Jackson v. Randall

544 S.W.2d 439, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3195
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 28, 1976·No. 8352·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinions

[440] RAY, Justice.

This is a summary judgment case. Ap-pellee (plaintiff), James L. Randall, brought suit against appellants (defendants), Robert T. Jackson and J. Harold Wilson, to enforce a final judgment of the Monroe County Supreme Court of the State of New York. All parties filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court rendered summary judgment in favor of Appellee Randall and denied appellants’ motion for summary judgment. Appellants have perfected their appeal and submit five points of error for our consideration.

Appellee Randall obtained a default judgment in the New York court against appellants in 1972 for damages in the sum of $270,459.00, together with all costs. Appel-lee sought the enforcement of the New York judgment and the trial court found appellee entitled to a summary judgment.

Appellants have urged that the New York court default judgment is not entitled to full faith and credit because the New York court lacked jurisdiction over the appellants, “either in personam or through exercise of what is commonly referred to as Tong arm’ jurisdiction pursuant to Section 302(a) C.P.L.R.”

The allegations by Randall in New York were that appellants had conspired to defraud appellee by selling him 20,000 shares of Capital Oil Corporation of Dallas, Texas, and caused the shares to be issued in the State of New York without proper registration. In appellee’s affidavit for summary judgment it was stated with regard to the New York case that:

“The lawsuit as filed was an action to recover damages resulting from contractual breaches of a contract between Plaintiff and Defendants, and the fraudulent and tortious sale to Plaintiff of shares of the common stock of Capital Oil Corporation and which Defendants were its agents and/or officers or employees. The transactions involving the sale of the shares of the common stock of Capital Oil Corporation all occurred in the State of New York.”

By reply affidavits, appellants stated that they had been at all times relevant to the lawsuit residents of the State of Texas; that they had never been within the jurisdictional boundaries of the State of New York in connection with any transaction with James L. Randall; that they had never done any act within the State of New York in connection with the sale to James L. Randall of Capital Oil Corporation stock; that they had never transacted any business in the State of New York relevant to the matters involved in the lawsuit; that they had never entered into any contract for the sale of Capital Oil Corporation stock with James L. Randall within or without the jurisdictional boundaries of the State of New York; and that they had never sold any stock to Randall or committed any fraudulent or tortious acts in connection with any sale of stock to Randall in the State of New York or in any other state.

Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States provides that full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. It is well established, however, that despite the provisions of the full faith and credit clause, Texas courts may examine the facts to determine whether or not a sister state had jurisdiction to enter a decree that is sought to be enforced in Texas. Williams v. State of North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed. 1577 (1945); Burleson v. Burleson, 419 S.W.2d 412 (Tex.Civ.App. Houston—14th Dist. 1967, no writ); Spitzmiller v. Spitzmiller, 429 S.W.2d 557 (Tex.Civ.App. Houston—1st Dist. 1968, writ ref’d n. r. e.).

The question before this court in its review of the summary judgment awarded to appellee is whether or not the appellee has established as a matter of law that the New York court had jurisdiction to enter its decree. Tex.R.Civ.P. 166-A. Resolution of the question depends in large part on the force to be given the foreign judgment. The Texas Supreme Court has recently written that where a judgment appears to be a valid final and subsisting judgment [441] entered by a court of general jurisdiction, its introduction into evidence makes a pri-ma facie case for the parties seeking to enforce it, and the burden of going forward with the evidence is on the party resisting the judgment to establish that the foreign court did not have proper jurisdiction to render the decree. Mitchim v. Mitchim, 518 S.W.2d 362 (Tex.1975); Moody v. First Nat. Bank of Dona Ana County, 530 S.W.2d 879 (Tex.Civ.App. Houston—1st Dist. 1975, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Hungate v. Hungate, 531 S.W.2d 650 (Tex.Civ.App. El Paso 1975, no writ); Hamilton v. Newbury, 412 S.W.2d 801 (Tex.Civ.App. Dallas 1967, writ ref’d n. r. e.).

The Texas cases have not, however, traditionally afforded equal dignity to default judgments. While ordinarily, presumptions are indulged in support of a judgment, no presumptions are indulged in favor of a default judgment. McKanna v. Edgar, 388 S.W.2d 927 (Tex.1965); Flynt v. City of Kingsville, 125 Tex. 510, 82 S.W.2d 934 (Tex.Com.App.1935, opinion adopted); Harris v. Hayles, 433 S.W.2d 250 (Tex.Civ.App. Texarkana 1968, no writ); Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. v. Dobbs, 416 S.W.2d 869 (Tex.Civ.App. Eastland 1967, no writ); Bankers Life and Casualty Company v. Watson, 436 S.W.2d 404 (Tex.Civ.App. Tyler 1968, writ ref’d n. r. e.). Jurisdiction of the foreign court to grant the default judgment must appear affirmatively on the face of the record. This rule was applied by the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals in Country Clubs, Inc. v. Ward, 461 S.W.2d 651 (Tex.Civ.App. Dallas 1970, writ ref’d n. r. e.) in refusing to enforce a foreign judgment. The Court held that the party seeking enforcement of a Kentucky judgment in Texas had not demonstrated strict compliance with the Kentucky long arm statute.

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Jackson v. Randall, 544 S.W.2d 439, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3195 (Tex. Ct. App. 1976).

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Jackson v. Randall
544 S.W.2d 439 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1976)