Carney's Lumber Co. v. Lincoln Mortgage Investors

610 S.W.2d 838, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 4300
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 23, 1980
DocketNo. 1394
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 610 S.W.2d 838 (Carney's Lumber Co. v. Lincoln Mortgage Investors) 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
Carney's Lumber Co. v. Lincoln Mortgage Investors, 610 S.W.2d 838, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 4300 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

McKAY, Justice.

Appellant Carney’s Lumber Company (Carney) filed suit against appellee Lincoln Mortgage Investors (LMI) seeking the foreclosure of a constitutional mechanic’s lien. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment, and the trial court granted LMI’s motion; Carney has appealed from that judgment.

In August, 1974, Carney supplied materials to Jim Whitton Builder, Inc., (Builder) for the construction of a home. During that same month, LMI took a deed of trust lien from Builder on the lot on which the home was being built to secure an interim construction loan.

Builder declared bankruptcy in June of 1975. A first meeting of creditors of the bankrupt was held thereafter, and the notification of that meeting given to appellant was admitted into evidence in the court below. Creditors were at that time given an opportunity to file objections to the trustee in bankruptcy’s authority to sell free and clear of all liens and encumbrances any assets he obtained. On July 7, 1975, the trustee in bankruptcy filed a petition to sell the assets free of all liens. It is undisputed that on July 14, 1975, the bankruptcy court announced from the bench its order authorizing the sale of all assets of the bankrupt free and clear of all liens and encumbrances.

In September of that year, LMI offered to purchase the property on which appellant had its lien from the trustee for $1,000 and the extinguishment of the first lien deed of trust. Due to a clerical error, the original orders authorizing and confirming this sale did not recite the fact that the property was to be sold free of all liens, though the trustee’s deed did so recite.

In October of 1975 Carney filed this suit against LMI to foreclose Carney’s constitutional mechanic’s lien. LMI contended that the sale by the bankruptcy court was free and clear of all liens. After both parties filed motions for summary judgment, the trial court took the case under advisement. A hearing on these motions was held on October 30, 1978, but the trial court’s judg[840]*840ment granting appellee’s motion was not rendered until February 7, 1980. The crux of this case is whether certain instruments conforming the prior written ordérs of the bankruptcy court to the judgment as announced from the bench concerning the fate of existing liens were properly filed prior to the rendition of the trial court’s judgment. We hold that the correction orders rendered by the bankruptcy court on October 1,1979, which stated that the property in question should have been sold with no liens attached were correctly filed by appellee and considered by the trial court. Therefore, we affirm the judgment for appellees.

Appellant’s two points of error stem from the trial court’s consideration of the revised orders of the bankruptcy court and state that the trial court erred both in granting appellee’s motion for summary judgment and in denying appellant’s motion for summary judgment.

Appellant argues that the filing of the corrected order was a violation of Tex.R. Civ.P. 166-A(c) which states that “(e)xcept on leave of court, the adverse party, not later than seven days prior to the day of hearing may serve opposing affidavits or other written response.” Appellee filed the documents now in question from the bankruptcy court on October 1, 1979.

Appellant claims that no leave of the court was obtained or requested before these instruments were filed, even though nearly eleven months had passed since the hearing on the motions for summary judgment, and hence, Rule 166-A(c) had not been followed. Also, appellant complains that appellee sought and procured the corrected order without giving notice to appellant or to the trial court. In reference to this complaint, appellant states that on September 22, 1979, LMI requested of appellant’s attorney ten days to file an additional brief, to which he consented. Fifteen days later appellee instead filed the affidavits and instruments entitled “Supplemental Brief and Affidavit in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment” reflecting the October 1,1979, corrections of the prior orders of the bankruptcy court.1 The appellant objected and moved to strike this “Supplemental Brief.” The trial court then granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment and entered its final summary judgment which overruled appellant’s motion to strike, severed from the court of appeals the appellant’s suit against the present owners of the property and provided that appellant take nothing as against appellee.

Appellant cites only that portion of Rule 166-A(c) which deals with the service of opposing affidavits prior to the day of hearing on a motion for summary judgment. The amended 1978 rule goes on to state that:

The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits, if any, on file at the time of the hearing, or filed thereafter and before judgment with permission of the court, show that, except as to the amount of damages, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the issues as expressly set out in the motion or in an answer or any other response. (Emphasis added).

While this suit was filed in 1975, prior to the effective date of the above amendment, a hearing on the motions for summary judgment occurred afterward. Procedural rules may apply to actions pending on their effective date, provided no vested right is impaired. Wilson v. Work, 122 Tex. 545, 62 S.W.2d 490 (1933). No vested right is impaired in this case, particularly since the rule only embodies the case law already in existence on the subject.

In decisions rendered prior to the rule change above, Texas courts have held that [841]*841the trial court has discretion to decide whether it will consider affidavits filed subsequent to the hearing on a motion for summary judgment. In Mason v. Mid-Continent Supply Co., 374 S.W.2d 922 (Tex.Civ.App.—Ft. Worth 1964, writ ref’d n. r. e.), defendant requested additional time to file affidavits from distant unavailable witnesses at the time of the hearing on a motion for summary judgment. The hearing was on October 19, and the judge granted an extension until November 1. The judge allowed affidavits filed through that date, but refused to consider defendant’s and his employee’s own affidavits filed after the period had expired. On page 926 of that opinion, the court held that “(t)he trial court, absent an abuse of discretion, may determine when the record will close.” The decision further states that “(c)learly, the Rule contemplates that the trial court will have broad discretion in setting reasonable deadlines in summary judgment proceedings ...” at p. 927. (Emphasis added).

The rule in Mason was followed in Traweek v. Radio Brady, Inc., 441 S.W.2d 240, 243 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1969, writ ref’d n. r. e.) in which the court held that the rule’s requirement regarding the filing of an opposing affidavit within seven days of the hearing should be relaxed in the “interest of justice.” Most of the cases regarding this matter involve situations where the appellate court found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to consider affidavits filed after the hearing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
610 S.W.2d 838, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 4300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carneys-lumber-co-v-lincoln-mortgage-investors-texapp-1980.