Liu v. Yang

69 S.W.3d 225, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5613, 2001 WL 964005
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 16, 2001
Docket13-00-224-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 69 S.W.3d 225 (Liu v. Yang) 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
Liu v. Yang, 69 S.W.3d 225, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5613, 2001 WL 964005 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

FEDERICO G. HINOJOSA, Justice.

This is an appeal from the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of appellees, Roger Weh-Lih Yang and Amy Hui-Mei Yang. Because the order is not a final and appealable order, we dismiss for want of jurisdiction.

A. BACKGROUND

Appellees and appellant, Paul Yih Cheng Liu, were shareholders in two corporations whose major assets were two Chinese restaurants located in McAllen and Brownsville. Appellant and Mr. Yang had a longtime close business and personal relationship. However, the relationship soured, and appellant wanted out of his business relationship with appellees. Ap-pellees agreed to purchase appellant’s two shares in the McAllen restaurant business and three shares in the Brownsville res *227 taurant business. On November 12, 1992, the parties entered into a written “Agreement for Sale and Purchase of Stock.” Under its terms, appellees agreed to buy all of appellant’s stock in the two corporations for a total purchase price of $57,500; appellees were to (1) assume all liabilities on a note executed by appellant and held by Lone Star National Bank with an outstanding balance of $47,739.96, and (2) pay appellant the remainder of the purchase price ($10,847.81) in cash. It is undisputed that appellees complied with these terms.

Appellant asserts, however, that the parties made a collateral oral agreement that he would also receive a cash payment of approximately $39,000, which was never tendered by appellees. On October 17, 1997, appellant filed suit against appellees in the District Court of Hidalgo County, alleging causes of action for breach of contract, fraud and reformation of the contract.

Appellees filed a traditional motion for summary judgment in which they asserted that they were “entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law on all the plaintiffs causes of action.” However, they did not in any way address appellant’s cause of action for reformation of the contract. Appellant filed a response, and appellees filed a reply, but they still did not address the reformation cause of action.

On January 7, 2000, the trial court signed the following “Order Granting Defendants [sic] ... Motion for Summary Judgment Against Paul Yih Cheng Liu:”

On this the 7th day of January, 2000, came on to be heard the Defendants [sic] ROGER WEN-LIH YANG and AMY HUI-MEI YANG’s Motion for Summary Judgment Against PAUL YIN CHENG LIU, and the Court having heard the evidence, the arguments of counsel and examining the pleadings, is of the opinion that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment should be GRANTED.
IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that Defendant ROGER WEN-LIH YANG and AMY HUI-MEI YANG’s Motion for Summary Judgement Against PAUL YIH CHENG LIU, heretofore filed and directed to Plaintiff should be, and the same is hereby GRANTED in its entirety.
All relief requested and not expressly granted is hereby denied.

Appellant notes that the trial court’s order contains no decretal language that “Plaintiff take nothing.”

B. Finality of ORDER Granting Summary Judgment

Under Texas procedure, appeals are allowed only from final orders or judgments. Lehmann v. Har-Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex.2001); Jack B. Anglin Co. v. Tipps, 842 S.W.2d 266, 272 (Tex.1992); North East Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d 893, 895 (Tex.1966); Cameron County v. Alvarado, 900 S.W.2d 874, 878 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1995, writ dism’d w.o.j.). The issue we must first address is whether an order granting summary judgment can be a final and appealable order when one of the appellant’s causes of action was not addressed by the appellees in the motion for summary judgment.

A judgment is final if it disposes of all pending parties and claims in the record. Jack B. Anglin Co., 842 S.W.2d at 272; see Clark v. Pimienta, 47 S.W.3d 485, 486 (Tex.2001). The law does not require that a final judgment be in any particular form; therefore, whether a decree is a final judgment must be determined from its language and the record in the case. *228 Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 195. A “Mother Hubbard” clause alone does not indicate that a judgment rendered without a conventional trial is final for purposes of appeal. Guajardo v. Conwell, 46 S.W.3d 862, 863-64 (Tex.2001); Clark, 47 S.W.3d at 486; Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 204. An order that adjudicates only the plaintiffs claims against the defendant does not adjudicate a third-party claim. Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 205. An order that disposes of claims by only one of multiple plaintiffs does not adjudicate claims by the other plaintiffs. Bobbitt v. Stran, 52 S.W.3d 734, 735 (Tex.2001); Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 205. An order does not dispose of all claims and all parties merely because it is entitled “final.” Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 205. Rather, there must be some other clear indication that the trial court intended the order to completely dispose of the entire case. Id. To determine whether an order actually disposes of all pending claims and parties, the appellate court may look to the record in the case. Lehmann, 39 S.W.3d at 205-06.

C. SummaRY Judgment Law

When we review a traditional motion for summary judgment granted under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a(c), we must follow these well-established rules:

(1) the movant has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law; (2) in deciding whether there is a disputed material fact issue precluding summary judgment, evidence favorable to the non-movant will be taken as true; and (3) every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the nonmovant and any doubts must be resolved in favor of the nonmovant.

American Tobacco Co., Inc. v. Grinnell, 951 S.W.2d 420, 425 (Tex.1997); Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Co., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985); see Tex. R.CivP. 166a(c).

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Bluebook (online)
69 S.W.3d 225, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5613, 2001 WL 964005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/liu-v-yang-texapp-2001.