Strong v. Strong

350 S.W.3d 759, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 8010, 2011 WL 4637555
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 7, 2011
Docket05-09-01273-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 350 S.W.3d 759 (Strong v. Strong) 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
Strong v. Strong, 350 S.W.3d 759, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 8010, 2011 WL 4637555 (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion By

Justice MYERS.

Karl A. Strong (Father) appeals the divorce and child-custody decree rendered following a trial before the court. Father brings five issues in this appeal asserting the trial court abused its discretion by (1) denying Father’s request for a continuance; (2) admitting the report of Mother’s drug-test results; (3) refusing to secure the expert testimony of Father’s witness and by refusing to admit certain exhibits without the witness having to appear; (4) appointing Mother as the parent with the exclusive right to establish the child’s primary residence; and (5) failing to a make a just and right division of the community of property. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

CONTINUANCE

In his first issue, Father contends the trial 'court abused its discretion by denying Father’s oral request for continuance. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 251 provides that no continuance shall be granted “except for sufficient cause supported by affidavit, or by consent of the parties, or by operation of law.” Tex.R. Civ. P. 251. Father’s oral motion for continuance was not supported by affidavit, Mother did not consent to a continuance, and Father does not explain why a continuance was required by operation of law. Accordingly, Father has failed to preserve any error from the trial court’s denial of his motion for continuance. See Taherzadeh v. Ghaleh-Assadi, 108 S.W.3d 927, 928 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2003, pet. denied); Favaloro v. Comm’n for Lawyer Discipline, 13 S.W.3d 831, 838 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2000, no pet.).

Even if error were preserved, the denial of a motion for continuance will not be disturbed unless the record dis *763 closes a clear abuse of discretion. Joe v. Two Thirty Nine Joint Venture, 145 S.W.3d 150, 161 (Tex.2004). The appellate court does not substitute its judgment for the trial court’s but decides only whether the trial court’s action was arbitrary and unreasonable. Yowell v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 703 S.W.2d 630, 635 (Tex.1986). In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, the reviewing court considers three nonexclusive factors: (1) the length of time the case been on file, (2) the materiality and purpose of the discovery sought; and (3) whether the party seeking the continuance has exercised due diligence to obtain the discovery sought. Id. At the time of the trial, the case had been pending for over two years. The court observed that “there’s been a few motions for continuances granted in this case.” The discovery Father sought was the extent of Mother’s saving and investment accounts. Father states in his brief that although the case had been pending for two years, the parties first exchanged discovery seven weeks before trial with a final exchange of documents in the two days before trial. Under these circumstances of the case having been on file for two years, multiple continuances having previously been granted, and Father not seeking discovery until less than two months before trial, we cannot conclude the trial court clearly abused its discretion in denying the oral motion for continuance on the day of trial.

The record also shows that the trial took place over two days. The second day of trial was more than two weeks after the first day, during which time Mother provided Father with additional information regarding her accounts. Both Mother and Father testified on the second day of trial about the marital finances. Although Father’s counsel stated that he lacked adequate time to review the newly provided materials before the second day of the trial, Father does not explain how additional time for discovery would have affected the outcome of the case. We conclude the record does not show that the failure to grant the continuance “probably caused the rendition of an improper judgment.” See Tex.R.App. P. 44.1(a)(1). Accordingly, any error from the denial of the motion for continuance is not reversible. We overrule Father’s first issue.

ADMISSION OF DRUG-TEST REPORT

In his second issue, Father asserts the trial court abused its discretion in admitting Mother’s exhibit of the laboratory report of her drug test. The admission and exclusion of evidence is committed to the trial court’s discretion. City of Brownsville v. Alvarado, 897 S.W.2d 750, 753 (Tex.1995); Costilla v. Crown Equip. Co., 148 S.W.3d 736, 738 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2004, no pet.). The trial court abuses its discretion when it acts “without regard for any guiding rules or principles.” Costilla, 148 S.W.3d at 738-39 (quoting Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Malone, 972 S.W.2d 35, 43 (Tex.1998)). We must uphold the trial court’s evidentiary ruling if there is any legitimate basis for doing so. Costilla, 148 S.W.3d at 739.

Mother testified that she used marijuana during the marriage, and she admitted that she tested positive for marijuana in three court-ordered drug tests in March and April 2007. However, she testified she tested negative for marijuana in five tests in April, May, and June 2007. Mother told the court she had not used marijuana or other illegal drugs in the two years preceding the trial, and she produced the results of a drug test showing she tested negative for drugs from a sample taken six days before the first day of trial.

*764 If the trial court’s decision to admit the drug-test report was erroneous, we may not reverse the trial court’s judgment unless the error probably caused the rendition of an improper judgment. Tex. R.App. P. 44.1(a)(1). The erroneous admission of evidence is harmless if it is merely cumulative. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. v. Armstrong, 145 S.W.3d 131, 144 (Tex.2004); In re C.R., 263 S.W.3d 368, 370-71 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2008, no pet.). In this case, there was no evidence that Mother had used drugs since her last positive test more than two years before the trial, and the drug-test report is cumulative of Mother’s testimony that she had not used marijuana in over two years before the trial. We conclude that any error by the trial court in admitting the drug-test report did not probably cause the rendition of an improper judgment. We overrule Father’s second issue.

SECURING WITNESS’S TESTIMONY

In his third issue, Father asserts the ti'ial court abused its discretion by refusing to secure the testimony of Dr. Ezell Autry or by refusing to allow Mother’s medical records into evidence without Dr. Autry having to appear. Mother testified that she had an affair during the marriage, but she denied contracting syphilis. Father told the court that although he had subpoenaed Dr. Autry, who would testify he treated Mother for syphilis, Dr. Autry was in surgery and unable to attend the hearing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 S.W.3d 759, 2011 Tex. App. LEXIS 8010, 2011 WL 4637555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strong-v-strong-texapp-2011.