Cherry v. McCall

138 S.W.3d 35, 2004 WL 782613
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 10, 2004
Docket04-02-00827-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 138 S.W.3d 35 (Cherry v. McCall) 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
Cherry v. McCall, 138 S.W.3d 35, 2004 WL 782613 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

KAREN ANGELINI, Justice.

Appellants Robert and Maria Cherry bought a declaratory judgment action against Brian and Rebekah McCall. The McCalls moved for summary judgment, and the trial court granted the motion. The Cherrys appeal the judgment in four issues. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

BACKGROUND

The Cherrys bought a home from the McCalls. After the Cherrys bought the home, they discovered a walled-in room in the basement. The room was filled with trash, including rusty plumbing fixtures, bathtubs, sinks, commodes, boards, pipes, rocks, and used budding materials. The trash was damp and contaminated with mold.

The Cherrys brought a declaratory judgment action, seeking declaration that (1) the McCalls breached the contract; and (2) the walled-in room constitutes a mutual mistake justifying rescission. The McCalls answered by general denial. The McCalls also asserted the “as is” provision of the contract as an affirmative defense and counterclaimed for attorney fees.

The McCalls then moved for summary judgment. In their response to the motion for summary judgment, the Cherrys moved for additional discovery time. The Cherrys also included an errata sheet of corrections to Mrs. Cherry’s deposition testimony in their response to the motion for summary judgment. The trial court refused to admit the corrected testimony. The trial court then granted a take-nothing partial summary judgment in favor of the McCalls.

After the judgment was entered, the Cherrys amended their petition, adding negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and Deceptive Trade Practices Act causes of action. The amended petition also included affirmative defenses, presumably to the McCalls’ claim for attorney fees.

The trial court severed the partial summary judgment from the McCalls’ counterclaim for attorney fees and struck the Cherrys’ causes of action in the amended pleading. The trial court then granted a second partial summary judgment in favor of the McCalls, establishing their' right to *38 attorney fees. In a third partial summary judgment, the trial court awarded the McCalls $30,000 in attorney fees, making the judgment final.

The Cherrys moved for a new trial. The trial court denied the motion.

The Cherrys bring four issues on appeal, arguing that: (1) the trial court erred in granting a take-nothing partial summary judgment in favor of the McCalls; (2) the trial court abused its discretion in denying the Cherrys’ request for more discovery time; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in failing to admit the corrected testimony of Mrs. Cherry; and (4) the trial court abused its discretion in striking the Cherrys’ causes of action raised in an amended pleading after the partial take-nothing summary judgment was entered.

SUMMARY Judgment

In their first issue, the Cherrys argue that the trial court erred in granting a take-nothing partial summary judgment in favor of the McCalls.

A party moving for summary judgment must show that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(c); Randall’s Food Mkts., Inc. v. Johnson, 891 S.W.2d 640, 644 (Tex.1995). In reviewing the grant of a summary judgment, we must indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in favor of the nonmovant. Johnson, 891 S.W.2d at 644. In addition, we must assume all evidence favorable to the nonmovant is true. Id.

A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if the evidence disproves as a matter of law at least one element of the plaintiffs cause of action. Lear Siegler, Inc. v. Perez, 819 S.W.2d 470, 471 (Tex.1991). Once the movant has established a right to summary judgment, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to present evidence that would raise a genuine issue of material fact. City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d 671, 678 (Tex.1979).

The McCalls first argue that the Cher-rys cannot prevail on this issue because they failed to attack on appeal all possible grounds supporting the summary judgment. We disagree. The McCalls argue in their motion for summary judgment that there was no mutual mistake, and the Cherrys are not entitled to rescission, for three reasons: (1) the Cherrys contracted to accept the property “as is,” assuming the risk of any mutual mistake; (2) the Cherrys took the property “as is”; and (3) estoppel bars the Cherrys’ claims. The McCalls also argue there is no evidence of breach of contract.

The Cherrys address all of these issues on appeal. They argue that (1) they are entitled to rescission because: (a) the “as is” clauses in the contract are not enforceable; and (b) the contract itself is unenforceable because it was made under a mutual mistake. They also argue that the trial court erred in failing to admit Mrs. Cherry’s corrected testimony and that had the trial court admitted it, it would have raised a fact issue on the Cherrys’ breach-of-contract claim. We hold that these arguments sufficiently address the grounds for summary judgment raised by the McCalls’ motion. Accordingly, we move on to address the substantive issue of whether the trial court erred in granting a take-nothing partial summary judgment in favor of the McCalls.

The Cherrys allege that the McCalls breached the contract by “delivering [b]uy-ers a mold contaminated home, with a number of hidden rooms, containing defective plumbing and electricity.” Therefore, to be entitled to a declaratory judgment that the McCalls breached the contract, *39 the Cherrys had to prove that the contract required the McCalls to deliver buyers a home without these defects. Here, however, the Cherrys contracted to accept the property “in its present condition,” or “as is.” See Fletcher v. Edwards, 26 S.W.3d 66, 75 (Tex.App.-Waco 2000, pet. denied) (construing an agreement to accept the property “in its present condition” to be an agreement to purchase the property “as is”). Thus, the Cherrys have taken “the entire risk as to the quality of the [property] and the resulting loss.” Mid Continent Aircraft Corp. v. Curry County Spraying Serv., Inc., 572 S.W.2d 308, 313 (Tex.1978).

The Cherrys argue, however, that the “as is” clause is unenforceable under the “totality of the circumstances” test set out by Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Jefferson Associates, 896 S.W.2d 156, 161 (Tex.1995). In that case, the court held:

By our holding today we do not suggest that an “as is” agreement can have this determinative effect in every circumstance.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 S.W.3d 35, 2004 WL 782613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cherry-v-mccall-texapp-2004.