Trevino v. Trevino

64 S.W.3d 166, 2001 WL 1193891
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 10, 2001
Docket04-00-00550-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 64 S.W.3d 166 (Trevino v. Trevino) 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
Trevino v. Trevino, 64 S.W.3d 166, 2001 WL 1193891 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

64 S.W.3d 166 (2001)

José Maria TREVIÑO, Leopoldo Treviño, Zoila Treviño, Eustolia Garza, and Emma T. Gonzalez, Appellants,
v.
Ernesto TREVIÑO, Guadalupe P. Treviño, F.R. Nye, Jr., Estate of Tomas Treviño and his heirs, Maria Imelda T. Ramon, Yolanda T. Alvarez, Delia Chavarria, and Dalia T. Olivarez, Appellees.

No. 04-00-00550-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

October 10, 2001.

*169 Margil Sanchez, Jr., Rio Grande City, for Appellants.

Charles A. Nicholson, Law Offices of Charles Nicholson, San Antonio, Frank R. Nye, Jr., Law Offices of Frank R. Nye, Jr., Rio Grande City, for Appellees.

Sitting: TOM RICKHOFF, Justice, ALMA L. LÓPEZ, Justice, and SARAH B. DUNCAN, Justice.

Opinion by SARAH B. DUNCAN, Justice.

José Maria Treviño, Leopoldo Treviño, Zoila Treviño, Eustolia Garza, and Emma T. Gonzalez appeal the trial court's summary judgment in their partition suit against Ernesto Treviño, Guadalupe P. Treviño, F.R. Nye, Jr., the Estate of Tomas Treviño and his heirs, Maria Imelda T. Ramon, Yolanda T. Alvarez, Delia Chavarria, and Dalia T. Olivarez. We reverse the trial court's judgment and remand the cause for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This appeal arises out of a suit to partition the surface of 805.52 acres of land ("the Treviño Ranch") located in Starr County. In 1987, the last known record title holders to the Treviño Ranch were Geronimo Saenz and Miguel Saenz or their heirs. However, from 1924 to 1929, the Treviño Ranch was occupied by Tranquilino Treviño and his wife, Gorgonia Moreno Treviño. In 1929, Tranquilino Treviño died intestate. After his death, Gorgonia Treviño continued to occupy and use the Treviño Ranch until her death in 1937. She also died intestate.

After Gorgonia Treviño's death, her children and grandchildren began using the Treviño Ranch. Together, the Treviño descendants executed oil and gas leases; and certain of them conveyed their undivided interests in the Ranch to other Treviño descendants and to persons outside the family. Some time between 1946 and 1955, the ranch was abandoned; and the land was no longer actively used for planting crops or grazing cattle. Shortly thereafter, the children of Tranquilino's and Gorgonia's son Teofilo—Tomas, now deceased, and Ernesto—began repairing the existing fences and corrals, grazing cattle, and making other improvements such as building a new stock tank and dam. At the same time, the children of Tranquilino's son Manuel continued to use the land for recreational purposes only. The parties dispute whether Ernesto eventually denied access to the land to Manual's children or, conversely, consented to their continued recreational use.

In the mid-1980s, Ernesto and Guadalupe Treviño filed a trespass to try title suit against the heirs, successors, and assigns of the last known record owners of the Treviño Ranch, Geronimo Saenz and Miguel Saenz. In 1987, the court granted a no-answer default judgment, purporting to vest fee simple title in the Treviño Ranch in Ernesto and Guadalupe Treviño, subject to a one-third mineral interest conveyed to their attorney, F.R. Nye, Jr., as attorney's fees. So far as the summary judgment record reflects, Manuel's children were not parties to this suit.

In 1992, Manuel's children—José, Leopoldo, Zoila, Eustolia, and Emma (Plaintiffs)—filed suit against Ernesto and Guadalupe Treviño, their attorney in the adverse possession suit, F.R. Nye, Jr., the Estate of Ernesto's brother, Tomas Treviño, Tomas' children—Maria, Yolanda, *170 Delia, and Dalia—and Tomas' heirs (collectively, Defendants) to partition the surface of the Treviño Ranch. Plaintiffs claim undivided interests in 150.52 acres of the ranch through inheritance from Tranquilino and Gorgonia Treviño.[1] In response, Defendants filed a general denial and a plea of not guilty and alleged several affirmative defenses. Defendants subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment denying they or the Plaintiffs acquired title by inheritance from Tranquilino and Gorgonia Treviño. The Defendants instead traced their ownership interest to the 1987 judgment and contend: (1) there is no evidence Plaintiffs acquired title through a "common source"; and (2) the undisputed facts establish they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on their affirmative defenses. The trial court granted the Defendants motion and the Plaintiffs appealed.

I. MOTION TO STRIKE

Plaintiffs first argue the trial court erred in overruling their motion to strike Defendants' motion for summary judgment because Defendants' motion was filed after the scheduling order deadline for filing motions had passed and without leave of court. We disagree.

Rule 166 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure relates to pretrial conferences. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166. The rule provides that an order shall be made at the pretrial conference hearing, and "such order when issued shall control the subsequent course of the action." Id. Nevertheless, the trial court retains the authority under Rule 166 to modify an order to prevent manifest injustice. Id. Because the trial court has a "duty to schedule its cases in such a manner as to expeditiously dispose of them" and is given "wide discretion in managing its docket ... we will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion absent a showing of clear abuse." Clanton v. Clark, 639 S.W.2d 929, 931 (Tex.1982).

The docket control order set February 8, 2000 as the deadline for the filing of all motions by either party. Without leave of court, Defendants filed their motion for summary judgment on March 2. On March 3, the trial court set the motion for submission on March 31. Plaintiffs then filed a motion to strike Defendants' motion for summary judgment. On July 12, the trial court signed an order denying Plaintiffs' motion to strike and granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment.

By overruling plaintiffs' motion to strike and setting defendants' motion for summary judgment for submission, "the trial court implicitly modified the docket control order." Ocean Transp., Inc. v. Greycas, Inc., 878 S.W.2d 256, 262 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1994, writ denied). Although the trial court's reasoning is not apparent from the record, it appears the trial court allowed the late filed motion for summary judgment to prevent an unnecessary trial. Plaintiffs do not claim they did not receive adequate notice and opportunity to respond to defendants' motion. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 21; 166(c). We therefore conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling plaintiffs' motion to strike. Plaintiffs' first point of error is overruled.

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Because the trial court did not specify a ground for its ruling, Plaintiffs bear the burden of showing each ground *171 alleged in the Defendants' motion is insufficient to support the trial court's summary judgment. Star-Telegram, Inc. v. Doe, 915 S.W.2d 471, 473 (Tex.1995). We first review the "common source" ground and then turn to Defendants' affirmative defenses.

A. Common Source

Plaintiffs argue the trial court erred in granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment, because they produced "more than a scintilla" of evidence they and Defendants acquired title to the Treviño Ranch through a common source—Tranquilino and Gorgonia Treviño.

1. Standard of Review

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Plaza City, LLC v. AES Septic, LLC
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
Rhea Melton v. Robert D. Waddell
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
I-10 Colony, Inc. v. Chao Kuan Lee, Li Yang Lee, Li Hsiang Chang
393 S.W.3d 467 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Stacy J. Williams v. T. Nichole Mai
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Estate of Frederick D. Hoyt
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 S.W.3d 166, 2001 WL 1193891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trevino-v-trevino-texapp-2001.