Rubin v. Gilmore

561 S.W.2d 231, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3735
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 29, 1977
Docket16951
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 561 S.W.2d 231 (Rubin v. Gilmore) 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
Rubin v. Gilmore, 561 S.W.2d 231, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3735 (Tex. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

,EVANS, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order granting a temporary injunction and appointing a receiver.

The appellees, Nathaniel Gilmore and William Gibson, Jr. brought this action against Alfred L. Rubin, alleging an oral partnership agreement with Rubin concerning the operation of a night club known as the “New Yorker Club”. Gilmore and Gibson sought an accounting for money allegedly received by Rubin and a temporary and permanent injunction restraining Rubin from interfering with their operation of the business. The appointment of a receiver was also requested. Rubin answered, denying the existence of a partnership and contending that he owned the business and that Gilmore and Gibson were his employees.

According to the testimony introduced at the temporary injunction hearing, Gilmore and Gibson were responsible for the management of the night club and Rubin was responsible for handling the financial affairs of the business. After the business had been in operation for approximately two months, a controversy developed with respect to whether Rubin was making proper application of business revenues to the payment of expenses. As a result of this dispute, Rubin padlocked the club premises, thereby terminating all business activity.

The trial court’s temporary order, which is the subject of this appeal, enjoined Rubin from interfering with Gilmore and Gibson “in any manner in their operation and peaceable possession of the business known as the ‘New Yorker Club’ ”, and appointed a receiver to take charge of the operation of the business pending final hearing on the matter.

In Rubin’s first point of error, he contends that the temporary injunction improperly interferes with his lease contract with the landowner, who was not made a party to the action.

The temporary order does not purport to affect the rights of the parties under the lease contract, and it has not been shown how the landowner’s rights or obligations will be prejudiced or adversely affected by the order. Such rights as the owner of the property may have under the lease agreement remain outside the scope of the temporary order, and contrary to Rubin’s argument, the fact that the owner was not a party to the proceedings did not deprive the trial court of its jurisdiction to enter the temporary order. Rule 39, Tex.R.Civ.P.; Cooper v. Texas Gulf Industries, Inc., 513 S.W.2d 200 (Tex.1974).

*234 It is Rubin’s further contention that even if a partnership existed, his action in padlocking the premises constituted a dissolution of the partnership arrangement and that the temporary injunction order and the appointment of a receiver improperly deprived him of the right to wind up the partnership affairs.

The trial court found that Rubin had appropriated business income to his own personal use, that he had failed or refused to account for income collected and disbursed, and that he had wrongfully excluded Gilmore and Gibson from the premises. Rubin has not contested these findings. The trial court concluded that Gilmore and Gibson would be irreparably harmed unless Rubin was enjoined and a receiver was appointed to conserve and protect the business assets pending final hearing.

A trial court is clothed with broad discretion in determining whether to issue a writ of temporary injunction and its order will be reversed only upon a showing that there has been an abuse of this discretion. Transport Company of Texas v. Robertson Transports, Inc., 152 Tex. 551, 261 S.W.2d 549 (1953). The trial court’s findings support its conclusion of a probable wrong and a probable injury justifying the issuance of a temporary injunction. The record "does not reflect an abuse of the trial court’s discretion.

A trial court may appoint a receiver to take charge of the partnership business where the parties are unable to agree upon the management of a business and the partnership assets are in danger of being lost, removed or materially injured. Article 2293, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann.; Alexander v. Alexander, 99 S.W.2d 1062 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1936, no writ). A receiver may be appointed even though the existence of the partnership is denied. Rische v. Rische, 46 Tex.Civ.App. 23, 101 S.W. 849 (San Antonio 1907, writ dism’d). The trial court’s findings in the instant case support its appointment of a receiver to take charge of the business pending final hearing on the merits.

It is next the contention of Rubin that the order appointing the receiver was unreasonably vague and that the trial court erred in failing to require the filing of a bond by Gilmore and Gibson as a condition to the appointment of the receiver.

The trial court’s order directs the receiver to take financial control of the business and to protect the business assets and conserve the business profits pending the final resolution of the cause. It also directs the receiver to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to Gilmore and Gibson for their services pending final disposition of the cause, after taking into consideration the amount of income available for the payment of necessary expenses. Although the order could have been more specific with respect to the receiver’s duties, it is not so vague as to render the order invalid.

The trial court was not, however, authorized to appoint a receiver in the absence of an applicant’s bond filed in compliance with Rule 695a, Tex.R.Civ.P. Neither the filing of the receiver’s bond nor the filing of the temporary injunction bond satisfied this requirement. Continental Homes Co. v. Hilltown Property Owners Assoc., Inc., 529 S.W.2d 293 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1975, no writ). The requirement of an applicant’s bond is mandatory, and non-compliance with Rule 695a requires the reversal of the order appointing the receiver. Continental Homes Co. v. Hilltown Property Owners Assoc., Inc. supra; Parr v. First State Bank, 507 S.W.2d 579 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1974, no writ).

It is Rubin’s further contention that the trial court’s temporary injunction order is void in that it fails to state the reason for its issuance and does not describe in reasonable detail the act or acts sought to be restrained.

Rule 683, Tex.R.Civ.P. provides:

“Every order granting an injunction and every restraining order shall set forth the reasons for its issuance; shall be specific in terms; shall describe in reasonable detail and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act *235 or acts sought to be restrained; and is binding only upon the parties to the action, their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and upon those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.”

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Bluebook (online)
561 S.W.2d 231, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3735, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rubin-v-gilmore-texapp-1977.