In Re DRS

138 S.W.3d 467, 2004 WL 1116943
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 8, 2004
Docket14-02-01134-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 138 S.W.3d 467 (In Re DRS) 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
In Re DRS, 138 S.W.3d 467, 2004 WL 1116943 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

138 S.W.3d 467 (2004)

In the Interest of D.R.S.

No. 14-02-01134-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

May 20, 2004.
Rehear and Rehear Overruled July 8, 2004.

*468 Bruce T. Valigura, Conroe, for appellants.

Channa E. Borman, College Station, for appellees.

Panel consists of Justices EDELMAN, FROST, and SEYMORE.

Rehear and Rehear En Banc Overruled July 8, 2004.

MAJORITY OPINION

RICHARD H. EDELMAN, Justice.

In this child custody and possession case, Shelly Simmons appeals on various grounds a judgment appointing her aunt and uncle, Penny and Bobby Lee (the "Lees"), as well as her, joint managing conservators of Simmons's child, D.R.S. (the "child"),[2] and imposing a geographical restriction on Simmons's right to establish the primary residence of the child within the State of Texas. We affirm as modified.

Temporary Orders

Simmons's first point of error argues that the trial court violated her due process rights when it granted: (1) an ex parte temporary restraining order based on inadequate allegations in Penny Lee's affidavit; and (2) a temporary order appointing the Lees the temporary sole managing conservators during the pendency of the suit. Although recognizing that temporary orders generally are not appealable,[3] Simmons asserts that, under the "collateral consequences" doctrine, this issue is not moot because the temporary orders severely prejudiced her during trial. This alleged prejudice arose in that: (1) allusions by counsel during trial to the temporary orders being agreed misled the jury into thinking that Simmons was an uncaring mother; and (2) the temporary orders weakened her claim for sole managing conservatorship at trial by preventing her from having actual care, control, and possession of the child during that period.[4]

The collateral consequences exception to the mootness doctrine has been applied when prejudicial events have occurred "whose [sic] effects continued to stigmatize helpless or hated individuals long after the unconstitutional judgment had ceased to operate." Gen. Land Office v. OXY U.S.A., Inc. 789 S.W.2d 569, 571 (Tex.1990). In this case, Simmons fails to cite any cases in which the doctrine has been applied in a child custody context. In addition, her reliance on the collateral consequences doctrine is premised upon: (1) the possibility that, but for the temporary orders, the evidence otherwise supported her being appointed sole managing conservator; and (2) the effects of the temporary *469 orders being long lasting. Regarding the first premise, as discussed below with regard to her second point of error, the evidence in the case did not remotely support her appointment as sole managing conservator (nor did the jury hesitate to so conclude, deliberating only four and a half hours to reach agreement on all nine questions in the verdict). As to the second premise, the conservatorship decision is subject to modification to the extent of changed circumstances with regard to Simmons's fitness to act as sole managing conservator.[5] Therefore, her first point of error fails to demonstrate effects that would continue to stigmatize a helpless or hated individual long after the temporary orders ceased to operate and thereby overcome the mootness of those orders. Accordingly, it is overruled.

Sufficiency of Evidence

Simmons's second point of error challenges the trial court's denial of her motion to disregard the jury's answers to questions one and three in the jury charge on the ground that the evidence was legally insufficient to show physical abuse, severe neglect, abandonment, alcohol or drug abuse, or very immoral behavior on her part.

A trial court may disregard a jury finding only if it is unsupported in the evidence,[6] the issue is immaterial, or the question has been rendered immaterial by other findings. Spencer v. Eagle Star Ins. Co. of Am., 876 S.W.2d 154, 157 (Tex.1994). In the absence of an assignment of error to the charge, we review the sufficiency of the evidence in light of the charge submitted. Bradford v. Vento, 48 S.W.3d 749, 754 (Tex.2001).

In this case, the jury instructions stated, in part:

Parental Presumption
You are instructed that, unless you find that the appointment of a parent would not be in the best interest of the child because the appointment would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional development, a parent shall be appointed sole managing conservator, or a parent shall be appointed with another as joint managing conservators, of the child.[[7]]
Rebutting the Parental Presumption
You are further instructed that the presumption that a parent should be appointed as a managing conservator of the child is rebutted, if you find that:
(1) the parent has voluntarily relinquished actual care, custody, control, and possession of the child to a non-parent for a period of one year or more, a portion of which was within 90 days preceding the date of intervention in or filing of the suit; and
(2) the appointment of the non-parent as managing conservator is in the best interest of the child.[[8]]

Following these instructions, questions 1 and 3 of the jury charge, respectively, asked: (1) "Would the appointment of [Simmons] as sole managing conservator significantly impair the child's physical *470 health or emotional development?"; and (2) "Do you find that [Simmons] voluntarily relinquished actual care, custody, control, and possession of the child to a non-parent for a period of one year or more, a portion of which was within ninety (90) days preceding August 11, 2000?" Although the jury answered questions 1 and 3 affirmatively, those affirmative answers would only have been necessary, and thus material, to a decision that Simmons not be appointed a managing conservator at all. Neither finding was necessary under the charge or applicable law to support the judgment's appointment of Simmons as merely a joint managing conservator, rather than the sole managing conservator. Therefore, any insufficiency of the evidence to support those findings is not a ground for reversal of the judgment. Accordingly, Simmons's second point of error is overruled.

Apportionment of Parental Rights

Simmons's third point of error argues that the judgment violated: (1) her constitutional right to make child-rearing decisions for her child by apportioning those parental rights between herself and the Lees; and (2) her statutory right to have a jury decide the primary residence of the child by restricting the geographic area in which she could establish that residence to a ten county area, rather than the entire State of Texas, as provided in the jury's response to question 7 in the charge. Correspondingly, the Lees' two cross points challenge the denial of their request to disregard the jury's answer to question 7 on the grounds that: (1) it was rendered immaterial by the jury's other findings; and (2) the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support the jury's answer to that question.

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Bluebook (online)
138 S.W.3d 467, 2004 WL 1116943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-drs-texapp-2004.