McGrew v. Heard

779 S.W.2d 455, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 965, 1989 WL 38254
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 14, 1989
Docket01-88-01183-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 779 S.W.2d 455 (McGrew v. Heard) 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
McGrew v. Heard, 779 S.W.2d 455, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 965, 1989 WL 38254 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION

DUNN, Justice.

Relator, Sylvia McGrew, seeks a writ of mandamus compelling respondent to vacate his order reinstating the underlying case to the trial docket. Relator contends that, at the time respondent entered the order, his plenary power to order reinstatement of the case had expired.

On October 7, 1987, relator filed suit against Saud Hamon Barazie, and the real parties in interest, Reda Kilani and Monkez Kilani. The defendants appeared pro se. Relator served requests for admissions upon the defendants that allegedly embraced all material issues in the case. The defendants failed to respond to the requests, and they were deemed admitted by the operation of Tex.R.Civ.P. 169. On March 31, 1988, relator filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted against Reda and Monkez Kilani. Relator later filed an undated, handwritten motion to nonsuit the remaining defendant, Barazie, which respondent granted by a handwritten order on April 7, 1988. The motion to nonsuit contained no certificate of service.

On April 21, 1988, the Kilanis, having retained an attorney, filed a motion for new trial that the respondent granted orally and by docket entry. The respondent did not, however, sign a written order granting the motion for new trial. On August 29, 1988, relator attempted to execute on the judgment, which alerted the Kilani’s attorney to the apparent finality of the judgment. In response, the real parties in interest filed an application for injunction, temporary restraining order, and for a bill of review.

After a hearing on October 10, 1988, the respondent concluded that the summary judgment was not final, signed an order reinstating the underlying suit to the docket, and signed another order dismissing the bill of review. In each order, the respondent recited the following:

[457]*457The Court finds as a matter of law that the partial summary judgment signed on the 31st day of March, 1988, by the Honorable Wyatt Heard as to Monkez Kilani and Reda Kilani, was interlocutory and not a Final Judgment.
The Court further finds as a matter of law, that the Order of Nonsuit signed by the Honorable Wyatt Heard on the 7th day of April, 1988, was NOT a final judgment, nor did it have the effect of making the March 31, 1988 partial summary judgment a final judgment.
The Court further finds as a matter of law, that the Motion for New Trial granted and entered as a docket entry by the Honorable Court on the 25th day of April, 1988, set aside the Interlocutory Summary Judgment against Monkez Ki-lani and Reda Kilani.

The order of reinstatement also awarded relator’s attorney $500 for preparing the motion for summary judgment and directed that this sum be paid from $1000 that was seized by the constable during the execution. The record reflects that relator’s trial attorney received and accepted $500 in early November 1988.

Relator contends that the nonsuit of April 7, 1988 made the interlocutory summary judgment final. He further contends that because there was no written order granting the motion for new trial, it was overruled by operation of law 75 days from the date of the signing of the order non-suiting Barazie, and the respondent lost all plenary power to vacate the judgment on July 22, 1988, more than 30 days after the motion for new trial was overruled. On October 10,1988, the respondent signed the order reinstating the underlying suit on the trial docket after he allegedly lost jurisdiction to do so.

Mandamus is appropriate to correct a void order of the trial court. Urbish v. 127th Judicial Dist. Court, 708 S.W.2d 429, 431 (Tex.1986); State v. Ferguson, 133 Tex. 60, 63, 125 S.W.2d 272, 274 (1939). “An order is void when a court has no power or jurisdiction to render it.” Urbish, 708 S.W.2d at 431. To determine whether the respondent had the power or jurisdiction to enter the order of reinstatement, we must determine whether the interlocutory summary judgment became final and, if so, whether he had lost his plenary power before he entered the order of reinstatement.

A summary judgment that does not dispose of all the parties is interlocutory. Teer v. Duddlesten, 664 S.W.2d 702, 703 (Tex.1984); Pan Am. Petroleum Corp. v. Texas Pac. Coal & Oil Co., 159 Tex. 550, 324 S.W.2d 200 (1959). An interlocutory summary judgment becomes final when the trial court enters an order that disposes of the remaining parties. H.B. Zachry Co. v. Thibodeaux, 364 S.W.2d 192 (Tex.1963).

We note, however, that the respondent found that the nonsuit did not make the interlocutory summary judgment final even though it purported to dispose of the only remaining defendant. An examination of relator’s motion for nonsuit reveals no certificate of service, Tex.R.Civ.P. 21a (“[a] written statement by an attorney of record, or the return of the officer, or the affidavit of any other person showing service of a notice shall be prima facie evidence of the fact of service”), and the real parties in interest deny that they had notice of the nonsuit; therefore, they were not aware that the interlocutory summary judgment had become final.

Rule 162 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure provides: “Notice of [a] ... non-suit shall be served in accordance with Rule 21a on any party who has answered or has been served with process without necessity of court order.” The record before this Court does not show that the real parties in interest were served with notice of the nonsuit or had actual notice of it.

This Court addressed a similar situation in Philbrook v. Berry, 679 S.W.2d 651 (Tex.App.— Houston [1st Dist.] 1984), overruled, 683 S.W.2d 378 (Tex.1985). Phil-brook filed suit against Owens-Illinois and other defendants under cause number 83-74655. Owens was served, but did not answer within the statutory time limit. On February 20, 1984, the trial court, after hearing evidence, granted a default judgment against Owens and, on Philbrook’s [458]*458motion, severed the default judgment, which became cause number 83-74655-A. On February 29, 1984, Owens filed an answer. On the same day, the trial court mistakenly transferred some documents from cause number 83-74655 to an unrelated case. Owens was never served with notice of the motion for severance, as required by Tex.R.Civ.P. 72, and, on March 21, 1984, mistakenly filed its motion for new trial in 83-74655 attempting to set aside the default judgment in cause number 83-74655-A. The trial court considered the motion filed under cause number 83-74655-A, set aside the default judgment, and granted Owens a new trial in a written order signed April 13, 1984.

Philbrook then sought mandamus relief from this Court contending that the trial court lost its plenary power in 83-74655-A on March 22, 1984 because no motion for new trial was filed under that cause number.

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McGrew v. Heard
779 S.W.2d 455 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
779 S.W.2d 455, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 965, 1989 WL 38254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgrew-v-heard-texapp-1989.