State ex rel. Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation v. Roark

876 S.W.2d 514, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1006, 1994 WL 155136
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 28, 1994
DocketNo. 08-93-00322-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 876 S.W.2d 514 (State ex rel. Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation v. Roark) 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
State ex rel. Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation v. Roark, 876 S.W.2d 514, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1006, 1994 WL 155136 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

KOEHLER, Justice.

The State of Texas, acting at the request and in behalf of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, brought suit for reimbursement of costs in the amount of $13,318.97 associated with the support, maintenance, and treatment of Bill Brian Roark while he was a judicially committed patient at Vernon State Hospital. In a non-jury trial, the court after hearing the evidence rendered judgment for the State in the amount of $6,659. We reform the judgment to award the State of Texas the sum of $13,318.97, and as reformed, we affirm.

RELEVANT FACTS

Bill Brian Roark, a/k/a Billy Roark (Roark), Appellee, was on January 30, 1991 admitted to Vernon State Hospital, a mental health facility under the management and control of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, by virtue of a court ordered commitment. Because he possessed some property, his admission was as a “non-indigent patient,” pursuant to Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 3196a, § 1 (Vernon 1968)1. He remained at the hospital until his release on April 4,1991. Thereafter, the State presented to Roark’s guardian at the time a verified claim for $13,318.97 as reimbursement for Roark’s support, maintenance, and treatment during his stay at the hospital. [516]*516Following the guardian’s rejection of the claim, the State brought this suit, first against the guardian of Roark’s estate and later by substitution directly against Roark after the guardianship was closed, seeking reimbursement in the full amount of its verified claim.2 Attached to the State’s petition was the affidavit of James E. Smith, superintendent of the hospital, which verified, among other things, that the amount claimed was for the support, maintenance, and treatment furnished to Roark during the period in question, that the amount was just and true, that it was due, and that all just and lawful offsets, counterclaims, payments, and credits had been allowed. Roark’s guardian answered with a sworn denial. At the conclusion of the bench trial that followed, the court rendered judgment in the State’s favor for $6,659.

At the request of both parties, the trial court filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court first found: (1) that Roark was a patient at the hospital from January 30 through April 4, 1991; (2) that the cost of support, maintenance and treatment to the State at the hospital was $6,060 per month per patient; (3) that Roark was possessed of property from which the State could be reimbursed for the cost of services provided to Roark; (4) that the verified claim of the superintendent of the hospital, James E. Smith, was sufficient prima facie proof of the amount due the State for the cost of services provided to Roark; and (5) that the State’s witness, Tammy Wrinkle, had knowledge of relevant facts and was custodian of the business records of the State. It then found that Roark did not receive care at the hospital “equivalent to $6,060 per month.”

In its “conclusions of law” the court concluded, among other things, that although the State was entitled to be reimbursed for the cost of services to nonindigent patients pursuant to Section 552.013(c) of the Texas Health and Safety Code, it was only entitled to a judgment against Roark in the amount of $6,659 plus interest.

The State brought this appeal on two points of error, one a legal sufficiency point and the other a factual sufficiency point, i.e. there is either no evidence or insufficient evidence to support a judgment for a lesser amount than the amount for which it sued. Roark in two cross points contends that because the State failed to offer any evidence that the amounts claimed were necessary and reasonable, there was no probative evidence to support a judgment for the State in any amount and that if the statute allows the State to recover its costs from an involuntarily committed patient without proof that treatment was provided and necessary and that the charges were reasonable, then the statute unconstitutionally permits the taking of property without due process of law.

When presented with a “no evidence” challenge, the appellate court should consider only the evidence and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom which, when viewed in their most favorable light, support the court finding. All evidence and inferences to the contrary are to be disregarded. Stafford v. Stafford, 726 S.W.2d 14, 16 (Tex.1987); Alm v. Aluminum Company of America, 717 S.W.2d 588, 593 (Tex.1986). If there is more than a scintilla of evidence to support the questioned finding, the no evidence point fails. Stafford, 726 S.W.2d at 16.

When a factual sufficiency challenge is brought, the court must first examine all of the evidence, Lofton v. Texas Brine Corp., 720 S.W.2d 804, 805 (Tex.1986); and after considering and weighing all of the evidence, the court may set aside the finding only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Cain v. Bain, 709 S.W.2d 175, 176 (Tex.1986). Since an appellate court is not a fact finder, it may not pass upon the credibility of the witnesses or substitute its [517]*517judgment for that of the trier of fact, even if the evidence would support a different result. Clancy v. Zale Corp., 705 S.W.2d 820, 826 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

AMOUNT DUE ESTABLISHED AS A MATTER OF LAW

The State asserts under its first point that the evidence established as a matter of law that it is entitled to a judgment for $13,318.97. Although this is commonly referred to as a legal sufficiency or no evidence point, it is more aptly described as a “conclusive evidence” point because the appealing party, in this case the State, is claiming, in effect, that its evidence is conclusive because it is strong and there is no, or at most not more than a scintilla of, evidence in support of a contrary finding.3 Under the second point, the State contends that the finding that Roark did not receive care at the hospital equivalent to $6,060 per month is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence, i.e. that evidence is factually insufficient to support the finding.

EVIDENTIARY ANALYSIS

During the trial, the State introduced over objection a copy of the account that had been attached to its petition together with the superintendent’s affidavit verifying that the amount of the account was just, true, and due. The account and affidavit were admitted over Roark’s initial objection that the affidavit was hearsay and no evidence of the reasonableness and necessity of the expenses charged. It also was and is Roark’s position that admitting over objection the superintendent’s affidavit, he not having been identified as an expert witness in response to Roark’s interrogatories, was tantamount to allowing an expert to testify in violation of the sanction rule, Tex.R.Civ.P. 215(5). Article 3196a4, in effect at the time this cause arose and now codified in essentially the same language under Tex.Health & Safety Code Ann.

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State v. Farris
935 S.W.2d 168 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
876 S.W.2d 514, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1006, 1994 WL 155136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-department-of-mental-health-mental-retardation-v-roark-texapp-1994.