DeMello v. NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel

762 S.W.2d 379, 1988 WL 144504
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 30, 1988
Docket04-87-00545-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 762 S.W.2d 379 (DeMello v. NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel) 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
DeMello v. NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel, 762 S.W.2d 379, 1988 WL 144504 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

*381 OPINION

CANTU, Justice.

This is an appeal from a garnishment proceeding. Appellant, Marilyn (Rohde) DeMello, and the garnishment defendant, Alfred W. Rohde, were granted a divorce in February 1987. In that divorce decree, the trial court awarded appellant’s attorney, Oscar C. Gonzalez, attorney’s fees of $25,-000.00 to be paid by Mr. Rohde. Attorney Gonzalez then filed this garnishment action against Rohde to collect his fees. Gonzalez claimed that the garnishee, First American Title Company of San Antonio, held $20,-231.28 belonging to Rohde and sought to garnish these funds. The garnishee answered and deposited the funds into the registry of the court.

Appellee, NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel, intervened in the garnishment action brought by Gonzalez, alleging a superior claim to the funds. Appellant subsequently intervened, claiming she held the superior right to the funds. Prior to the rendition of judgment, but after testimony had been presented to the trial court, Gonzalez dismissed his garnishment cause of action. The trial court entered judgment in favor of NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel upholding its claim. DeMello brings this appeal. The defendant, Alfred W. Rohde, did not appeal the judgment.

In her first point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in granting judgment in favor of NBC Bank-Perrin Beitel because she allegedly has a legally superior right to the funds. Appellant contends that she had a contractual right to these funds, and further that the funds are her separate property and thus not liable for her spouse’s debts. Finally, she argues, alternatively, that the funds are community property and, therefore, she is entitled to at least one-half of the money. The appeal is before us without benefit of findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Pursuant to TEX.R.CIV.P. 296, appellant must have requested the trial court to make and file its findings of fact and conclusions of law within ten days of the signing of the judgment. The judgment was signed June 26, 1987, normally making the request due July 7, 1987. However, appellant was not notified until July 30, 1987, that judgment had been signed. Thus, her request for findings of fact and conclusions of law were due to be filed by August 10, 1987. Appellant did not file her request until over a month beyond the deadline: September 16, 1987. Since the request was not timely filed, the trial court was under no duty to prepare and file findings and conclusions. None are found in the transcript. Furthermore, appellant failed to file a reminder to file findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by TEX.R.CIV.P. 297. In the absence of findings of fact and conclusions of law, we must presume that the trial court found all questions of fact in support of the judgment. Lassiter v. Bliss, 559 S.W.2d 353, 358 (Tex.1977). Under these circumstances, we must affirm the trial court’s judgment if it can be upheld on any legal theory finding support in the evidence. Point Lookout West, Inc. v. Whorton, 742 S.W.2d 277, 278 (Tex.1987); Lassiter v. Bliss, 559 S.W.2d at 358.

Garnishment is a statutory proceeding through which a debtor’s property, money, or credit, in the possession of or owing by another, are applied to pay the debtor’s debt to a third party. Beggs v. Fite, 130 Tex. 46, 106 S.W.2d 1039, 1042 (1937). The burden is on the person claiming the benefit of the statute to establish his right to recover. Downs v. Cason, 250 S.W. 471, 472 (Tex.Civ.App.— San Antonio 1923, no writ). The judgment against the garnishee should be in the amount of the indebtedness shown at trial to have been absolutely owed in an amount certain at the time the garnishee is served. United States v. Wakefield, 572 S.W.2d 569, 571 (Tex.Civ.App.— Fort Worth 1978, writ dism’d); Burkitt v. Glenney, 371 S.W.2d 412, 414 (Tex.Civ.App.— Houston 1963, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The only real issue in a garnishment action is whether the garnishee was indebted to the defendant in the main suit or had in its possession effects belonging to him at the time of the service of the writ and the filing of the answer. Chandler v. Cashway Building Materials, Inc., *382 584 S.W.2d 950, 953 (Tex.Civ.App.— El Paso 1979, no writ).

Appellant offered PX-1 as evidence of her right to the funds. This exhibit is a letter written and signed by Chris Malavan-sos, Individually and as president of Chris Malavansos Custom Homes, Inc., and A.W. Rohde, III, Individually, and is addressed to Mr. John Paul Rogers at the First American Title Company. The letter reads:

October 8, 1986
Mr. John Paul Rogers
First American Title Company
1919 N.W. Loop 410
San Antonio, Texas 78213
RE: Dominion House Closing
Dear Jack:
You are instructed at closing of our property in the Dominion to pay to Marilyn Rohde [DeMello] the sum of $20,000 of the sales proceeds upon funding. Please feel free to give any information requested to Mrs. Rohde’s [DeMello’s] attorney, Oscar Gonzales. Please acknowledge your acceptance of these instructions by signing below.
Sincerely yours,
CHRIS MALAVANSOS CUSTOM HOMES, INC.
BY: /s/_
Chris Malavansos, President /s/_
Chris Malavansos, Individually /s/_
A.W. Rohde, III, Individually First American Title Company will follow the above escrow instructions and will pay out of the proceeds of sale the sum of $20,000 to Marilyn Rohde [DeMello] at funding.
FIRST AMERICAN TITLE COMPANY
BY: /s/ Carl Pfeiffer

Appellant claims this letter memorializes a contractual arrangement between herself and her then-husband whereby she consented to the sale of their home in Olmos Park and moved into the speculation house at the Dominion and cleaned and remodeled it. Thus, she claims, this contract is supported by adequate consideration. The parties testified at trial that the letter arose out of a proposed property settlement agreement between Rohde and DeMello prior to the final divorce proceeding. Rohde claims that DeMello never complied with their agreement. DeMello contends that she never agreed to it.

First, we point out that the letter to Rogers at First American Title Company does not constitute evidence of a contract. It is but a request by one of the parties to the purported contract to a third party to pay DeMello $20,000 at closing out of proceeds

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
762 S.W.2d 379, 1988 WL 144504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/demello-v-nbc-bank-perrin-beitel-texapp-1988.