Guilbot v. de Gonzalez

367 S.W.3d 442, 2012 WL 1037963, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2497
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 29, 2012
DocketNos. 14-07-00047-CV, 14-10-01149-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 367 S.W.3d 442 (Guilbot v. de Gonzalez) 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
Guilbot v. de Gonzalez, 367 S.W.3d 442, 2012 WL 1037963, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2497 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

OPINION ON REMAND

KEM THOMPSON FROST, Justice.

These consolidated cases raise issues relating to the denial of a recusal motion in the trial court. On original submission in Cause No. 14-07-00047-CV, this court determined that the trial court’s judgment was void and reversed and remanded. The Supreme Court of Texas disagreed with this court’s analysis in part and held that the only error was the ruling of the presiding judge of the statutory probate courts on a motion to recuse him. The high court reversed in part this court’s judgment in Cause No. 14-07-00047-CV, and remanded with instructions for this court (1) to abate the appeal pending a ruling on the motion to recuse the presiding judge of the statutory probate courts, and (2) to affirm the trial court’s judgment if the motion to recuse is denied. This court abated the appeal in Cause No. 14-07-00047-CV, and the judge appointed to hear the motion to recuse denied that motion. As required by the high court’s mandate, we affirm the trial court’s judgment in Cause No. 14-07-00047-CV. In Cause No. 14-10-01149-CV, appellants attempt to appeal directly from the interlocutory order denying the recusal motion. But, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 80.016(d), this order is reviewable only on appeal from the final judgment. Therefore, we dismiss the appeal in Cause No. 14-10-01149-CV for lack of jurisdiction.

I. Factual and ProceduRal Background

Appellees/plaintiffs Maria del Carmen Guilbot Serros de Gonzalez, individually and as independent administrator of the estate of Miguel Angel Luis Gonzalez y Vallejo, Luis Amadeo Gonzalez Guilbot, Jose Guillermo Gonzalez Guilbot, Carmen Isabel Gonzalez Guilbot de Uriarte, Gerardo Gonzalez Guilbot, Javier Gonzalez Guilbot, Madeira International Ltd., Franceville International Ltd., Arkhangel International Ltd., L & T American Corporation, and TG Interamerica Corporation (collectively hereinafter, the “Plaintiffs”) sued appellants/defendants Miguel Angel Gonzalez Guilbot, Carlos A. Gonzalez Guilbot, Maria Rosa Del Arenal de Gonzalez (collectively hereinafter, the “Defendants”) and other parties in the trial court below. The Defendants removed the case to federal court. The federal district court remanded the case to the trial court and awarded attorney’s fees to the Plaintiffs after concluding that the Defendants had no objectively reasonable basis to believe that removal was proper.

Shortly before the case was remanded, the Defendants filed a motion to recuse Judge Mike Wood, the presiding judge of the trial court below. Judge Wood declined to recuse himself and referred the motion to Judge Guy Herman, the presiding judge of the statutory probate courts. Judge Herman appointed Judge Gladys Burwell to hear the recusal motion. Before Judge Burwell heard the motion, the Defendants’ counsel filed a second motion to recuse, this one against Judge Burwell. The Defendants’ counsel then filed a third [445]*445recusal motion, this one against Judge Herman. Judge Burwell forwarded the recusal motion to Judge Herman, who reset all pending recusal motions for hearing before Judge Herman.

At that hearing, on January 8, 2007, the Defendants did not appear. Judge Herman first dismissed the motion to recuse Judge Burwell because it was filed by the attorney for the Defendants on his own behalf; not by the Defendants themselves. Judge Herman then dismissed the motion to recuse Judge Herman because it also was filed on behalf of the Defendants’ counsel, not on behalf of the Defendants. Finally, Judge Herman heard the motion to recuse Judge Wood. Because the Defendants did not put on any evidence or argument in support of their motion, Judge Herman denied the motion and awarded sanctions in the amount of $12,000 for “frivolous pleading[s].”

After the recusal hearing, Judge Wood began a bench trial. Again, the Defendants did not appear. Judge Wood signed a final judgment for the Plaintiffs on January 12, 2007, awarding a total of approximately $205 million in damages to various of the Plaintiffs, attorney’s fees, and declaratory relief (hereinafter, the “Judgment”). The Defendants appealed the Judgment to this court in Cause No. 14-07-00047-CV (hereinafter, the “First Appeal”). In the First Appeal, the Defendants argued that the Judgment and sanctions order that was merged into the Judgment were void because they were rendered (1) before jurisdiction had re-vested in the state court, and (2) while the recusal motions were pending.

On original submission in the First Appeal, this court rejected the Defendants’ first argument and concluded that jurisdiction had revested in the trial court below before January 8, 2007, the date trial commenced. See Gonzalez Guilbot v. Estate of Gonzalez y Vallejo, 267 S.W.3d 556, 559-61 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2008), rev’d, Guilbot Servos de Gonzalez v. Gonzalez Guilbot, 315 S.W.3d 533 (Tex.2010). As to the second issue, this court determined that the motion to recuse Judge Herman was not a tertiary recusal motion under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 30.016.1 See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 30.016 (West 2012); Gonzalez Guilbot, 267 S.W.3d at 561-63. Therefore, this court concluded that Judge Herman’s sanctions order and orders on the recusal motions were void, and that the Judgment was void because there was a recusal motion pending against Judge Wood when he rendered it. See Gonzalez Guilbot, 267 S.W.3d at 561-63.

After granting review, the Supreme Court of Texas agreed with this court’s analysis regarding the revesting of jurisdiction following remand but disagreed with this court’s analysis of the recusal-motion issue. See Guilbot Serros de Gonzalez v. Gonzalez Guilbot, 315 S.W.3d 533, 536-41 (Tex.2010). The Supreme Court of Texas determined that the motion to re-cuse Judge Herman was a tertiary recusal motion under section 30.016 and that, despite the filing and pendency of the recusal motion, Judge Herman could continue to preside, rule on the motions to recuse Judges Burwell and Wood, and assess sanctions. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 30.016(b); Guilbot Serrvos de Gonzalez, 315 S.W.3d at 539-41. The high court concluded that Judge Herman’s sanctions order and the Judgment were not void. See id. at 541.

[446]*446Nonetheless, the high court ruled that Judge Herman erred in ruling on the motion to recuse Judge Herman, which should have been ruled on by a judge appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & RermCode Ann. § 30.016(b); id. at 541, n. 35. Under section 30.016, “if a tertiary recusal motion is finally sustained, the new judge for the case shall vacate all orders signed by the sitting judge during the pendency of the tertiary recusal motion.” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 30.016(e) (West 2012). The remedy crafted by the Supreme Court of Texas for Judge Herman’s error in ruling on the motion to recuse him was to reverse the Fourteenth Court of Appeals’s judgment in part and remand to this court with instructions to order an abatement so that a judge appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas could rule on the motion to recuse Judge Herman. See Guilbot Servos de Gonzalez, 315 S.W.3d at 541.

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Bluebook (online)
367 S.W.3d 442, 2012 WL 1037963, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guilbot-v-de-gonzalez-texapp-2012.