Good v. Baker

339 S.W.3d 260, 2011 WL 1085651
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 12, 2011
Docket06-10-00024-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 339 S.W.3d 260 (Good v. Baker) 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
Good v. Baker, 339 S.W.3d 260, 2011 WL 1085651 (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by

Chief Justice MORRISS.

Whether and how Smith County1 might get a new jail has been an ongoing public [264]*264issue. Recently, in some fallout from that debate, Ken W. Good sought a judgment declaring that Joel P. Baker, the Smith County Judge, and JoAnn Fleming, the Commissioner for Smith County Precinct Number 1, had violated2 the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) by attending meetings to develop a jail plan in secret.3 He sought “mandamus/injunction” seeking to “stop, prevent, or reverse these violations and any potential violations in the future.” 4 Trial to a jury resulted in a quite cryptic judgment, which merely recited the jury verdict and awarded Baker and Fleming attorneys’ fees in the amount of $62,338.70.

On appeal, Good argues that this judgment is not final because it does not address his claims for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. He also argues that the trial court erred in awarding attorneys’ fees in the absence of a pleading to support the award. Good challenges the legal sufficiency of the trial court’s findings of fact and complains specifically about the trial court’s admission of the attorneys’ bills and affidavits in support of the reasonableness and necessity of the attorneys’ fees. We affirm, because (1) the trial court’s judgment is final, (2) the award of attorneys’ fees is supported by a pleading, (3) the award of attorneys’ fees is supported by sufficient evidence, and (4) admitting the affidavits and bills into evidence was harmless error.

(1) The Trial Court’s Judgment Is Final

In his first issue, Good questions the finality of the trial court’s cryptic judgment. In its entirety, the body of the judgment reads:

The aforementioned case came to trial in this Court during the week of September 21, 2009. After a trial on the merits to a jury, the jury found for Defendants. After the trial, on December 11, 2009, the Court considered Defendant’s Motion of Attorneys’ Fees and Plaintiffs Response thereto. The Court after having considered the pleadings and arguments of counsel, the Court finds that Defendants are entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $62,338.70.
IT IS THEREFORE ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Plaintiff shall re[265]*265imburse Defendants for reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $62,338.70.

Good complains that the judgment is not final, since it is just an award of attorneys’ fees, not any ruling on his request for declaratory judgment or mandamus/injunction.5

This Court has jurisdiction only over appeals from final decisions of trial courts and from a few, statutorily listed interlocutory orders. Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex.2001); see TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 51.014 (Vernon 2008). It can be a difficult task to answer the question of finality when a judgment lacks clarity. Given that “all too often judgments which were obviously intended to be final were being held interlocutory because of careless draftsmanship,” the Texas Supreme Court employs a “long recognized” “presumption of finality for judgments that follow a trial on the merits.” Vaughn v. Drennon, 324 S.W.3d 560, 562 (Tex.2010); Moritz v. Preiss, 121 S.W.3d 715, 718 (Tex. 2003); N.E. Indep. Sch. Dish v. Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d 893, 898 (Tex.1966) (origin of “Aldridge presumption”). The Aldridge presumption states:

When a judgment, not intrinsically interlocutory in character, is rendered and entered in a case regularly set for a conventional trial on the merits, no order for a separate trial of issues having been entered pursuant to [our procedural rules,] it will be presumed for appeal purposes that the Court intended to, and did, dispose of all parties legally before it and of all issues made by the pleadings between such parties.

400 S.W.2d at 897-98. Under the Al-dridge presumption, “a trial court’s judgment need not expressly dispose of all issues and claims in order to be final.” Vaughn, 324 S.W.3d at 562. “If there is any doubt as to the judgment’s finality, then ‘[fjinality must be resolved by a determination of the intention of the court [as] gathered from the language of the decree and the record as a whole, aided on occasion by the conduct of the parties.’ ” Id. at 563 (quoting Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 203).

We conclude that the trial court judgment is final. The judgment is titled “Final Judgment.” It was entered after a jury trial on the merits and a subsequent bench trial on attorneys’ fees. Because the jury found Baker and Fleming did not violate TOMA, there was no practical need for the court to address declaratory judgment and mandamus/injunction claims, which would have required a predicate finding against Baker and Fleming. The record reveals nothing to otherwise “indicate the trial court did not intend to finally dispose of the entire case.” In re Guardianship of Moon, 216 S.W.3d 506, 509 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2007, no pet.) (citing Moritz, 121 S.W.3d at 719). Moreover, there was no motion by defendants seeking entry of any further judgment, or any further request or suggestion made by Good to the trial court seeking action on his claims for declaratory judgment and/or the mandamus/injunction. While, admittedly, there is no explicit legal declaration within this judgment of the legal effect of the jury verdict, the trial court later denied a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto filed by Good, strongly suggesting the trial court’s intent that reciting the jury’s verdict in the “Final Judgment” indicated the trial court’s decision on the merits. All those factors are consistent with the application of the Aldridge pre[266]*266sumption. See Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d at 897-98. The trial court’s judgment was final and appealable. See Moon, 216 5.W.3d at 508-09.

(2) The Award of Attorneys’ Fees Is Supported by a Pleading

A jury trial was held in September 2009 on the underlying issues of the Open Meetings Act. Before jury deliberation, the parties entered into the following stipulation entered into the record:6

And that counsel for the Plaintiff and Defendant have agreed and stipulated that we’re not going to submit the issue of attorneys fees to the jury, and instead we would reserve that and after the trial we’ll either have stipulations with respect to that issue or submit it to the Court for the Court’s consideration if to assess and how much to assess.

On December 4, 2009, approximately three months after receiving a favorable jury verdict, Baker and Fleming filed a motion for attorneys’ fees under TOMA and the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act (UDJA). At the conclusion of the bench trial on attorneys’ fees held December 11, 2009, the trial court awarded Baker and Fleming $62,338.70.

Good argues that no affirmative pleading requesting attorneys’ fees was filed, in that Baker and Fleming’s answer requested merely that they be “award[ed] all other relief to which [they are] entitled.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

RCIS Enterprises, LLC v. Houser Fabrication, LLC
Tex. App. Ct., 6th Dist. (Texarkana), 2026
in Re: Jeremiah Parks
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
in the Interest of A.M.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
in the Interest of D.C. and E.C.-B., Children
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Khosrow Sadeghian v. Billy and Karen Wright
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
in the Interest of D.W.G.K. and S.F.R.K., Minor Children
558 S.W.3d 671 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Orbison v. Ma-Tex Rope Co.
553 S.W.3d 17 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
in Re: Tyson Foods, Inc. and James C. Fuller
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
in Re Commitment of Billy Dean Price
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
in the Interest of K.R.G., Jr., a Child
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
In the Estate of Aguilar
492 S.W.3d 807 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
339 S.W.3d 260, 2011 WL 1085651, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/good-v-baker-texapp-2011.