Richmond v. Champagne's Bakery

149 S.W.2d 304
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 2, 1941
DocketNo. 3806.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 149 S.W.2d 304 (Richmond v. Champagne's Bakery) 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
Richmond v. Champagne's Bakery, 149 S.W.2d 304 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

WALKER, Chief Justice.

Appellee has moved to dismiss this appeal on the ground that appellants did not timely file their affidavit in lieu of appeal bond. We give the judgment overruling the amended motion for new trial:

“Jake Richmond et al. v. Champagne’s Bakery.
“In the District Court of Jefferson County, Texas.
“Nunc pro Tunc Order Overruling Plaintiffs’ First Amended Original Motion for a New Trial
“This the 16th day of August, 1940, it appearing to the court that on May 24, 1940, this court overruled plaintiffs’ first amended original motion for a new trial, but that through inadvertence no written order has heretofore been entered thereon, this order is now entered nunc pro tunc, as of May 24, 1940;
“On May 24, 1940, came on to be heard plaintiffs’ first amended original motion for a new trial in the above cause and it appearing to the court that a final judgment was entered in this cause December 20, 1939; that plaintiffs’ original motion for a new trial herein was filed December. 29, 1939, and that thereafter on January 18, 1940, an order was entered herein granting plaintiffs leave to file an amended motion for a new trial, and further that on January 18, 1940, there was filed herein plaintiffs’ said first amended original motion for a new trial; that on February 14, 1940, an order was entered herein by the court approving the written agreement of the parties herein extending the time for the pre'senting (including the taking of all other action thereon) of plaintiffs’ first amended original motion for a new trial. *305 up to and including March 23, 1940; that a similar order was entered herein March 21, 1940, extending such time up to May-11, 1940, and finally that a similar order was entered herein extending such time until June 1, 1940, said last order being entered herein May 10, 1940; and plaintiffs’ first amended original motion for a new trial having been presented, as aforesaid, on May 24, 1940, after due consideration the court being of the opinion that said amended motion should be overruled, it is, therefore, this the 24th day of May, 1940, ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the said amended motion of plaintiffs for a new trial herein be and the same is hereby overruled; to which action and ruling of the court the plaintiffs then and there in open court duly excepted and in open court gave notice of appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Ninth Supreme Judicial District of Texas, sitting at Beaumont, Texas, and plaintiffs are allowed the full time allowed by law within which to prepare and file the statement of facts and bills of exception herein, said time dating from May 24, 1940, the date, as aforesaid, when the court actually overruled said amended motion for a new trial herein.”

Appellee’s motion is controlled by the following provisions of Section 28, Article 2092, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes: “All motions and amended motions for new trials must be presented within thirty (30) days after the original motion or amended motion is filed and must be determined within not exceeding forty-five (45) days after the original or amended motion is filed, unless by written agreement of the parties in the case, the decision of the motion is postponed to a later date.”

From the court’s judgment overruling the amended motion for new trial, it appears that the amended motion for new trial was postponed three times on the written agreement of the parties; the first order of postponement was entered on the 14th of February, 1940, extending the time for the presentation to March 23, 1940; the second order was entered March 21, 1940, extending the time of presentation to May 11, 1940; the third order was entered May 10, 1940, extending the time of presentation to June 1, 1940. On authority of these postponements of the presentation, the court received the presentation of the motion on May 24, 1940, and overruled it on that date. It thus appears that the amend-' ed motion for a new trial was not presented within thirty days after it was filed as provided by statute. In Independent Life Ins. Co. of America v. Work, 124 Tex. 281, 77 S.W.2d 1036, 1040, our Supreme Court ruled that the provisions of Subdivision 28, Article 2092, regulating the filing of motions for new trial, their presentation, and decision are mandatory; it was also ruled that the parties by agreement could postpone the decision of the motion beyond the forty-five days provided by statute, but could not, by written agreement or otherwise, postpone the presentation of the motion beyond the thirty days provided by statute. On this point Judge Greenwood, writing the opinion in the Work case, discussing the controlling statute, said: “It is argued, and correctly, that the agreement referred to in the last clause of amended subdivision 28 is one for decision instead of for presentment of the motion.” (Italics ours.) The facts of the Work case did not invoke that construction of the statute ; Judge Greenwood made the following statement of the facts: “In the case now before us, the amended motion for new trial was presented on May 7, 1932, within the statutory limit of 30 days from the date of its filing and within the time specified by the written agreement of the parties. It was not determined until 54 days after its presentation nor until 77 days after its filing.”

Judge Smedley, writing for the Supreme Court, construing the pertinent provisions of Section 28, Article 2092, in Highland Farms Corporation et al. v. Fidelity Trust Co. of Houston et al., 125 Tex. 474, 82 S.W.2d 627, 629, said: “It merely gives the parties the right to agree that the decision may be postponed to a later date." (Italics ours.) But the facts in that case did not invoke a construction of the statute, on the right of the parties tc- postpone the presentation of the motion for new trial; the point at issue was the attempted agreement of the parties to postpone the decision of the motion.

We feel that we are bound by the construction given by our Supreme Court to the pertinent provisions of Section 28, Article 2092, and hold that the parties were without power to extend the presentation of the amended motion for a new trial beyond the statutory period of thirty days after it was filed. Therefore, appellee’,'? motion to dismiss the appeal is sustained.

*306 However, since the point at issue in the case at bar was not before the Supreme Court in the cases cited above, and since on our independent construction of the pertinent provisions of Section 28, Article 2092, the power to extend the decision of the motion also governs its presentation, we make the following disposition of this appeal on its merits; we do this so that, should our Supreme Court decide it was not bound by the obiter statements in the decided cases, it might have before it our conclusion on all issues presented by the appeal'.

This appeal was prosecuted from the judgment entered on the instructed verdict in favor of appellee. The nature of the case is fully stated in our opinion on the former appeal, which was also from an instructed verdict in favor of appellee. Richmond v.

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149 S.W.2d 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richmond-v-champagnes-bakery-texapp-1941.