In the Interest of C.P.Y.

364 S.W.3d 411, 2012 WL 1038397, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2524
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 29, 2012
DocketNo. 05-10-00152-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 364 S.W.3d 411 (In the Interest of C.P.Y.) 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 the Interest of C.P.Y., 364 S.W.3d 411, 2012 WL 1038397, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2524 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion By Justice MURPHY.

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether appellant Lisa Davis Wells had returned to work on a “full time basis,” which would have terminated Lawrence Ray Youst’s contractual alimony obligations under the parties’ final divorce decree. Wells challenges the summary judg[412]*412ment rendered in favor of Youst on that issue. We conclude the language is ambiguous and therefore reverse and remand the case.

Background

Wells and Youst were divorced on February 24, 2005 pursuant to an agreed final divorce decree. Pursuant to a paragraph of that decree labeled “Alimony,” Youst agreed to pay alimony to Wells as follows:

The parties agree as a matter of contract, and it is therefore, Ordered and Decreed that [Youst] is obligated to pay, and shall pay to [Wells], alimony of [$2,000.00] per month ... until the first month following the date of the earliest occurrence of one of the events specified below:
1. June 1, 2010;
2. Petitioner remarries;
3. Petitioner returns to work on a full time basis;
4. The death of [Wells]; or
5. Further order modifying the Alimony.

Wells and the parties’ young son, C.P.Y., were living in Oklahoma at the time of the divorce. She and CPY moved back to Dallas in early 2006, and Wells took a job as a contract attorney. In June of 2008, Youst filed a petition to modify the parent-child relationship, seeking, among other things, an order enjoining Wells from moving to the Houston area with C.P.Y. and declaring his contractual alimony obligation terminated because Wells had “returned to work on a full-time basis.” Wells responded with a counterclaim for $30,000 in past-due alimony based on Youst’s failure to pay alimony after April 2007.

The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment, and the trial court granted Youst’s motion. In its December 8, 2008 summary-judgment order, the trial court denied relief to Wells, declared that Youst’s contractual alimony obligations ceased as of May 15, 2006, and reserved “the right to determine the amount of reimbursement [Wells] owes [Youst] for alimony after such date.”

Thereafter, Youst filed a supplemental petition seeking recovery of alimony payments made to Wells based on claims of money had and received, fraud, breach of contract, and promissory estoppel. After a bench trial on damages, the trial court rendered a final judgment awarding Youst $22,000 for alimony reimbursement and $13,500 in attorney’s fees. Wells appealed, claiming in five issues the trial court erred by (1) granting summary judgment when issues exist as to the ambiguous phrase “full time basis,” (2) granting summary-judgment relief not requested by either party, (3) awarding breach of contract damages against Wells when she had no obligations under the alimony provisions, and (4-5) accepting evidence supporting Youst’s interpretation of the alimony provision at trial.1 Because resolution of is[413]*413sue one is dispositive of this appeal, we address that issue.

Standard of Review

We apply a de novo standard of review to the summary judgment and the trial court’s interpretation of the alimony provisions in the divorce decree. Tawes v. Barnes, 340 S.W.3d 419, 425 (Tex.2011) (contract interpretation); Texas Mun. Power Agency v. Pub. Util. Comm’n, 253 S.W.3d 184, 192 (Tex.2007) (summary judgment). Summary judgment is appropriate only when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and judgment should be granted in favor of the movant as a matter of law. Tex.R. Crv. P. 166a(c); see also Diversicare Gen. Partner, Inc. v. Rubio, 185 S.W.3d 842, 846 (Tex.2005).

Discussion

Summary judgment in favor of Youst as to the contract language “full time basis” was proper if that provision was unambiguous and there were no disputed facts as to application of the provision in accordance with Youst’s interpretation. Whether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law. Milner v. Milner, 361 S.W.3d 615, 619 (Tex.2012); Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 394 (Tex.1983). Youst asserts Wells’s failure to raise ambiguity as an issue in the trial court waives her complaint on appeal. The parties’ failure to raise ambiguity at the trial court, however, is not determinative. Milner, 361 S.W.3d at 419. We observe also that the parties in their summary-judgment arguments disputed whether Wells had returned to work on a full-time basis based on their respective interpretations of how the evidence of hours billed by Wells fit within that language.

Contract construction requires a court to determine the true intentions of the parties as expressed in the writing itself. Italian Cowboy Partners, Ltd. v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 341 S.W.3d 323, 333 (Tex.2011). The court must consider the entire writing in an effort to harmonize and give effect to the provisions of the contract so that none will be rendered meaningless. Id.

We begin our analysis with the contract language. Id.; see also Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 393. If the language can be given a certain and definite meaning, the contract is not ambiguous and its construction is a matter for the court. Milner, 361 S.W.3d at 419; Italian Cowboy Partners, 341 S.W.3d at 333. If the contract is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation, the contract is ambiguous and a fact issue exists as to the parties’ intent. Milner, 361 S.W.3d at 419; Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 394. Summary judgment is thus improper as to an ambiguous contract. Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 394.

The language “full time basis” is not defined in the decree. The trial court also did not define the language in its order granting Youst’s summary judgment. Although the parties disagree on the meaning of the language, conflicting interpretations alone do not establish ambiguity. Milner, 361 S.W.3d at 419. We are to give contract terms their plain, ordinary, and generally accepted meanings unless the contract itself shows the terms to be used in a technical or different sense. Valence Operating Co. v. Dorsett, 164 S.W.3d 656, 662 (Tex.2005); RSR Corp. v. Siegmund, 309 S.W.3d 686, 701 (Tex.App.Dallas 2010, no pet.).

Wells argues that “full time basis” means working forty or more hours per week consistently and the summary-judgment evidence that she had exceeded an average of forty hours a week on three occasions since the beginning of 2007 did not end Youst’s contractual alimony obli[414]*414gations.

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Bluebook (online)
364 S.W.3d 411, 2012 WL 1038397, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-cpy-texapp-2012.