Mossler v. Foreman

493 S.W.2d 627, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2080
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 28, 1973
Docket720
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 493 S.W.2d 627 (Mossler v. Foreman) 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
Mossler v. Foreman, 493 S.W.2d 627, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2080 (Tex. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

COULSON, Justice.

This is a limited appeal by Candace Weatherby Mossier (also known as Candace Mossier Garrison), individually, from a judgment in the sum of $250,000 in favor of appellee, Percy Foreman, an attorney at law, for services rendered by him for appellant, Candace Mossier, and her children during the period July 4, 1964 through March 6, 1966. The services were rendered by Foreman while defending Candace Mossier and Melvin Lane Powers against murder charges brought against them by the State of Florida after the death, in Dade County, Florida, on June 30, 1964, of Jacques Mossier, the then husband of Candace Mossier. At the conclusion of the murder trial on March 6, 1966, Candace Mossier and Melvin Lane Powers were acquitted. Thereafter, appellant and Powers sued Foreman for the return of certain property, both real and personal, which had been conveyed or delivered to Foreman as security for Foreman’s fee, offering in their suit to pay Foreman the balance of the fee which they claimed was due from them for his services. Appellee Foreman answered and filed a cross-action based on a written contract in which he sought to recover jointly and severally from appellant and Powers the balance owing on an agreed fee for representing Powers. In addition thereto Foreman sought to recover from Candace Mossier, individually, for services rendered for her, based on several alternative allegations, including an alleged oral agreement by Candace Mossier employing Foreman to represent her and her children for which services Candace Mossier allegedly agreed to pay Foreman a reasonable fee. Trial in this suit, relating to attorney’s fees, was to the court without a jury, and judgment was entered in favor of Foreman on his cross-action. In addition to the award of $250,000 mentioned above, Foreman was granted judgment against appellant and Powers, jointly and severally, for the sum of $140,700 as the balance owing on the written contract for the total sum of $250,000 for services rendered by Foreman as attorney for Powers. Only the $250,000 judgment against Candace Mossier, individually, is made the subject of attack by appellant. Findings of fact and conclusions of law were entered by the trial court in support of its judgment. In reviewing the proceeding in the trial court, we do not have before us a statement of facts.

In her first point of error appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion to strike Foreman’s request for trial setting. According to appellant, appellee failed to comply with the local rule requiring that a copy of the request for trial setting be served upon all counsel of record. The alleged result of this failure was that appellant’s counsel did not have adequate time to prepare for trial. Although we know from the trial court’s findings of fact that a hearing on this motion was held, no statement of facts or bill of exception is before us which might demonstrate what evidence was heard and whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying the motion. The point of error is therefore overruled.

Appellant’s second point of error complains of the trial court’s denial of leave to file an amended petition and original answer to appellee’s cross-action on the day of trial. Among its findings of fact, the trial court included a finding that these pleadings constituted a surprise to Foreman. There is nothing properly before this Court to demonstrate the contrary. Thus Rule 63 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure did not require that leave to file these pleadings be granted. No abuse of discretion is shown and the point of error is overruled.

*630 In her third point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred by-upholding a contingent fee arrangement in a. criminal case contrary to the Code of Professional Responsibility of the Bar of the State of Texas. Any arrangement between the parties for a contingent fee to be paid to Foreman was disallowed by the trial court. The findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment of the trial court reflect that on or about July 4, 1964 Candace Mossier orally employed Foreman as attorney at law to represent her, individually, and to be in charge of the overall defense of Candace Mossier and her children growing out of the homicide of Jacques Mossier; that as compensation for such legal services to be rendered by appellee Foreman, appellant Candace Mossier agreed to pay Foreman a reasonable fee (in addition to the fee to be paid for representing Powers) ; that Percy Foreman discharged such employment and had fully performed the legal services required of him on March 6, 1966; and that the reasonable value of the services rendered by Foreman for Candace Mossier and her children pursuant to such oral employment was $250,000, for which sum the trial court entered judgment for Foreman against Candace Mossier, individually. The third point of error is overruled.

Appellant’s fourth and fifth points of error present the question of whether the trial court made conflicting findings of fact so as to leave the judgment unsupported. Also under these same points, appellant argues that some of the trial court’s findings do not conform to ap-pellee’s pleadings. The allegedly conflicting findings concern the nature of the agreement between the parties relating to appellee’s fee. We fail to see that the findings are in conflict. Even if there is a conflict as alleged, it is not a material conflict which would be fatal to the judgment. To parapharse the holding in Little Rock Furniture Mfg. Co. v. Dunn, 148 Tex. 197, 222 S.W.2d 985 (1949), it is essential that the party seeking to set aside the trial court’s findings of fact on the ground of conflict must be able to point out that one of the conflicting findings, in connection with the rest of the findings except the finding with which it conflicts, necessarily requires the entry of a judgment different from that which the court has entered. In the instant case, appellant has failed to meet this test. Regardless of the alleged conflicts, the judgment in favor of appellee is supported on the basis of an oral agreement of employment requiring payment of a reasonable fee. Any nonconformity between the findings of fact and appellee’s alternative pleadings in regard to the contract is harmless for the same reason.

In her sixth point of error appellant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial following an allegedly prejudicial statement by one of appellee’s witnesses. No motion for mistrial appears in the transcript filed with this Court nor is there a statement of facts before us which would indicate that such motion was ever made. The point is therefore overruled.

Appellant’s seventh point of error attacks a finding of fact that appellant and Powers absented themselves from the court on the last day of trial without first obtaining leave to do so. Appellant has failed to show in what way this error, if any, was reasonably calculated to cause and probably did cause the rendition of an improper judgment. Tex.R.Civ.P. 434. The point of error is overruled.

As her eighth point of error, appellant contends that this Court of Appeals erroneously denied appellant’s motion and supplemental motion to extend time to file a statement of facts. The record before us reveals that the trial of this case before the court without a jury began on May 10, 1972 and ended on May 16, 1972 with the court announcing judgment in favor of ap-pellee Foreman. On May 26, 1972 appellant filed her motion for new trial.

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Bluebook (online)
493 S.W.2d 627, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mossler-v-foreman-texapp-1973.