McLendon v. McLendon

847 S.W.2d 601, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3292, 1992 WL 367512
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 15, 1992
Docket05-91-01698-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 847 S.W.2d 601 (McLendon v. McLendon) 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
McLendon v. McLendon, 847 S.W.2d 601, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3292, 1992 WL 367512 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

STEWART, Justice.

Appellant Gordon B. McLendon, Jr. (Bart), appeals from the trial court’s entry of a final decree of divorce. The trial court’s written decree was allegedly based on the parties’ oral settlement agreement dictated on the record in open court. Bart’s sixteen points of error generally complain that the trial court erred in sign *604 ing the judgment because (1) there was no complete agreement upon which the court could render a consent judgment; (2) there was no or insufficient evidence on which the court could otherwise render judgment; (8) Rule 11 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure does not override the statutory requirements of agreements in writing found in the Texas Family Code and section 26.01 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code; and (4) the court’s written decree contains additional terms different from those presented orally in open court. We modify the judgment and, as modified, affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Mary Elizabeth B. McLendon (Beth) filed suit for divorce on June 15, 1989. After substantial pretrial activity, including written discovery and numerous depositions, the case was specially set for trial on Monday, February 4, 1991. On January 29, 1991, the parties appeared in court with their respective attorneys and presented their alleged settlement to the trial court. The terms of the agreement were presented to the court through the sworn testimony of both spouses. The agreement was made on the record in open court. The trial court orally granted the divorce, approved the rule 11 stipulations read into the record, and adopted “[them] in haec verba as the Court’s rendition of judgment.” Both parties filed motions to enter their respective forms of written judgments. In conjunction with his proposed final decree, Bart also filed a memorandum of law. Thereafter, Bart filed a motion to vacate the trial court’s judgment and Beth filed an amended proposed written decree. The trial court rejected both versions of Beth’s decree and denied Bart’s motion to vacate, signing its own version of the final decree of divorce on July 19, 1991. It is this decree from which Bart appeals.

WAIVER OF POINTS OF ERROR

We first address Beth’s contention that Bart has waived or is barred from asserting all of his points of error, except points four and sixteen, because each is contrary to the position Bart took in the trial court. Beth asserts that, because Bart had filed a motion to enter final decree of divorce, relying on the rule 11 stipulations and the trial court’s oral rendition on January 29, 1991, he is now barred or estopped from urging a contrary position on appeal. She also argues that Bart cannot secure reversal of the judgment because he invited the alleged errors on which he relies. See Bayoud v. Bayoud, 797 S.W.2d 304, 312 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1990, writ denied).

Beth relies on Bart’s motion to enter final decree of divorce and memorandum of law, stating that the court should sign his proposed decree “as its ministerial act accurately reducing to written judgment the provisions of the judgment of the Court rendered January 29, 1991.” She also argues that Bart’s sworn testimony in the January hearing that he agreed on the resolution of the disputes as set out in the record constituted a stipulation which is binding on him. She refers us to City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Authority, 589 S.W.2d 671, 677 (Tex.1979) (oral agreement made in summary judgment hearing that issues would be narrowed to one legal question precluded a party from arguing a different position on appeal).

The record reveals that, months before the trial court signed its decree, Bart withdrew his motion to enter final decree of divorce without urging any action thereon and that, by separate motion, he twice asked the court to vacate its oral rendition of judgment. After the judgment was signed, Bart filed a motion for new trial again asking the court to vacate its rendition of judgment. We agree with Bart that his motion to enter final decree is not an estoppel or bar against him because he never urged it to the point of obtaining a ruling and because he superseded that motion with a subsequent pleading to vacate the oral rendition. Browning v. Holloway, 620 S.W.2d 611, 615 n. 4 (Tex.Civ.App.— Dallas 1981, writ ref’d n.r.e.). We likewise conclude that the doctrine of invited error does not apply because Bart made his objections to the divorce decree known to the trial court. See Harrison v. ICT Life Ins. *605 Co., 319 S.W.2d 372, 374 (Tex.Civ.App.— Fort Worth 1958, writ refd n.r.e.).

Moreover, we note that the Clear Creek court simply held that agreements meeting the requirements of rule 11 are binding on the parties and that rule 11 was satisfied in that case because the oral waiver or agreement made in open court was described in the judgment of the court. City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d at 677. Further, Bart is not repudiating in this appeal his sworn testimony in the January hearing that he agreed on the resolution of the disputes as set out in the record. He is not attacking the stipulations that were made; his contention is that those stipulations are insufficient to support a judgment because material terms were left to future negotiation. For all of the foregoing reasons, we hold that Bart has not waived and is not barred from asserting any of his points of error.

EXISTENCE OF COMPLETE AGREEMENT

Bart’s first three points and his fifth point are based on his contention that the rule 11 stipulations dictated in open court on January 29, 1991, did not constitute a complete agreement. Thus, he contends that the trial court erred (1) in orally rendering judgment based on these stipulations; (2) in finding that the parties had entered into a valid rule 11 agreement concerning the division of property and liabilities, the maintenance of his wife, and the terms and conditions of conservatorship of their minor children; and (3) in finding that it rendered a noninterlocutory judgment on January 29, 1991. Thus, these points are based on the central issue in this appeal, that is, whether the parties reached a “complete agreement” that would support the trial court’s oral rendition of judgment at the end of the January hearing.

Bart argues that the parties did not reach a complete agreement because the rule 11 stipulations lacked the finality essential to every agreement. He maintains that the reference by Beth’s attorney to the dictation of the “general parameters and terms” shows that the recitations in the record were expressly intended to constitute the general parameters of an agreement, not the parties’ complete and final recitation of their agreement. He further contends that, since the trial court allegedly was unable to prepare its decree without supplying additional terms not agreed to by the parties, there was no meeting of the minds on all material terms. 2

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
847 S.W.2d 601, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 3292, 1992 WL 367512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclendon-v-mclendon-texapp-1992.