Vernon Kent Maree and Front Row Parking Inc. v. Baldemar (Val) Zuniga

502 S.W.3d 359, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9558, 2016 WL 4533049
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 30, 2016
Docket14-15-00816-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 502 S.W.3d 359 (Vernon Kent Maree and Front Row Parking Inc. v. Baldemar (Val) Zuniga) 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
Vernon Kent Maree and Front Row Parking Inc. v. Baldemar (Val) Zuniga, 502 S.W.3d 359, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9558, 2016 WL 4533049 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION

Kem Thompson Frost, Chief Justice

In this appeal we consider a challenge to a judgment the trial court rendered after a preliminary hearing to determine whether petitioners for a bill of review had established a prima facie case that they had a meritorious defense to the underlying claim. The appellants/bill-of-review petitioners assert that by transforming the preliminary hearing into a hearing on the merits of the bill-of-review petition, the trial court violated their right to due process of law. We reverse and remand.

Factual and PROcedural Background

Appellee/defendant Baldemar (Val) Zu-niga filed suit against appellants/plaintiffs Vernon Kent Maree and Front Row Parking, Inc. (“Front Row Parties”) asserting that Zuniga paid the Front Row Parties for tickets to the 2013 Superbowl and the Front Row Parties failed to provide him with those tickets. The Front Row Parties asserted that they received the original petition and mentioned the lawsuit to an attorney, Troy Pradia, in casual conversation. The Front Row Parties expressed [361]*361their belief that Pradia would look into the matter, but according to the Front Row Parties, they did not expect Pradia to do anything more than make casual inquiry. The Front Row Parties stated that they did not retain Pradia as their attorney. The next month, however, Pradia filed an answer to the lawsuit on the Front Row Parties’ behalf. That same month, the Front Row Parties moved to a new place of business. The Front Row Parties did not notify Pradia of their move or change of address because, in their eyes, they had no reason to inform Pradia since they had not engaged him to represent them. A few months later, Pradia filed a motion to withdraw from the case, citing his inability to communicate with the Front Row Parties.

The trial court granted Pradia’s motion to withdraw. The trial court later scheduled a trial on Zuniga’s petition. The Front Row Parties did not appear. The trial court ultimately granted Zuniga’s motion for post-answer default judgment.

After the post-answer default judgment, the Front Row Parties filed a bill-of-review petition in which they stated that they had not engaged Pradia to represent them and therefore had no knowledge that the case had progressed and no notice of trial. Zu-niga filed a motion seeking a pre-trial hearing for the trial court to determine whether the Front Row Parties have “je]s-tablished a [pjrima [fjacie [c]ase for a [b]ill of [rjeview.” In this motion,. Zuniga ap: peared to request a preliminary hearing under Baker v. Goldsmith for the trial court to determine whether the Front Row Parties have prima facie proof of a meritorious defense. See 582 S.W.2d 404, 408-09 (Tex.1979). A pre-trial hearing was set based on this motion. In a written response, the Front Row Parties asserted that (1) under Baker v. Goldsmith, as a pre-trial matter, a bill-of-review petitioner ordinarily must present prima facie proof of a meritorious defense; (2) this requirement does not apply if the bill of review is based on a due-process violation, in which case the trial court should grant the bill of review without requiring any proof of a meritorious defense; (3) because the Front Row Parties’ bill of review is based on a due-process violation, they are not required to make a prima facie showing of a meritorious defense.

At the pre-trial hearing, the trial court stated that it was presuming for the sake of argument that the Front Row Parties had a meritorious defense, and that the trial court wanted to inquire at the hearing into whether there was any fault or negligence on the part of the. Front Row Parties. The Front Row Parties asserted that the pre-trial hearing was limited to the issue of whether they had prima facie proof of. a meritorious defense. The. trial court disagreed that the pre-trial hearing was limited to this issue. Zuniga agreed with the trial court’s view of the law, indicating that the trial court could dismiss the bill-of-review petition at the pre-trial hearing based on the absence of proof of any of the essential elements for a bill of review.

The Front Row Parties asserted what they coríténd is a meritorious defense. The trial court stated, even assuming the truth of the Front Row Parties’ allegations, the Front Row Parties still did nothing in response to having been served with citation in the underlying lawsuit and therefore the Front Row Parties were at fault and were negligent. The trial court overruled an objection by the Front Row Parties that the hearing was supposed to be limited to the issue of whether they had prima facie proof of a meritorious defense. The trial court affirmatively stated that the hearing was not limited to that issue.

The trial court signed an order dismissing the Front Row Parties’ bill-of-review petition based on the trial court’s finding [362]*362that the Front Row Parties failed to prove at the pre-trial hearing that judgment was rendered against them in the underlying case “unmixed with any fault or negligence on their own part.” The Front Row Parties now challenge that ruling in this appeal.

Issue Presented

In a single issue, the Front Row Parties assert that the trial court transformed a preliminary hearing on whether they had prima facie proof of a meritorious defense into a trial on the merits of the bill-of-review petition. The Front Row Parties assert that the trial court erred when, following a' preliminary hearing for the sole purpose of determining whether the plaintiffs had presented prima facie proof of a meritorious defense, the trial court rendered judgment on the merits of the bill-of-review petition. The Front Row Parties assert this transformation violated their right to due process of law because they did not have notice that the hearing would be a trial on the merits. ’

Analysis

A bill of review, is an independent, equitable proceeding brought by a party to a previous action seeking to, set aside a judgment in that action that is no longer appealable or subject to a motion for new trial. Baker v. Goldsmith, 582 S.W.2d 404, 406 (Tex.1979). To be entitled to relief on a bill of review, a petitioner ordinarily must plead and prove that the petitioner has: (1) a meritorious defense to the underlying claim, (2) which the petitioner was prevented from making by the fraud, accident, or wrongful act of the opposing party or by official mistake, (3) unmixed with any fault or negligence on the part of the petitioner. Caldwell v. Barnes, 154 S.W.3d 93, 96 (Tex.2004) (per curiam). In a bill-of-review proceeding involving a direct attack not based on lack of service of process of the petition in the prior case, the bill-of-review proceeding ordinarily is a two-step process.1 See Baker, 582 S.W.2d at 408-09; Boateng v. Trailblazer Health Enterprises, L.L.C., 171 S.W.3d 481, 487-88 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2005, pet. denied). First, the trial court makes a determination, often based on a preliminary hearing, as to whether the bill-of-review petitioner has presented prima facie proof of the first bill-of-review element—a meritorious defense to the underlying claim. See Baker, 582 S.W.2d at 408-09; Boateng, 171 S.W.3d at 487-88.

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502 S.W.3d 359, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9558, 2016 WL 4533049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vernon-kent-maree-and-front-row-parking-inc-v-baldemar-val-zuniga-texapp-2016.