows that Judge Svanas was quite ill in the fall of 1990, and subsequently died in January 1991. When Appellant learned that the clerk’s office did not have a divorce decree, Appellant went to the courthouse to inquire. Appellant went to Judge Svanas’ former office area and found the boxes of papers from his office and started to dig through the boxes and found the Buttrell divorce decree. Appellant promptly took the decree to District Judge Gene Ater who signed the decree, and a copy was ultimately forwarded to Buttrell.

C. Trial Courts Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Following the bench trial, Appellant made a request for Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The trial court’s findings of fact were: (1) Appellant filed suit for divorce for Glenda Sue Buttrell on July 10, 1990; the divorce suit was heard on September 24, 1990; Glenda Sue Buttrell made several inquiries concerning the entry of a decree; Appellant told Glenda Sue Buttrell that she had prepared a divorce decree but that the judge was engaged in an election and she could not get the judge to sign the decree; and the decree was signed on June 24, 1991; and (2) Jessica M. Caruso engaged the services of Appellant in November 1988 to obtain a divorce; the divorce was heard on September 21, 1989 and child support was ordered; Jessica M. Caruso called Appellant’s office during the months of October, November, December 1989, and January 1990 because she had never received a decree of divorce or any child support; Jessica M. Caruso made inquiries to the District Clerk’s office and of Judge Gregg’s office; as of January 9, 1990, Jessica M. Caruso had received neither a divorce decree nor any child support; Jessica M. Caruso filed a complaint with the local grievance committee on February 1, 1990; and finally, on February 15, 1990, a decree was entered including a provision that child support was to begin on October 5,1989.

The conclusions of law found by the trial court, based on the above findings of fact, were that Appellant: (1) violated Rule 1.01(b) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by neglecting a legal matter entrusted to her and failing to completely *674 carry out the obligations owed to her clients, Glenda Sue Buttrell and Jessica M. Caruso (Conclusions of Law Nos. 1 and 4); (2) violated Disciplinary Rule 7-101(A)(2) of the Texas Rules of Professional Responsibility by failing to carry out a contract of employment entered into with Glenda Sue Buttrell and Jessica M. Caruso (Conclusions of Law Nos. 2 and 5); and (3) violated Disciplinary Rule 6-101(A)(3) of the Texas Rules of Professional Responsibility by willfully or intentionally neglecting a legal matter entrusted to her by Glenda Sue Buttrell and Jessica M. Caruso (Conclusions of Law Nos. 3 and 6).

Appellant was issued a public reprimand from which she now appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

In ten points of error, Appellant alleges that there is legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.

A. Standards of Review for Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Appellant requested and ultimately obtained findings of facts and conclusions of law. As a general rule, findings of a trial court in a nonjury case have the same presumption of conclusiveness and weight on appeal as a jury verdict. County of El Paso v. Ortega, 847 S.W.2d 436, 440 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1993, no writ); Chitsey v. Winston Interior Design, Inc., 558 S.W.2d 579 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1977, no writ).

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960 S.W.2d 671, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 1770, 1997 WL 155109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-the-state-bar-of-texas-texapp-1997.