Jacqueline Morales v. Evan Lowenberg

Texas Court of Appeals, 3rd District (Austin)·Decided May 28, 2026·No. 03-24-00309-CV·Published

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-24-00309-CV

Jacqueline Morales, Appellant v.

Evan Lowenberg, Appellee

FROM THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 1 OF TRAVIS COUNTY NO. C-1-CV-23-005422, THE HONORABLE ERIC SHEPPERD, JUDGE PRESIDING

OPINION

Jacqueline Morales appeals from an order enforcing a settlement agreement and awarding attorney’s fees. Morales contends that an automatically generated email signature does not support formation of an enforceable Rule 11 agreement, that the temporary restraining orders and injunction were not proper, and that the award for attorney’s fees includes work unrelated to enforcing the settlement agreement. We will modify in part the Order Granting Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement to reduce the attorney’s fees awarded and affirm that order as modified.

BACKGROUND

This case concerns custody of a dog named Yuvi. The record is fairly slim because the trial-court proceedings concluded based on enforcement of a settlement agreement.

According to plaintiff/appellee Evan Lowenberg’s pleadings, Morales and Lowenberg began a romantic relationship sometime in 2019 and lived together until March 2023. 1 In February 2022, they visited her family in Brownsville. Her brother found a stray dog that the family intended to take to an animal shelter, but Morales and Lowenberg decided to take the dog with them to Austin. The parties separated in March 2023 and agreed to each keep the dog half the time with adjustments for other obligations. This lasted until October 2023 when, Lowenberg alleged, Morales kept the dog through his period of possession.

Lowenberg sued for conversion and breach of contract. He sought mediation and later applied for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction preventing her from moving the dog out of Travis County or taking the dog outside of Texas. He sought an order that Morales return the dog to him in Travis County. He requested specific performance of an agreement for equal, alternating possession of the dog.

On March 29, 2024, the trial court granted a temporary restraining order after an ex parte hearing. Among other requirements, the court ordered Morales to deliver the dog to Lowenberg in Austin no later than April 11, 2024; if the parties did not agree on an exchange date by April 2, Morales’s delivery date accelerated to April 6, 2024. They would resume alternating custody. The court set the temporary injunction to be heard on April 26, 2024.

The parties did not agree on a return date before April 2. Early on April 6, Morales advised Lowenberg’s attorney and the trial court by email that she would not deliver the dog to Lowenberg as required by the TRO because of concerns over missing work, travel

1 Morales and Lowenberg dispute whether they broke up in 2021 (Morales, based on her April 2024 email) or 2023 (Lowenberg, based on assertion in November 2023 petition).

distance, and her safety. She said that Lowenberg could pick up the dog in Brownsville at a location where she would not be and that she would not get rid of the dog or take it out of state.

Lowenberg moved for contempt, seeking $350 per day she violated the TRO. At the April 17, 2024 Motion for Contempt hearing, the trial court opted not to hold Morales in contempt for failing to give Lowenberg the dog as long as she did so on Friday, April 19, 2024. The court ordered Morales to deliver the dog to Lowenberg’s attorney in Austin by Friday, April 19, at noon.

Instead, at 2:48 a.m. on April 19, Morales emailed Lowenberg’s attorney the following with the subject line “Settlement Offer”:

Ms. [Ashley] Morgan, 2.5 years after breaking up with Evan I’m still trying to be done with him even if it means giving up my own dog. Here is my offer: I will surrender Yuvi to you. I will relinquish all rights to her. I will meet you in Austin on Sunday, April 21 at 8 PM at 8314 State Hwy 71, Austin, TX 78735. Evan and I will sign mutual releases. Each party will bear their own fees and costs. Evan will never contact me or my family again, directly or through anyone other than you. The offer stands until Friday, April 19, at 5 PM. Pass this on to your client.

Jacqueline Morales, Esq.

(she/her/ella)

[phone number]

[employer]

Morgan responded at 8:50 a.m.: “I’ve conferred with my client, and he accepts your offer. I’ll send you a proposed Release later today.” Morgan sent a release at 11:04 a.m. for Morales’s review. At 5:04 p.m., Morales asked for more time to review the language of the release and an extension to deliver the dog on Saturday “in compliance with the TRO.” Morgan supplied an editable version of the release and wrote:

I suppose I ought to have stated it expressly in the draft Release, but now that Mr. Lowenberg has accepted your settlement offer, the settlement resolves the dispute over contempt.

I’m not available tomorrow night. I am still available for the time you proposed in the offer (8pm on Sunday). I could also meet you earlier in the day on Saturday (before 4:30pm) or on Sunday in the morning or early afternoon.

Morales delivered the dog consistent with her Settlement Agreement email on Sunday, April 21.

On Monday, April 22, 2024, Lowenberg filed the email exchange as a Rule 11 settlement agreement. Less than an hour later, Morales’s attorney filed his notice of appearance. That same morning, Morales’s attorney sent an email announcing that Morales revoked any settlement offers and denied that a Rule 11 agreement was formed. Lowenberg filed a Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement and set a hearing for the same day as the temporary-injunction hearing. Morales, now through counsel, responded that she never stated that their emails would serve as a Rule 11 agreement, that there were no signatures attached to the emails, and that she sent the emails under immense pressure from the lawsuit.

At the April 26 hearing, the court granted the motion to enforce the settlement and cancelled the temporary-injunction hearing.

DISCUSSION

Morales contends that Lowenberg’s acceptance of her settlement offer did not form a binding Rule 11 agreement because the automated signature block did not constitute a signature. She also contends that the court’s TRO and Lowenberg’s requested injunction were

improper. Finally, she contends that the award of attorney’s fees was erroneous because it included fees beyond those needed to enforce the settlement agreement.

I. Morales signed the Settlement Offer email sufficiently to form a Rule 11 agreement.

By issue one, Morales contends that her Settlement Offer email is not properly part of a Rule 11 agreement because she did not sign it and because the circumstances surrounding the agreement’s formation were unconscionable and made the agreement unenforceable.

A. Underlying law Rule 11 was created to avoid disputes over the terms of oral settlement agreements. Padilla v. LaFrance, 907 S.W.2d 454, 461 (Tex. 1995). Accordingly, courts are not to adhere too literally to the rule’s language when enforcing its intent. Kennedy v. Hyde, 682 S.W.2d 525, 530 (Tex. 1984); Thang v. Defy Int’l, LLC, 712 S.W.3d 647, 663–65 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2025, no pet.).

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