Pate v. McClain

769 S.W.2d 356, 1989 WL 51576
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 3, 1989
Docket09-88-009-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 769 S.W.2d 356 (Pate v. McClain) 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
Pate v. McClain, 769 S.W.2d 356, 1989 WL 51576 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION

BROOKSHIRE, Justice.

Suit involving a partnership. Plaintiff, Kyle McClain, had been a partner with Gordon R. Pate and Joe Michael Dodson. The partnership law firm was styled “Pate, Dodson and McClain.” That partnership to practice law came into being on January 1, 1986. It ceased as an on-going partnership of attorneys on June 20, 1986. On that date, McClain voluntarily left the partnership.

McClain initially sued for his alleged full share of the partnership’s undistributed net earnings for the April-June 1986 quarter and also for a full accounting. Later he pleaded that during the April-June 1986 quarter and prior to his own withdrawal from the law firm partnership, the total sum of $137,500 had been paid to the partnership, being a contingent fee interest in a settlement made in the Donald Arrant v. Caterpillar Tractor Company litigation. McClain abandoned his claim for a complete accounting of the partnership and, instead, endeavored only to recover a 15% net interest in two specific contingent fee contracts. The first contingency fee contract was the Arrant case. The second contingency fee contract was known as the Whitehead case, the total fee being $17,-433.33.

The contract between Arrant and Mr. Pate was agreed to on December 27, 1984, which date was more than a year prior to the formation of the “Pate, Dodson and McClain” partnership. The Whitehead contract was entered into between the law offices of Pate and Dodson and Billie K. Whitehead in August, 1985, some four months before the formation of the last partnership, being the one in litigation. Prior to the last partnership, there was a prior partnership composed of, and styled, “Pate and Dodson”. At an appropriate time, the trial court granted defendant Dodson’s motion for instructed verdict with regard to any and all issues of a breach of fiduciary relationships or fiduciary obligations existing solely on the part of Mr. Dodson.

The case was submitted to the jury. The court gave the usual and correct definitions of direct and circumstantial evidence, preponderance of the evidence and other necessary and proper definitions and instructions. The trial court defined the term “partnership”, when used in a special question, as that partnership consisting of Gordon R. Pate, Joe Michael Dodson and Kyle McClain and that the “term of the partnership” meant the period of time from January 1, 1986, through June 20, 1986. The court further instructed the jury that:

“[A] partner’s interest included his share of the ‘profits’ of the partnership and his share of the value of any ‘partnership property’.
“ ‘Profits’ means income minus expenses.
“ ‘Partnership property’ means all property originally brought into the partnership stock or subsequently acquired by purchase or otherwise on account of the partnership.”

The members of the jury were unequivocally charged that:

“You are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony....”

Also, the term “partnership” was defined correctly. No attack is made, in this ap[358]*358peal, on the definition of “partnership.” No written articles of partnership existed.

In the Charge of the Court, we find:

“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 1
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the $137,500.00 received as attorney’s fees in the ‘Arrant case’ is income of the ‘partnership’?
“Answer: ‘We do’ or ‘We do not’. We do.
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 2
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the $17,433.33 received as attorney’s fees in the ‘Whitehead, case’ is income of the ‘partnership’?
“Answer ‘We do’ or ‘We do not’. We do.
“SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 3
“What sum of money, if now paid in cash, would reasonably compensate the Plaintiff for his unpaid share of the profits of the ‘partnership’, if any?
“Answer in Dollars and Cents, if any. $23,250.00”

There were certain other Special Issues submitted that were predicated on “We do” or “We do not” answers, which were properly left unanswered. These issues submitted the theory of whether, during the “term of the partnership”, the Arrant case and the Whitehead case became partnership property.

Attorney’s Fee Issue — Special Issue 9

Special Issue 9 was answered. The jury was instructed, as to Special Issue 9, that it was to consider only the services rendered by the Plaintiff’s attorney on the Arrant claim. The jury found the reasonable fee for the plaintiff’s attorney’s professional services to be $14,000 for the preparation and trial in the district court and $7,500 for services in an appeal to the Court of Appeals. An additional $5,000 was found for services in pursuing an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. A judgment was entered ordering McClain to recover from Pate and Dodson the sum of $23,250 plus prejudgment interest. In addition, McClain recovered a total of $26,500 for attorney’s fees, depending on the appeals taken.

The No Evidence Points

The Appellants presented a number of points of error as a group. These points of error averred that the evidence conclusively established that the Arrant and Whitehead contingency fee contracts were not the partnership property of Pate, Dodson and McClain; that the answers to Special Issues Nos. 1, 2 and 3 do not support the judgment in favor of the Plaintiff; that the Court erred in entering the judgment because there was no evidence of the net profits, because there was no evidence of the net profits of the last partnership in question; that there was insufficient evidence to establish the net profits of the partnership; that there was no evidence of the net profits of the Arrant and Whitehead fee contracts; that there was insufficient evidence to establish the net profits of the Arrant and Whitehead contingency fee contracts; that there was no evidence to support the verdict of the jury; and, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict of the jury.

In analyzing and reviewing the no evidence points (also sometimes referred to as the legal insufficiency points) on appeal, the intermediate appellate court must consider only the evidence, testimony, documents (the entire record) and reasonable inferences therefrom which support the jury’s findings. We must disregard all evidence and all inferences which are contrary to, and against, the jury’s findings. Garza v. Alivar, 395 S.W.2d 821 (Tex.1965); In re King’s Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660 (1951); Potter v. Garner, 407 S.W.2d 537 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1966, writ ref’d n.r.e.); R. Calvert, “ ‘No Evidence’ and ‘Insufficient Evidence’ Points of Error’, 38 TEXAS L.REV. 361 (1960); W. Garwood, “The Question of Insufficient Evidence on Appeal”, 30 TEXAS L.REV. 803 (1952).

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769 S.W.2d 356, 1989 WL 51576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pate-v-mcclain-texapp-1989.