Garcia v. Tenorio

69 S.W.3d 309, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 983, 2002 WL 187099
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 7, 2002
Docket2-01-012-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 69 S.W.3d 309 (Garcia v. Tenorio) 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
Garcia v. Tenorio, 69 S.W.3d 309, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 983, 2002 WL 187099 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

LEE ANN DAUPHINOT, Justice.

Appellant Perlita Garcia appeals from the trial court’s judgment non obstante veredicto (n.o.v.) denying her petition for bill of review, which sought to set aside a default judgment entered in favor of Ap-pellee Emiliano Tenorio. In a single issue on appeal, Garcia contends that the trial court erred in granting Tenorio’s motion for judgment n.o.v. and in finding that Garcia’s insurance company, acting as her agent, was negligent as a matter of law. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On September 30, 1998, Tenorio filed suit against Garcia seeking damages for injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Garcia was served with citation and a copy of the original petition on September 29, 1999. After Garcia failed to answer, Tenorio obtained a default judgment in the amount of $55,000 on December 10,1999.

On April 4, 2000, Garcia filed a petition for bill of review to set aside the default judgment. At the hearing on the bill of review, Garcia testified that, after receiving service of process in the underlying suit, she called her insurance carrier, Insurance Depot, and was told that the insurance company was already aware of the lawsuit. Garcia then faxed the suit papers to Insurance Depot. Garcia testified that she called Insurance Depot again in October 1999 to check on the status of her case and spoke to “the person in charge of the case,” whom she could identify only as “a young lady.” The woman told Garcia that the insurance company had filed an answer on her behalf and that she would call Garcia back to update her. Garcia testified that she received no further communications from Insurance Depot concerning her case.

On December 12, 1999, Garcia received a letter from Tenorio’s attorney informing her that a default judgment in the amount of $55,000 had been entered against her in *311 the underlying suit. Garcia again called Insurance Depot and spoke to the person filling in for the woman handling her case, who was out of town at the time. This person told Garcia that the insurance company was aware of the default judgment and that it would be overturned. As requested, Garcia faxed a copy of the judgment to Insurance Depot.

Vaynetta Lozada, a litigation adjustor for Insurance Depot, testified that she was first made aware of the lawsuit against Garcia when she received a fax from Teno-rio’s counsel containing the original petition in the case. Lozada then contacted Tenorio’s attorney and learned that Garcia had not yet been served with the petition. Lozada testified that she did not take any action at that point because she was waiting for Garcia to be served. When Garcia called Lozada and told her that she had been sued, Lozada instructed Garcia to fax the suit papers to her. Lozada testified that she never received the papers. Loza-da stated that she did not follow up with Garcia regarding the whereabouts of the suit papers, explaining that “once I receive notice, I just wait for the paper to come in.” Lozada subsequently received a message that Garcia had called to inform her that a default judgment had been entered. Although the message indicated that Garcia had been told to fax the judgment to Lozada’s attention, Lozada testified that she never received a copy of the judgment.

On January 12, 2000, Lozada discovered a copy of the default judgment in Garcia’s case, which had been mistakenly placed in the file of another claimant involved in the accident with Garcia. Lozada testified that she immediately contacted an attorney to handle the matter. Lozada acknowledged that Tenorio’s counsel, Lonnie McGuire, had mailed a copy of the December 10 default judgment to Insurance Depot, which was received on December 13. In addition, the evidence revealed that Insurance Depot acknowledged receipt of the judgment in a letter to Jim Lane, McGuire’s co-counsel, dated December 15, 1999.

At the close of the evidence, the jury found that the failure of Garcia and Insurance Depot to answer the claims asserted in the underlying lawsuit or to file a motion for new trial was not the result of Garcia’s and Insurance Depot’s fault or negligence. On December 14, 2000, the trial court granted Tenorio’s motion for judgment n.o.v. and denied Garcia’s bill of review. The court found that Insurance Depot was negligent as a matter of law in failing to answer for Garcia the claims asserted in the underlying action and in failing to file a motion for new trial. The court further found that Insurance Depot was, at all times, acting as Garcia’s agent and that the negligence of Insurance Depot was imputed to Garcia.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A trial court may disregard a jury’s verdict and render judgment n.o.v. if there is no evidence to support the jury’s findings necessary to liability or if a directed verdict would have been proper. 1 A directed verdict is proper only under limited circumstances: (1) the evidence conclusively establishes the right of the movant to judgment or negates the right of the opponent; or (2) the evidence is insufficient to raise a fact issue that must be established before the opponent is entitled to judgment. 2 In determining whether *312 there is no evidence to support the jury’s verdict, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s finding, considering only the evidence and inferences that support the finding and rejecting the evidence and inferences contrary to the finding. 3

BILL OF REVIEW

A bill of review is an independent action to set aside a judgment that is no longer appealable or subject to challenge by a motion for new trial. 4 Although it is an equitable proceeding, the fact that an injustice has occurred is not sufficient to justify relief by bill of review. 5 Because it is fundamentally important that some finality be accorded to judgments, a bill of review seeking relief from an otherwise final judgment is scrutinized by the courts “with extreme jealousy, and the grounds on which interference will be allowed are narrow and restricted.” 6

To succeed in a bill of review, the petitioner must show that she (1) has a meritorious defense to the claim alleged to support the judgment, (2) was prevented from making that defense because of the fraud, accident, or wrongful act of the opposing party, and (3) was not at fault or negligent. 7 Generally, bill of review relief is available only if a party has exercised due diligence in pursuing all adequate legal remedies against a former judgment. 8 This is true even if the failure to pursue remedies was the result of the negligence or mistake of a party’s agent. 9

In this case, the trial court submitted the following questions to the jury:

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Bluebook (online)
69 S.W.3d 309, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 983, 2002 WL 187099, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-tenorio-texapp-2002.