Jorrie Furniture Company v. Rohm

442 S.W.2d 476, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2118
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 28, 1969
Docket14751
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 442 S.W.2d 476 (Jorrie Furniture Company v. Rohm) 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
Jorrie Furniture Company v. Rohm, 442 S.W.2d 476, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2118 (Tex. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

KLINGEMAN, Justice.

Plaintiff, Jorrie Furniture Company, appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant, John A. Rohm, that plaintiff take nothing as against defendant.

A detailed history of this somewhat complicated proceeding is necessary. Plaintiff initially filed suit in the County Court of Bexar County, Texas, on June 12, 1967, for breach of an installment note contract dated October 20, 1965, in the principal sum of $591.40, and for foreclosure of a chattel mortgage lien alleged to have been executed by defendant on certain property securing said note. Defendant by his original answer, under oath, denied having signed and executed said note or chattel mortgage. Written interrogatories were thereafter propounded to plaintiff by defendant in which, among other things, plaintiff was asked to produce copies of such note and chattel mortgage. Plaintiff failed to produce those copies, and the interrogatories and answers were filed in such cause. On December 8, 1967, defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, which was not controverted by plaintiff. On December 11, 1967, prior to the trial court’s action on such motion for summary judgment, plaintiff filed a supplemental petition in said cause seeking recovery on a sworn account, and attached to the petition two invoices wherein certain items of furniture were listed and defendant was shown as purchaser. On January 8, 1968, the trial court entered summary judgment for defendant that plaintiff recover nothing of and from defendant on such pleadings seeking recovery on a note and mortgage. Plaintiff then filed its first amended original petition on March 13, 1968, again asking for recovery on the installment contract note and foreclosure on the chattel mortgage allegedly given to secure said note, and in the alternative recovery on a sworn account. Attached to this amended petition are copies of the same invoices that were attached to the supplemental petition filed December 11, 1967. Defendant’s answer to this amended petition consists of a plea of res judicata to that portion seeking recovery on the installment note and foreclosure of the chattel mortgage, a special exception that the allegations pertaining to the sworn account were vague and indefinite and not in compliance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, a plea that plaintiff’s alleged cause of action accrued more than two years prior to the filing of said petition and is barred by the two-year statute of limitation, and a general denial. Defendant did not file a written denial under oath stating that such claim is not just or true in whole or in part, as provided for under Rule 185, T.R.C.P. Defendant thereafter filed his second motion for summary judgment based upon the pleadings in said cause and exhibits attached thereto. This motion was not controverted by plaintiff, and on May 31, 1968, defendant’s motion for summary judgment was granted, and it was decreed that plaintiff take nothing of and against defendant by its suit.

Defendant asserts that such summary judgment should be upheld because (1) under the record, plaintiff’s pleadings are insufficient, as a matter of law, to form a basis for any judgment against defendant; (2) defendant’s plea of res judicata is an absolute bar to any recovery by plaintiff; (3) any cause of action plaintiff might have had is barred by the two-year statute of limitations.

Defendant’s contentions that under the pleadings he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law cannot be sustained. Plaintiff’s first amended petition sought recovery both on the basis of the breach of the installment note contract and foreclosure of the alleged chattel mortgage lien, and in the alternative recovery on a sworn account. Plaintiff’s supporting affidavit complies substantially with the provisions *478 of Rule 185 pertaining to suits on sworn account. Such pleadings were sufficient to state a cause of action against defendant, and since defendant did not file a written denial under oath in accordance with the terms and provisions of Rule 185, supra, presented a prima facie case. Dyche v. Simmons, 264 S.W.2d 208 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1954, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Akins v. Coffee, 376 S.W.2d 953 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1964, writ dism’d); Walker-Neer Machine Co. v. Acmeline Mfg. Co., 279 S.W.2d 156 (Tex.Civ.App.-Fort Worth 1955, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Kost Furniture Co. v. Radio Equipment Co., 100 S.W.2d 162 (Tex.Civ.App.-Amarillo 1936, writ dism’d). The rule is well settled in Texas that if one elects to file a verified denial he must comply substantially with Rule 185, and a mere general denial of the debt is not sufficient. Akins v. Coffee, supra; Sessions Company v. W. A. Scheaffer Pen Co., 344 S.W.2d 180 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1961, writ ref’d n. r. e.); Dyche v. Simmons, supra; Walker-Neer Machine Co. v. Acmeline Mfg. Co., supra.

The fact that defendant did not file a sworn denial to plaintiff’s suit on a verified account in accordance with the requirements of Rule 185 did not deprive defendant of his defenses in the nature of confession and avoidance, such as res judi-cata and plea of limitations. Goddard Machinery Co. v. Industrial Equip. Repairs, Inc., 351 S.W.2d 371 (Tex.Civ.App.-Waco 1961, no writ); Yelton v. Bird Lime & Cement Co., 161 S.W.2d 353 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1942, writ ref’d w. o. m.). However, defendant’s plea of res judicata will not support the summary judgment entered May 31, 1968. Defendant’s answer setting up his plea of res judicata is addressed only to that portion of plaintiff’s first amended petition seeking recovery on an installment note and foreclosure of a chattel mortgage lien, and the court granted defendant’s first motion for summary judgment only insofar as it pertained to the pleadings seeking recovery on a note and mortgage.

If defendant’s summary judgment is sustainable, it can only he sustained on the basis that plaintiff’s cause of action is barred by the two-year statute of limitations. 1 Defendant asserts that upon the face of plaintiff’s own pleadings recovery was barred by the provision of Art. 5526(5), Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., since the supporting invoices which are attached to plaintiff’s first supplemental petition and plaintiff’s first amended petition listing items of merchandise sold to defendant bear dates of October 20, 1965 and November 10, 1965, and that plaintiff’s supplemental petition was not filed until December 11, 1967, and plaintiff’s first amended petition, not until March 13, 1968, both of which pleadings were filed more than two years after the latest date shown on the supporting invoices.

Art.

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Bluebook (online)
442 S.W.2d 476, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jorrie-furniture-company-v-rohm-texapp-1969.