Elkins v. West

554 S.W.2d 821, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3249
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 26, 1977
DocketNo. 8470
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 554 S.W.2d 821 (Elkins v. West) 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
Elkins v. West, 554 S.W.2d 821, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3249 (Tex. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

CORNELIUS, Justice.

The principal question in this appeal is whether the defendant, in this Texas suit brought to enforce a Louisiana judgment, was entitled to contest the jurisdiction of the Louisiana court after he had unsuccessfully appeared there specially to contest that jurisdiction in the original suit.

Appellee West recovered judgment for $22,500.00 damages, plus interest and attorney’s fees, against Appellant Elkins in the District Court of Caddo Parish, Louisiana. The suit grew out of an automobile collision in Louisiana which involved a vehicle belonging to appellant and driven by a person alleged to have been appellant’s agent. Process was served upon appellant by service upon the Louisiana Secretary of State pursuant to a Louisiana statute1 which provides that the use of the Louisiana highways by a non-resident motorist constitutes the appointment by said motorist of the Secretary of State as his agent to receive service of process in any suit growing out of such use. Appellant appeared specially in the Louisiana court to contest the jurisdiction. The basis of his contest was that the driver of the vehicle was not his agent but was an independent contractor. After hearing evidence on the plea to the jurisdiction, the trial judge concluded and announced from the bench that appellant had failed to carry his burden of showing that the driver was not his agent. Appellant did not appear further in the Louisiana court or contest the merits of the cause of action, and that court thereupon proceeded to render judgment against him for damages, costs and attorney’s fees. Appellee subsequently brought suit on the judgment in the District Court of Cass County, Texas, and then moved for summary judgment, attaching to his motion duly authenticated copies of the Louisiana court’s opinion and judgment. Appellant resisted the motion for summary judgment by filing an affidavit wherein he asserted that neither he personally nor any person acting as his agent had driven his vehicle in Louisiana on the occasion in question and that consequently the Louisiana court did not have jurisdiction. The trial court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment. On appeal appellant contends that the question of jurisdiction was not fully heard and finally [823]*823disposed of in the Louisiana court, that he was therefore entitled to contest the jurisdiction in the Texas proceeding, and that his affidavit raised a genuine issue of fact as to the Louisiana court’s jurisdiction. Ap-pellee contends that the Louisiana court determined the issue of jurisdiction against appellant and that further litigation of the issue is therefore precluded by the full faith and credit provisions of the United States Constitution.2

For appellee to have been entitled to summary judgment, he had the burden to show, by competent summary judgment proof, that he was entitled to recover as a matter of law. Gibbs v. General Motors Corporation, 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex. 1970). When he produced copies of the Louisiana judgment, authenticated as provided by 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1738, he showed that judgment to be entitled to full faith and credit in the Texas courts and entitled to recognition and enforcement, unless there was a showing of fraud or lack of jurisdiction on the part of the rendering court. Garman v. Reynolds, 284 S.W.2d 262 (Tex.Civ.App. Fort Worth 1955, writ ref’d); Hamilton v. Newbury, 412 S.W.2d 801 (Tex.Civ.App. Dallas 1967, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Roberts v. Hodges, 401 S.W.2d 332 (Tex.Civ.App. Amarillo 1966, writ ref’d n. r. e.); 34 Tex.Jur.2d, Judgments, Sec. 383, p. 404 (1962). The right of a court of one state to question whether a court of another state had jurisdiction when it entered a judgment sought to be accorded full faith and credit has long been recognized. Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed. 1577 (1945); Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457, 21 L.Ed. 897 (1874). But the permissible scope of such an inquiry has been carefully restricted. When the enforcing court’s inquiry reveals that the question of the rendering court’s jurisdiction was raised by the defendant in that court and was there fully litigated and finally determined, the issue of jurisdiction may not be relitigated, and the judgment, even as to jurisdiction, is entitled to full faith and credit. Durfee v. Duke, 375 U.S. 106, 84 S.Ct. 242, 11 L.Ed.2d 186 (1963); Treinies v. Sunshine Mining Co., 308 U.S. 66, 60 S.Ct. 44, 84 L.Ed. 85 (1939); Moody v. First Nat. Bank of Dona Ana County, 530 S.W.2d 879 (Tex.Civ.App. Houston-1st Dist. 1975, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Restatement of Judgments, Sec. 9; 50 C.J.S. Judgments § 893c(2), p. 505. The foregoing rule applies even though the defendant’s appearance in the rendering court is a special one limited to contesting the jurisdiction. Baldwin v. Iowa State Traveling Men’s Asso., 283 U.S. 522, 51 S.Ct. 517, 75 L.Ed. 1244 (1931).

The copies of the Louisiana court’s opinion and judgment reveal that appellant appeared specially in that court and contested jurisdiction on the same ground which he attempted to urge in his affidavit in opposition to summary judgment in the Texas court. The matter was heard and determined adversely to his contention, thus bringing this case squarely within the rules heretofore discussed and foreclosing any re-litigation of the issue in the Texas court. Moody v. First Nat. Bank of Dona Ana County, supra.

Appellant recognizes the general rules heretofore noted but seeks to escape their application on two grounds. First, he contends that the copies of the Louisiana court’s opinion and judgment do not reveal that the issue of jurisdiction was fully litigated. We cannot agree. The Louisiana court’s “opinion” on the question of jurisdiction indicates that the question of lack of agency, the very ground appellant sought to urge in the Texas court, was fully litigated and considered in that court. It is to be presumed that appellant presented to that court all other defenses to the jurisdiction which were available to him; at least, he had the obligation to do so. In no event could he try the issue of jurisdiction piecemeal in two courts. Second, appellant contends there was no final determination by the Louisiana court of the jurisdictional question. He asserts that the opinion of the Louisiana court on the question was only a transcript of the trial judge’s com[824]*824ments from the bench and did not constitute an official order or judgment denying the jurisdictional plea.

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Bluebook (online)
554 S.W.2d 821, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elkins-v-west-texapp-1977.