Marcus A. Townley and Erin M. McCain v. Linda A. Lanier

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 8, 2021·No. 14-19-00447-CV·Published

Opinion

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed June 8, 2021.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

NO. 14-19-00447-CV

MARCUS A. TOWNLEY AND ERIN M. MCCAIN, Appellants

V. LINDA A. LANIER, Appellee

On Appeal from the County Civil Court at Law No. 4 Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 1077886

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This appeal arises from a dispute between neighboring property owners over the cost to reconstruct a shared residential fence. Appellee Linda A. Lanier paid to rebuild the fence and sought payment from her neighbors, appellants Marcus A. Townley and Erin M. McCain, believing they agreed to bear some of the cost. Appellants refused to contribute, Lanier sued, and the case proceeded to jury trial on breach of contract and quantum meruit claims. The jury found in Lanier’s favor, and the court signed a judgment awarding $780 in damages, plus attorneys’ fees.

Appellants raise seventeen numbered issues on appeal. After reviewing the briefs and the record, we conclude that appellants have not demonstrated reversible error, and we affirm the judgment.

Background

In 2014, Lanier’s property abutted property owned by Townley and McCain, and a fence divided the two lots.1 Constructed in 1993 or 1994, the original wood fence deteriorated over time. According to Lanier, she “was having a great deal of trouble keeping the fence boards up.” Additionally, the parties’ multiple dogs “would bicker between the fences.”

One day in 2014, Lanier said, Townley “climbed up on the fence and he explained to [Lanier] that he and his wife were doing a lot of remodeling with the house and that they had recently replaced the fence that was common between he and [another neighbor] and would [Lanier] be interested in sharing the cost of the fence that was common between their two yards.” Lanier ultimately agreed and hired a contractor to do the work. She gave Townley a copy of the bid and told him that she would “only charge him half” of the price per square foot that Townley had paid to replace his side fence, which would have amounted to $785.

The contractor Lanier hired did not perform adequately, which Townley brought to Lanier’s attention. In the evenings, Townley, who was at home during the day, shared his observations with Lanier:

[A]t one point he told me the workmanship was not good, that the fence wasn’t straight, that they weren’t building the corners correctly and at the far corner where his fence would adjoin mine, or the 1 By the time of trial in 2019, Lanier had sold her property and moved.

2 common fence anyway, he wasn’t going to be able to adjoin it because they weren’t building it in the right place and at one other occasion they told me they found the contractors drinking on the job when I wasn’t there.

As a result, Lanier terminated that contractor. Based on Townley’s recommendation, Lanier hired the contractor Townley had used to replace the fence on the other side of his property. The second contractor completed the fence, giving Townley and McCain the “good” side or the “pretty” side—i.e., the side with flush planks that did not show framing.

When Lanier asked for payment, Townley refused. His last comments to Lanier were “I’m not paying you anything. The fence looks great.”

Lanier sued, alleging that “[i]t was fully understood between [Lanier] and [Townley and McCain] that said fence was a mutual obligation with mutual benefits.” She asserted claims for breach of contract, quantum meruit, fraud, and fraudulent misrepresentation. The contract and quantum meruit claims were tried to a jury, which found in Lanier’s favor. Specifically, the jury found that:

• Townley and McCain agreed to have Lanier authorize the building of a replacement fence between their two properties. • Townley and McCain failed to comply with the agreement to pay for part of the fence. • Townley and McCain failed to comply with the agreement first. • Services/materials were provided to Townley and McCain. • Townley and McCain accepted the services or materials. • Townley and McCain had reasonable notice that Lanier expected compensation for the payment of services or materials. • $780 would fairly and reasonably compensate Lanier for her damages that resulted from or because of Townley’s and McCain’s failure to comply.

3 In accordance with the jury’s verdict, the trial court signed a judgment that Lanier recover from Townley and McCain $780 in damages and $1,320 in attorney’s fees, as well as conditional appellate fees, costs, and pre- and post- judgment interest.

Townley and McCain appeal.

Analysis

Appellants present seventeen issues for our review. Most of them, however, lack citation to the record or to legal authority. Under our rules of appellate procedure, briefs must contain “a clear and concise argument for the contentions made with appropriate citations to authorities and to the record.” Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(i). Although we must construe briefs liberally to avoid disposing of issues without reaching the merits when possible, see Perry v. Cohen, 272 S.W.3d 585, 587 (Tex. 2008), the complete dearth of applicable argument, legal authority, or record support for several issues, discussed below, compels us to conclude that appellants have waived them due to inadequate briefing. See In re R.H.W. III, 542 S.W.3d 724, 742 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2018, no pet.); San Saba Energy, L.P. v. Crawford, 171 S.W.3d 323, 338 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2005, no pet.).

As we are able, we will address those arguments we find sufficiently briefed in support of appellants’ stated issues, see @.C.T.S. @dvanced Computer Tech. Servs., LLC v. Lexington Auto Repair, Inc., No. 14-16-00497-CV, 2017 WL 3662465, at *4 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Aug. 24, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.), while avoiding the role of advocate for any party. Joseph v. Woodgrove Condo. Ass’n, No. 14-10-00273-CV, 2011 WL 2149409, at *1 (Tex. App.— Houston [14th Dist.] May 26, 2011, no pet.) (mem. op.); Evans v. Duncan, No. 05-

4 04-00761-CV, 2005 WL 1926324, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 12, 2005, no pet.); see also In re R.H.W. III, 542 S.W.3d at 742.

We first consider several procedural issues, followed by issues challenging the evidentiary support for the jury’s verdict, before finally turning to appellants’ remaining complaints. The bolded headings are appellants’ issues, re-printed verbatim.

A. Procedural Complaints

Issue 1: The trial court abused its discretion by holding an off-record pre-trial hearing without a court reporter present, despite Appellants’ objections, on February 20, 2019. Appellants contend that the trial court held a pre-trial hearing, that they requested a court reporter to transcribe the hearing, that no reporter was made available, that appellants objected to the reporter’s absence, and that the trial court conducted the unrecorded hearing over their objection. Appellants argue that the lack of reporter’s record prevents them from complaining “of certain error and other post-judgment and appellate procedural remedies.”

Not only do appellants fail to support their argument with legal authority, but we see no indication on the docket sheet that the trial court conducted a hearing as claimed by appellants. Further, although appellants assert that they “filled out a court reporter request form, requested a transcript be taken of all proceedings that day for this case, and submitted the request form to the court clerks,” they do not direct us to where we may find such a request in the record.

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