Satterwhite v. Safeco Land Title of Tarrant

853 S.W.2d 202, 1993 WL 130580
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 8, 1993
Docket2-92-144-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 853 S.W.2d 202 (Satterwhite v. Safeco Land Title of Tarrant) 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
Satterwhite v. Safeco Land Title of Tarrant, 853 S.W.2d 202, 1993 WL 130580 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

FARRIS, Justice.

Appellants, Richard A. Satterwhite and Sharon S. Satterwhite, appeal a judgment awarding them damages under their DTPA claim and complain the trial court erred: in failing to submit their requested jury question on exemplary damages; in refusing to enter their proposed judgment; in not entering judgment for the highest possible award based on the jury’s findings; and in awarding attorneys’ fees less than those found by the jury. We overrule these points, because the Satterwhites failed to preserve error on their requested jury charge, did not brief their points complaining about the trial court entering judgment on their DTPA claim and not on their statutory fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims, and because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in reducing the attorneys’ fees awarded.

By cross-point appellee, Safeco Land Title of Tarrant (Safeco), complains the trial court erred: in rendering judgment for the Satterwhites because there was no evidence Charles Rigby was an agent for Safeco or that he acted within the scope of authority granted to him; in awarding attorneys’ fees; in admitting the testimony of Cecil Miskin on attorneys’ fees; and in not reducing the judgment by the amount the Satterwhites received from settling defendants. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Safeco’s request for a jury question on scope of employment and impliedly found good cause for the Satterwhites’ failure to timely supplement their discovery response to include Cecil Miskin as an expert witness, and because there was no evidence the settled claims covered the same injury, Safeco’s cross-points are overruled and the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.

This appeal arises from the Satterwhites’ suit against Safeco for damages they suffered when Charles Rigby, the escrow closer and alleged agent of Safeco, wrongfully disbursed funds at closing. They sought relief under the fraud in real estate section of the Texas Business & Commerce Code, under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and for breach of fiduciary duty. After the jury returned a verdict for the Satter-whites on all causes, they moved for judgment on the verdict and Safeco moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The trial court denied the Satterwhites’ motion and partially granted Safeco’s motion by entering judgment for the Satterwhites on their DTPA claim.

In their second and third points, the Sat-terwhites challenge this ruling by arguing the trial court erred in failing to enter their *205 proposed judgment and in not entering judgment for the highest award based on the jury’s findings.

The trial court’s judgment states that the greatest recovery the Satterwhites were entitled to was afforded by their DTPA claim. This recitation indicates the trial court disregarded the jury’s answers to questions pertaining to their statutory fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims; therefore, we must determine whether such disregard constitutes error.

Whether the evidence supports the jury finding on the real estate fraud statute claim is irrelevant since the Satter-whites cannot recover under this statute because it does not apply to title insurance transactions. See Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 27.01 (Vernon 1987); American Title Ins. Co. v. Byrd, 384 S.W.2d 683, 685 (Tex.1964). Because the damages of a common-law cause of action cannot be stacked with those of a statutory cause when the claims arise from a single wrongful act, see American Baler Co. v. SRS Systems, Inc., 748 S.W.2d 243, 246 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1988, writ denied), we will not determine whether the evidence shows breach of a fiduciary duty. The Satterwhites’ DTPA claim provided the greater recovery, since the exemplary damages question related only to their DTPA claim; therefore, the trial court did not err in entering judgment on that claim. Points two and three are overruled.

The Satterwhites argue in their first point the trial court erred in not submitting their requested jury charge on exemplary damages in connection with their statutory fraud claim. Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 27.01 (Vernon 1987). Our discussion of this point will be brief because the Satter-whites failed to preserve error on it and because they failed to demonstrate the trial court abused its discretion in disregarding the jury findings on the statutory fraud action, so the omission of a question on exemplary damages was harmless.

Although the Satterwhites requested a question on the issue, in writing and separate from other requested jury charges, they did not obtain a ruling on the request. Tex.R.Civ.P. 276 and 279; Woods v. Crane Carrier Co., 693 S.W.2d 377, 379 (Tex.1985); Greenstein, Logan & Co. v. Burgess Mktg., 744 S.W.2d 170, 181 (Tex.App.—Waco 1987, writ denied); Lyles v. Texas Employers’ Ins. Ass’n, 405 S.W.2d 725, 727 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1966, writ ref’d n.r.e.). We acknowledge the court overruled the Satterwhites’ objections to the charge, but that ruling does not constitute a ruling on the request. Because the Satterwhites’ first point is unpreserved error, it is overruled.

Since the Satterwhites’ last point and Safeco’s second and third cross-points concern the propriety of the court’s award of attorneys’ fees in the amount of $12,000, they will be addressed together.

The Satterwhites contend the trial court abused its discretion in disregarding the jury’s finding that $18,000 was reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees and Safeco complains there is no admissible evidence to support any award of attorneys’ fees.

The only evidence regarding attorneys’ fees was the testimony of the Satterwhites’ attorney, Cecil R. Miskin, to which Safeco objected on the ground that the Satter-whites did not timely supplement their answers to interrogatories concerning the testimony of expert witnesses, as required by Tex.R.Civ.P. 166b(6).

When a party has failed to timely identify evidence in response to discovery requests, the trial court has the discretion to impose an appropriate sanction upon the offending party for abuse of the discovery-process. Alvarado v. Farah Mfg. Co., 830 S.W.2d 911, 915 (Tex.1992). Although imposition of the sanction is automatic, it is not intended to punish a party who cannot respond to a discovery request in a timely manner. Clark v. Trailways, Inc., 774 S.W.2d 644, 646 (Tex.1989).

The usual sanction for failure to supplement a discovery request for the identity of expert witnesses is the exclusion of the undisclosed expert’s testimony. Tex. R.Civ.P. 215(5).

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853 S.W.2d 202, 1993 WL 130580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/satterwhite-v-safeco-land-title-of-tarrant-texapp-1993.