Hodges v. Braun

654 S.W.2d 542, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4553
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 6, 1983
Docket05-82-00730-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 654 S.W.2d 542 (Hodges v. Braun) 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
Hodges v. Braun, 654 S.W.2d 542, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4553 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

WHITHAM, Justice.

Appellant, Leon Hodges, appeals from a take nothing judgment in favor of appel-lees, Opta Lea Braun and Braun Medical Association, P.A. Dr. Hodges and Dr. Braun are medical doctors who practiced medicine together for several years. Hodges seeks to recover from Braun a share of the income of Braun from medical practice which Braun earned during the time they practiced together and which Hodges claims he is entitled to under an oral agreement between the two doctors. Hodges also seeks to recover from Braun an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of Braun’s gross income for a period of two years following the date the two doctors severed their medical practices as damages resulting from an alleged anticipatory breach of a written contract between them. We conclude that the trial court correctly rendered judgment in favor of Braun. Accordingly, we affirm.

Braun and Hodges began practicing medicine together on July 1,1975. Hodges contends that their agreement to practice together provided that all the income from the entire medical practice of both was to be pooled and that the combined net income was to be divided as follows: (1) during the first year, sixty-five percent (65%) to Hodges, and thirty-five percent (35%) to Braun; (2) during the second year fifty-five percent (55%) to Hodges, and forty-five percent (45%) to Braun; (3) and, during the third year and succeeding years fifty percent (50%) to each. Expenses were to be divided fifty-fifty (prior to the division of income) in all years. Braun agrees with one exception. Braun contends that under the agreement not all of his income from medical practice was to be included in the pool of medical fees to be divided between them.

It is undisputed that during the years that Hodges and Braun practiced together Braun received income from medical practice which he did not include in the pool of medical fees divided between the two doctors. It is also undisputed that the parties handled the financial transactions under their agreement in the following manner: each doctor maintained a separate bank account into which he deposited the fees he received from his medical practice; at the end of each month the two doctors prepared a ledger, paid the expenses and divided the remainder of the income according to the applicable percentages; either Braun or Hodges would write a check to the other to balance the account.

The jury resolved the point of disagreement between the two doctors in favor of Braun. Hodges does not challenge the existence or the sufficiency of evidence supporting the jury’s finding:

When Dr. Braun began practicing medicine with Dr. Hodges, in July 1975, was it the intent of the parties that all income from medical practice of both the parties was to be included in the monies to be divided between them?
ANSWER: “Yes” or “No”
ANSWER: NO.

Hodges, however, asserts in his first point of error that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. He contends that as a matter of law the evidence showed that at all times relevant Hodges and Braun were partners, and that as a matter of law Braun owed a fiduciary duty to make known that he was deriving outside income from practicing medicine and a duty to account to Hodges of the income derived from practicing medicine, and that as a matter of law Braun breached that duty. Thus, we must determine if as a matter of law the evidence showed that at all times relevant Hodges and Braun were partners. That issue was not submitted to the jury. We conclude that the evidence established that Hodges and Braun were not partners. Although the trial pleadings of both Braun and Hodges alleged that a partnership existed, both Braun and Hodges testified at trial that they were not partners. In that *544 connection Hodges also testified as to why the parties never had a common bank account. In Hodges’ words, “[w]e didn’t have a common bank account because we didn’t want to be considered as partners.”

Thus, Hodges would have us determine as a matter of law that he and Braun were partners although both testified that they were not partners. Hodges argues that we are required to do so under the holding in Howard Gault & Son, Inc. v. First National Bank of Hereford, 541 S.W.2d 235 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1976, no writ). We disagree. Although in Gault the parties had entered into a written agreement stating that they were not partners, that case can be distinguished from the present case. Gault involved a suit by one partner against a third-party bank which had in good faith relied on the appearance of a partnership in paying the proceeds of a check to the other partner. The need to protect innocent third-parties relying on the appearance of partnership is wholly absent in a suit between alleged partners. We decline to hold in a suit between alleged partners seeking to establish a partnership that the parties are partners when both parties testify that they are not partners. Courts cannot make contracts for parties. Royal Indemnity Co. v. Marshall, 388 S.W.2d 176, 181 (Tex.1965); Stalcup v. Eastham, 330 S.W.2d 237, 240 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 1959, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

Moreover, we conclude that Hodges’ testimonial declarations that he and Braun were not partners are a quasi-admission. We conclude further that Hodge’s quasi-admission is a judicial admission since this quasi-admission meets the five requirements set out in Mendoza v. Fidelity and Guaranty Ins., 606 S.W.2d 692, 694 (Tex.1980). In Mendoza, the Supreme Court described the process by which a party’s testimonial declarations which are contrary to his position became a judicial admission on the part of the party testifying:

A party’s testimonial declarations which are contrary to his position are quasi-admissions. They are merely some evidence, and they are not conclusive upon the admitter. The weight to be given such admissions is decided by the trier of fact. These are to be distinguished from the true judicial admission which is a formal waiver of proof usually found in pleadings or the stipulations of the parties. A judicial admission is conclusive upon the party making it, and it relieves the opposing party’s burden of proving the admitted fact, and bars the admitting party from disputing it.
However, as a matter of public policy, a party’s testimonial quasi-admission will preclude recovery if it meets the requirements set out in Griffin v. Superior Insurance Co. [161 Tex. 195], 338 S.W.2d 415, 419 (1960) and United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Carr, 242 S.W.2d 224, 229 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1951, writ refused).

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Bluebook (online)
654 S.W.2d 542, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodges-v-braun-texapp-1983.