Venky Venkatraman v. Stephen D. Skinner and Jyoti Masurekar, Jointly and Severally Liable

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 7, 2023
Docket05-22-00298-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Venky Venkatraman v. Stephen D. Skinner and Jyoti Masurekar, Jointly and Severally Liable (Venky Venkatraman v. Stephen D. Skinner and Jyoti Masurekar, Jointly and Severally Liable) 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
Venky Venkatraman v. Stephen D. Skinner and Jyoti Masurekar, Jointly and Severally Liable, (Tex. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Affirmed and Opinion Filed August 7, 2023

In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-22-00298-CV

VENKY VENKATRAMAN, Appellant V. STEPHEN D. SKINNER AND JYOTI MASUREKAR, Appellees

On Appeal from the 256th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. DF-04-11968-V

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Partida-Kipness, Smith, and Breedlove Opinion by Justice Partida-Kipness Appellant Venky Venkatraman contends his ex-wife, Jyoti Masurekar, and

her counsel, Stephen Skinner, filed fraudulent child support liens against him with

the intent to cause him financial injury, mental anguish, and emotional distress. In

this appeal, Venkatraman challenges the trial court’s March 10, 2022 Order, which

confirmed a November 11, 2021 corrected child support lien and a child support

arrears judgment of $15,215.00, overruled Venkatraman’s objections to the

corrected child support lien, and denied his request for damages under section

12.002(b) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. We affirm. BACKGROUND Venkatraman and Masurekar divorced on June 1, 2005. They have two

children, both of whom are now over the age of eighteen.1 The ex-spouses’ high-

conflict relationship and contentious custody battle resulted in the filing of numerous

appeals and original proceedings in this Court. See In re S.V., No. 05-19-00548-CV,

2022 WL 696815, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 8, 2022, pet. denied) (mem. op.)

(collecting cases). Venkatraman’s failure to pay court-ordered child support and

objections to various child support liens and child support orders have been

addressed in previous appellate proceedings. The current appeal relates to child

support liens filed against Venkatraman for recovery of a May 6, 2019 judgment for

child support arrearages calculated as of November 15, 2018.

In a May 6, 2019 “Order Modifying Parent-Child Relationship and

Confirming Child Support Arrearages” (the May 6 Order), the trial court confirmed

Venkatraman “is in arrears in the payment of child support to [Masurekar] in the

amount of $15,215.00” as of November 15, 2018,2 and granted Masurekar a

cumulative judgment for those arrearages. Venkatraman appealed the May 6 Order

but did not challenge the portion of the May 6 Order relating to the $15,215.00 in

child support arrearages. See In re S.V., No. 05-19-00548-CV, 2022 WL 696815, at

*1, n. 1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 8, 2022, pet. denied) (mem. op.) (appeal of May 6

1 This appeal does not relate to the children. 2 The amount of child support owed after November 15, 2018, is not at issue in this appeal. –2– Order). Venkatraman appealed only the portion of the May 6 Order denying his

request for a reduction in the amount of child support. Id. at *1. This Court affirmed

the May 6 Order. Id. at *5.

On October 19, 2021, while the appeal of the May 6 Order was pending,

Skinner and Masurekar filed a child support lien referencing the May 6 Order’s

judgment for arrearages of $15,215.00. The October 19, 2021 lien, however,

incorrectly listed May 8, 2019, as the date of the order that determined the arrearages.

Venkatraman filed objections to the October 19, 2021 lien on November 8, 2021.

He complained the lien was fraudulent because it stated the arrearages arose from an

order dated May 8, 2019, but no order was issued that day. To correct the error,

Skinner and Masurekar filed a corrected child support lien on November 11, 2021

(the Corrected Lien), which stated the correct date of May 6, 2019.

Venkatraman filed objections to the Corrected Lien on December 9, 2021. He

argued the Corrected Lien was fraudulent because the trial court found in the January

22, 2021 Judgment that the amount of arrearages in a March 8, 2019 lien were

incorrect and ordered Masurekar and Skinner to vacate the March 8, 2019 lien. To

support his argument the Corrected Lien was fraudulent, he cited the following

language on pages three to four of the January 22, 2021 Judgment:

The Court incorporates the prior Associate Judge’s Report of May 14, 2019, which was reduced to the Order of May 14, 2019 (and signed on January 22, 2021), related to the Notice of Child Support Lien, document number 201900058103, filed on March 8, 2019, in the property records of Dallas County, Texas.

–3– Based on this Order, the Court ORDERS Defendants, Jyoti Masurekar and Stephen D. Skinner, to VACATE this Child Support Lien because the Court FINDS that arrearages amount in that document to be incorrect.

Venkatraman asserted in his objections to the Corrected Lien that appellees did not

vacate the Notice of Child Support Lien referenced above and filed as document

number 201900058103 (the March 8 Notice) and, therefore, could not file a new lien

for the same amount. The March 8 Notice3 however, did not mention the arrearages

of $15,215.00. Rather, the March 8 Notice listed arrearages of $17,900.00 as of

February 7, 2019, and stated the arrearages consisted of twenty months of unpaid

child support, from July 1, 2017 through February 7, 2019. The March 8 Notice also

listed December 15, 2017, as the date of the order determining child support

obligations.

Nonetheless, Venkatraman asked the trial court to find the Corrected Lien

fraudulent because it was purportedly identical to the March 8 Notice. He also asked

the trial court to order the Corrected Lien vacated and struck from Dallas County

property records, and to award him damages under Chapter 12 of the Texas Civil

Practice and Remedies Code.

3 The March 8 Notice is not included in the appellate record. It is, however, available on-line at the Dallas County Clerk’s website. These records are publicly available and are not subject to reasonable dispute because the information can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. See Alsobrook v. MTGLQ Inv’rs, LP, 657 S.W.3d 327, 330 (Tex. App.— Dallas 2021), reh’g denied (Dec. 23, 2021), review granted, decision aff’d as modified, 656 S.W.3d 394 (Tex. 2022). As such, we take judicial notice of these records and the facts they contain. See id.

–4– On January 4, 2022, the trial court held a hearing on Venkatraman’s

objections. At the January 4, 2022 hearing, Venkatraman again complained the

Corrected Lien should be vacated because it was “the duplicate lien” of a lien the

trial court ordered to be vacated in the January 22, 2021 Judgment. He did not,

however, mention the March 8 Notice at the hearing. Instead, he complained of a

different lien, which he described as the “last lien from the last judgment -- the last

lien from the last judgment to be vacated as I drafted in my order.” In a proposed

order filed January 24, 2022, Venkatraman included orders requiring Masurekar and

Skinner to vacate the October 19, 2021 Lien, the Corrected Lien, and the “Amended

Child Support Lien document number 201900156916,4 filed on June 19, 2019, in

the property records of Dallas County, Texas, . . .” Construing his statements at the

hearing and the proposed order together, we conclude Venkatraman’s complaint at

the January 4, 2022 hearing related to the June 19 Amended Lien and not the March

8 Notice. The June 19 Amended Lien states:

As of November 15, 2018 Respondent Venky Venkatraman owes unpaid child support in the amount of Fifteen Thousand Two-Hundred Fifteen Dollars and NO/100 cents ($15,215.00).

The June 19 Amended Lien also lists May 6, 2019 as the date of the order that

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Venky Venkatraman v. Stephen D. Skinner and Jyoti Masurekar, Jointly and Severally Liable, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/venky-venkatraman-v-stephen-d-skinner-and-jyoti-masurekar-jointly-and-texapp-2023.