Tag Resources, Inc. v. Petroleum Well Services, Inc.

791 S.W.2d 600, 1990 WL 101981
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 7, 1990·No. 09-89-047 CV·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinions

OPINION

WALKER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the granting of a summary judgment entered on November 8, 1988, in favor of Petroleum Well Services, Inc., in the 88th Judicial District Court of Hardin County, Texas, the Honorable Earl B. Stover, presiding. Appellant is Tag Resources, Inc. and appellee is Petroleum Well Services, Inc.

Appellee’s second amended petition in the trial court sought a judgment against appellant and another defendant (not a party to this appeal) either on an original contract between appellant and appellee, dated April 2, 1986, or on a subsequent agreement between appellant and appellee, which took place immediately prior to August 14, 1986, which was reflected in a letter dated August 14, 1986, from appellant to appellee.

A hearing was held on plaintiff’s (appel-lee herein) motion for interlocutory summary judgment on October 17, 1988. At the hearing, appellee objected to appellant’s summary judgment evidence, both orally [603]*603and in writing. On November 8, 1988, a final summary judgment was entered in favor of appellee against appellant and appellant has timely and properly brought its appeal to this Court.

Background reveals that on April 2, 1986, appellee entered into a contract with appellant wherein appellee was to provide the drilling equipment and services listed in the contract, and appellant was to pay ap-pellee the rate specified for the equipment and services provided pursuant to the contract.

Prior to August 14, 1986, appellee and appellant reached an agreement concerning the liquidated amount owed by appellant to appellee pursuant to the contract, which amount was agreed to be $64,833.30. Appellant agreed to pay appellee $5,000.00 per month on the first day of each month, plus interest on the remaining balance at the rate of nine percent per annum, beginning September 1,1986, until the agreed balance was paid in full. This agreement was confirmed by a letter from appellant to appel-lee dated August 14, 1986. Thereafter, appellant paid $4,486.25 on September 10, 1986, and then paid $456.25 on October 13, 1986 with no payments being made after October 13, 1986.

Subsequently, appellee filed suit and after conducting discovery, filed a motion for interlocutory summary judgment against appellant stating that no genuine issue of material fact exists since appellant admitted liability to appellee by letter dated August 14, 1986 setting out the sum of money appellant owed to appellee. It should be noted that appellant filed a counter-claim against the appellee during the due course of proceedings before the trial court making allegations of deceptive trade practice, credit and off-sets and fraud in the inducement for appellant to enter into the written agreement.

Appellant brings five points of error to this Court which shall be discussed in numerical order.

Appellant’s point of error number one contends that the trial court erred in granting appellee’s motion for interlocutory summary judgment because the evidence presented with and in response to appel-lee’s motion, in the form of deposition testimony and the sworn affidavit of George Snyder, appellant’s representative, clearly raises issues of material fact on whether or not appellant is liable to appellee.

To be entitled to interlocutory summary judgment, the movant must conclusively prove all essential elements of his claim. MMP, LTD. v. Jones, 710 S.W.2d 59 (Tex.1986). The burden is on a movant to show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. TEX.R. CIV.P. 166a(e).

Appellant’s argument under its first point of error focuses primarily upon alleged breaches of the original contract. Appellee contends that whether or not ap-pellee performed under the original contract is not an issue which must be resolved to establish appellant’s liability to appellee. Appellee further contends that the letter agreement of August 14, 1986 which was before the trial court, admitted to by appellant and in no way controverted by appellant, eliminated any claims or issues which appellant may have raised against appellee for acts of appellee prior to the subsequent agreement. In other words, appellant has no claim for alleged defects in performance by appellee under the original contract because such defects were taken into consideration by appellant prior to entering into the August 14, 1986 agreement. It is clear to us that this is exactly what the trial court did in arriving at its granting of interlocutory summary judgment. The issue before the trial court was the effect of the August 14,1986 letter and not the original contract, nor any defenses which may have been asserted to that contract. We can find nothing in the record, which was considered by the trial court in rendering its judgment, which raises a fact issue as to the liability of appellant to appellee under the August 14, 1986 letter.

Appellant contends that conflicting statements made by appellant’s representative, George Snyder, in deposition testimony and [604]*604affidavit, in and of itself constitutes an issue of fact relying upon the case of Randall v. Dallas Power & Lighting Co., 752 S.W.2d 4 (Tex.1988). Our Supreme Court did indeed conclude that since conflicting inferences could be drawn from the two statements, that the movant in that case did not meet its burden of showing that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact. We also would agree with appellant if the original contract were in issue before the trial court. In our case, we find no conflicting inferences regarding appellant’s liability to appellee. The conflicting statements made by appellant’s representative were neither relevant nor material to appellant’s liability on the agreement of August 14, 1986. We hold that neither the affidavit of George Snyder, nor any other alleged summary judgment evidence of appellant, controverted the terms or existence of the subsequent agreement. Appellant’s point of error number one is overruled.

Appellant’s point of error number two states that the trial court erred in granting appellant’s motion for interlocutory summary judgment because the evidence presented with and in response to appellant’s motion for interlocutory summary judgment in the form of deposition testimony and sworn affidavit of George Snyder, Tag’s representative, clearly raises issues of material fact on what amount, if any, is owed by appellant to appellee. Appellant here argues that the alleged additional offsets and credits later discovered by appellant created a fact issue as to the balance owed by appellant to appellee. We take the position that even if allegation of subsequently discovered off-sets and credit are true, the existence of these off-sets and credits do not create a fact issue on the liability of appellant to appellee which was created under the agreement between them immediately prior to August 14, 1986. Appellant does not dispute the existence of this subsequent agreement, but only the effect of same.

Appellant apparently bases its point of error number two on Mr. Snyder’s alleged mistake as to the balance owed to appellee at the time that the subsequent agreement was made. Mistake and mutual mistake are matters in confession and avoidance which must be plead under Rule 94 of the TEX.R.CIV.PROC. State v. Allstate Ins. Co., 654 S.W.2d 45 (Tex.App.—Austin 1983, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

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Tag Resources, Inc. v. Petroleum Well Services, Inc., 791 S.W.2d 600, 1990 WL 101981 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

791 S.W.2d 600 (Tag Resources, Inc. v. Petroleum Well Services, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Tag Resources, Inc. v. Petroleum Well Services, Inc.
791 S.W.2d 600 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)