Laura Wiemer v. Vincent Hans Wiemer, Trina Rachelle Wiemer, Alexicon, Inc., Robbie D. Strait, and Douglas Kitch

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 13, 2018·No. 05-17-00370-CV·Published

Opinion

AFFIRM in Part, REVERSE in Part, and REMAND; Opinion Filed August 13, 2018.

In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-17-00370-CV

LAURA WIEMER, Appellant

V.

VINCENT HANS WIEMER, TRINA RACHELLE WIEMER, ALEXICON, INC., ROBBIE D. STRAIT, AND DOUGLAS KITCH, Appellees

On Appeal from the 219th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 219-04442-2015

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Myers, Boatright, and O’Neill1 Opinion by Justice Boatright Appellant Laura Wiemer (Laura) appeals three trial court orders granting take-nothing

summary judgments in favor of appellees (1) Vincent Hans Wiemer (Vincent), (2) Trina Rachelle Wiemer (Trina), and (3) Alexicon, Inc., Robbie D. Strait, and Douglas Kitch (the Alexicon Defendants). For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the trial court’s orders granting summary judgment to Vincent. We reverse in part and affirm in part the order granting summary judgment to Trina. And we affirm the trial court’s order granting summary judgment to the Alexicon Defendants.

1 The Hon. Michael J. O’Neill, Justice, Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas at Dallas, Retired, sitting by assignment.

BACKGROUND

Laura and Vincent were divorced in Oklahoma after a ten-year marriage; they entered into a Property Settlement Agreement incident to their divorce in 2009. The agreement provided, among other things, that Laura was entitled to payments of approximately $600,000 and that Vincent was awarded their Alexicon stock. Vincent owned Alexicon together with Strait and Kitch.

In October 2011, Vincent stopped paying child support and alimony. The same month, Vincent, Strait, and Kitch: (1) amended Vincent’s employment agreement with Alexicon to include a reduction in salary, (2) executed a consent to the transfer of Vincent’s stock to Trina, and (3) executed a software license agreement giving Strait and Kitch a perpetual non-exclusive, royalty-free license to company software.

Early in November, Laura filed her application for contempt in the Oklahoma court with continuing jurisdiction over the divorce and custody of their children. She cited Vincent’s failure to pay child support and alimony for October and November. Less than two weeks later, Vincent and Trina divorced, executing an Agreement Incident to Divorce that transferred all the Alexicon stock to Trina. Vincent then filed a motion in the Oklahoma court seeking to modify his support payments based upon “permanent and substantial change in his income.” Laura expanded her application to include unpaid property division payments and real estate payments required by the Property Settlement Agreement. And Vincent added his own application for contempt related to Laura’s alleged interference with the sale of community property.

The Oklahoma litigation regarding Laura’s application for contempt and Vincent’s request to lower his support payments continued for several years. During the pendency of those motions, Laura received a partial judgment for alimony arrearages. Also during this time, Vincent filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy twice; both proceedings were dismissed. The motions at issue here were

eventually tried in a series of proceedings between December 2014 and February 2015. In the end, the trial court refused to lower Vincent’s support payments, and it decided in favor of Laura on his contempt motion against her. But the trial court’s judgment concluded that Vincent had committed contempt by dissipating his assets to avoid paying his divorce-settlement obligations; it fined him and sentenced him to a term in jail, the latter to be suspended as long as he complied with the court’s schedule of payment obligations.

Laura brought this suit in Texas, specifically pleading claims for fraudulent transfer under the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (TUFTA) against Vincent and Trina and claims for civil conspiracy against all five defendants. Vincent, Trina, and the Alexicon Defendants filed motions for summary judgment, and the trial court granted all three motions, resulting in a take- nothing judgment for Laura. She appeals.

VINCENT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT In her first issue Laura contends that the trial court erred in granting Vincent’s motion for summary judgment. The motion sought judgment on all claims against Vincent on the basis of the affirmative defenses of res judicata and collateral estoppel. When a defendant moves for summary judgment on an affirmative defense, he must prove all the essential elements of his defense as a matter of law. Ryland Group, Inc. v. Hood, 924 S.W.2d 120, 121 (Tex. 1996) (per curiam). The trial court’s order granting Vincent’s motion did not state a particular ground on which the motion was granted, so we must affirm the summary judgment if either of his defensive grounds are meritorious. FM Properties Operating Co. v. City of Austin, 22 S.W.3d 868, 872–73 (Tex. 2000). We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Travelers Ins. Co. v. Joachim, 315 S.W.3d 860, 862 (Tex. 2010).

Vincent’s Defense of Res Judicata Res judicata prevents the relitigation of a claim that has been finally adjudicated as well as related matters that, with the use of diligence, should have been litigated in the prior suit. Barr v. Resolution Tr. Corp. ex rel. Sunbelt Fed. Sav., 837 S.W.2d 627, 628 (Tex. 1992). Vincent argues that Laura’s claim for fraudulent transfer is an attempt to relitigate her claims tried in in the Oklahoma contempt proceeding. To prove his defense, Vincent was required to offer summary judgment evidence establishing (1) a prior final judgment on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction, (2) identity of parties or those in privity with them, and (3) a second action based on the same claims as were raised or could have been raised in the first action. Joachim, 315 S.W.3d at 862.

Fraudulent Transfer

Laura challenges the third element of his proof. She argues that Vincent failed to carry his burden to prove that her fraudulent transfer and conspiracy claims are barred because they were litigated in the Oklahoma contempt proceeding or because they should have been litigated in that proceeding. We agree.

In the Oklahoma proceeding, Laura defended against Vincent’s effort to reduce his support payments by offering evidence that he had dissipated his assets to avoid paying obligations under the parties’ divorce decree. In his motion, Vincent pointed to the Oklahoma pretrial order, which catalogued the parties’ evidence and witnesses for the hearing on the competing motions. The order establishes that Laura planned to offer—and she did offer—evidence concerning Vincent’s transfers of his assets to his partners in Alexicon and to his second ex-wife, Trina. Laura also offered testimony of an expert witness, who testified concerning Vincent’s depletion of his assets through these purportedly fraudulent transfers.

Laura responded to Vincent’s motion arguing that the Oklahoma proceeding employed the evidence concerning Vincent’s property transfers only to determine what amount was owed to Laura pursuant to the parties’ agreed divorce settlement after he claimed to be insolvent. The evidence she offered, including the expert testimony, went solely to an explanation of how Vincent became insolvent; it was never offered as evidence of an independent claim by Laura. Indeed, when Vincent’s counsel objected to Laura’s expert’s use of the term “fraudulent transfer,” the objection was sustained, and the trial judge ultimately stated the expert’s testimony would serve only to show how Vincent became insolvent. Laura’s motion also relied on the Oklahoma judgment itself to support her argument, noting that it does not address any element of a TUFTA violation and does not adjudicate any liability under that statute for Vincent or Trina. Instead, the Oklahoma judgment recites clearly that what was tried in the proceedings at issue here were contempt applications and Vincent’s motion to modify his child support.

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Laura Wiemer v. Vincent Hans Wiemer, Trina Rachelle Wiemer, Alexicon, Inc., Robbie D. Strait, and Douglas Kitch, (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Laura Wiemer v. Vincent Hans Wiemer, Trina Rachelle Wiemer, Alexicon, Inc., Robbie D. Strait, and Douglas Kitch (Laura Wiemer v. Vincent Hans Wiemer, Trina Rachelle Wiemer, Alexicon, Inc., Robbie D. Strait, and Douglas Kitch) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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