Valley Mechanical Contractors, Inc. v. Gonzales

894 S.W.2d 832, 1995 WL 61989
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 16, 1995
Docket13-93-139-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 894 S.W.2d 832 (Valley Mechanical Contractors, Inc. v. Gonzales) 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
Valley Mechanical Contractors, Inc. v. Gonzales, 894 S.W.2d 832, 1995 WL 61989 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

SEERDEN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a garnishment judgment rendered in favor of appellee. Appellant raises two points of error: a “no evidence” complaint and a factual insufficiency of the evidence complaint. We affirm.

In 1988, appellee, Ernesto Gonzales, a practicing attorney, represented Isidora Wa-bler in a divorce proceeding. Pursuant to the divorce judgment, the court ordered Isi-dora’s ex-husband, David Wabler, to pay Gonzales $13,075 in attorney’s fees plus ten percent per annum interest until the debt is paid.

In 1991, David Wabler formed a corporation — Valley Mechanical Contractors, Inc. (VMC) — a commercial air conditioning business. Wabler opened two bank accounts in the name of VMC at the San Benito Bank and Trust Company and was the only individual authorized to write checks on the VMC accounts.

As of 1993, Wabler had not satisfied the 1988 judgment against him, owing Gonzales a total of $18,596.00 including interest. . Gonzales applied for a writ of garnishment against the San Benito Bank to satisfy his judgment against Wabler out of the funds in the VMC account. Gonzales alleged in his writ application that VMC was the alter ego of Wabler.

The trial court heard testimony and evidence at the garnishment hearing and granted judgment in favor of Gonzales, thereby *834 ordering Gonzales to recover against the San Benito Bank the sum of $18,596.00 to be credited to the 1988 judgment against Wa-bler. The trial court recited in its judgment that it found VMC to be the alter ego of Wabler and Wabler the owner of VMC.

VMC now appeals the trial court’s garnishment judgment, raising two points of error: (1) there is no evidence to support the trial court’s finding that VMC was the alter ego of Wabler, and (2) there is insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s finding that VMC was the alter ego of Wabler. By these points, appellant infers that the trial court actually made findings of fact and conclusions of law on the alter ego issue. However, in reviewing the record before us, we find it to be devoid of any findings of facts and conclusions of law. Although the court recites in its judgment that it found VMC to be the alter ego of Wabler, we do not treat this recitation as valid findings of fact. Rather, findings of fact are filed as a document or documents separate and apart from the judgment. TEX.R.CIV.P. 299a.

The transcript reflects that appellant filed a request for findings of fact approximately sixty days after the judgment was signed. As such, appellant did not make a timely request. See TEX.R.CIV.P. 296 (mandating that requests for findings shall be filed within twenty days after judgment is signed). Because VMC did not make a timely request, we will treat this record as one where findings of fact were neither requested nor filed. See Lute Riley Motor, Inc. v. T.C. Crist, Inc., 767 S.W.2d 439, 440 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1988, writ denied).

In a nonjury trial, where findings of fact and conclusions of law were neither requested nor filed, it will be implied that the trial court made all necessary findings to support its judgment. Holt Atherton Indus., Inc. v. Heine, 835 S.W.2d 80, 83 (Tex.1992); Burnett v. Motyka, 610 S.W.2d 735, 736 (Tex.1980). If the evidence supports the implied findings, we must uphold the judgment of the trial court on any theory of law applicable to the case. In re W.E.R., 669 S.W.2d 716, 717 (Tex.1984); Lassiter v. Bliss, 559 S.W.2d 353, 358 (Tex.1977).

When, as in this case, a statement of facts is brought forward, these implied findings may be challenged by factual or legal sufficiency points in the same manner as jury findings or a trial court’s findings are challenged. Roberson v. Robinson, 768 S.W.2d 280, 281 (Tex.1989); Burnett, 610 S.W.2d at 736. The applicable standard of review remains the same. See Heine, 835 S.W.2d at 83-84; Burnett, 610 S.W.2d at 736. Here, appellant contends the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the finding that VMC was the alter ego of Wabler. Before resolving these evidentiary points, however, we find it necessary to review the doctrine of alter ego and the applicable substantive law.

Texas courts will disregard the corporate fiction — pierce the corporate veil— when the corporate form has been used as part of a basically unfair device to achieve an inequitable result. Castleberry v. Branscum, 721 S.W.2d 270, 271 (Tex.1986). Specifically, courts will disregard the corporate fiction:

(1) when the fiction is used as a means of perpetrating fraud;
(2) where a corporation is organized and operated as a mere tool or business conduit of another corporation;
(3) where the corporate fiction is resorted to as a means of evading an existing legal obligation;
(4) where the corporate fiction is employed to achieve or perpetrate monopoly;
(5) where the corporate fiction is used to circumvent a statute; and
(6) where the corporate fiction is relied upon as a protection of crime or to justify wrong.

Id. at 272. The third circumstance — where the corporate fiction is used as a means to evade an existing legal obligation — is implicated in this case.

Alter ego is one basis in law for disregarding the corporate fiction when there is such unity between a corporation and an individual that an adherence to the fiction of a separate existence would, under the particular circumstances, sanction a fraud or promote an injustice. Id.; First Nat’l Bank v. *835 Gamble, 134 Tex. 112, 132 S.W.2d 100, 103 (1939). Alter ego may be shown from the total dealings of the corporation and individual, including: (i) the degree to which corporate formalities have been followed and corporate and individual property have been kept separately; (ii) the amount of financial interest, ownership, and control the individual maintains over the corporation; and (iii) whether the corporation has been used for personal purposes. Castleberry, 721 S.W.2d at 272. The rationale behind the alter ego doctrine is that “if the shareholders themselves disregard the separation of the corporate enterprise, the law will also disregard it so far as necessary to protect individual and corporate creditors.” Id. (quoting Ballan-tine, Corporations § 123 at 294 (1946)).

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Bluebook (online)
894 S.W.2d 832, 1995 WL 61989, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valley-mechanical-contractors-inc-v-gonzales-texapp-1995.