Walker v. S & T Truck Lines, Inc.

409 S.W.2d 942
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 15, 1966
Docket229
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 409 S.W.2d 942 (Walker v. S & T Truck Lines, Inc.) 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
Walker v. S & T Truck Lines, Inc., 409 S.W.2d 942 (Tex. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

*943 OPINION

SHARPE, Justice.

Appellees’ motion to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction in this court is granted.

On November 3, 1965 the lower court after jury trial rendered judgment that appellant, plaintiff below, take nothing by this suit. Appellant did not file a motion for new trial. However, on November 12, 1965 appellant filed motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and to disregard certain jury findings and to set aside the judgment previously rendered and to enter judgment in favor of appellant in the amount of $6,707.66, which motion was amended on November 19, 1965. For convenience, we will hereafter usually refer to plaintiff’s motion as one for judgment non obstante veredicto. The trial court conducted a hearing on the amended motion on December 31, 1965 and overruled it on January 3, 1966, which date was on the sixty-first day after entry of the judgment and on the forty-fifth day after the filing of appellant’s amended motion for judgment non obstante veredicto. Notice of appeal for the first time was filed on that same date along with the appeal bond.

Appellees’ motion to dismiss the appeal is premised upon the contention that the judgment of the trial court rendered on November 3, 1965 became final thirty days after its entry in the absence of a motion for new trial; that since notice of appeal was not given within ten days as provided by Rule 353 Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and bond was not filed within thirty days of the judgment as provided for by Rule 356 T.R.C.P., that the appeal was not perfected and that this court is without jurisdiction.

Appellant’s position is that his appeal was timely perfected even though he did not file motion for new trial, because after entry of judgment he filed an original and amended motion for judgment non obstante veredicto within the time limits provided by Rule 329b, T.R.C.P., for filing of original and amended motions for new trial; that the trial court denied his amended motion for judgment non obstante veredicto on the forty-fifth day after it was filed, and notice of appeal and bond were filed on the same date.

We agree with appellees.

There is no provision in the Rules or Statutes which prevents a judgment from becoming final simply because motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and to disregard findings is filed under Rule 301, T.R.C.P., after entry of judgment.

In 4 McDonald Texas Civil Practice, Judgments, § 17.32, page 1415, relating to motions under Rule 301, T.R.C.P., the following statement appears:

“Undoubtedly it is desirable for the motion to be filed and determined before any judgment is rendered. The trial court may, however, err in rendering judgment and, before such erroneous judgment becomes final, may be convinced of his error. Consistent with the theory underlying rule 301, that the error of an improper decision should be corrected in the trial court, that court may, by the better view, set aside such judgment before it becomes final and grant a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto.”

In Hann v. Life & Casualty Insurance Co. of Tenn., 312 S.W.2d 261, 263 (Tex.Civ.App., San Antonio, 1958, n. w. h.), the court held as follows:

“The rules do not provide for a time limit on the filing and passing upon of a motion non obstante veredicto, therefore, such motion may be filed even after the court has rendered judgment on the verdict, and may be acted upon any time before the motion or amended motion for a new trial has been overruled, either by the court or by operation of law.”

In De Moss v. Briggs, 145 Tex. 582, 201 S.W.2d 40, 41, (1947) where both motions *944 for new trial and for judgment non obstante veredicto were involved, the court said:

“The two motions differ widely in the inquiry invoked and the relief sought, and the granting of a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto is in no sense the granting of a motion for new trial. City of San Antonio v. McKenzie Construction Co., 136 Tex. 315, 150 S.W.2d 989.”

See also the opinion in Hines v. Parks, 128 Tex. 289, 96 S.W.2d 970 (1936), which discusses the history and purpose of Article 2211, V.A.C.S., enacted in 1931, and since 1941 carried forward unchanged as Rule 301, T.R.C.P.

In Wagner v. Foster, 161 Tex. 333, 341 S.W.2d 887 (1960), our Supreme Court has held that contentions raised by motion for judgment non obstante veredicto need not be incorporated in a motion for new trial as a prerequisite to appeal. In such connection at P. 890 of the opinion the court said:

“While trial court action denying a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto would seem, under the literal wording of Rule 324, to eliminate altogether the necessity for filing a motion for new trial as a prerequisite to appeal, except as to the matters designated in Rule 325, it was not so intended and it has not been and should not be so construed. Miller v. Miller, Tex.Civ.App., 274 S.W.2d 762, 763-764, writ refused; Fenley v. Ogletree, Tex.Civ.App., 277 S.W.2d 135, 140, writ refused, n. r. e.; City of San Antonio v. Gonzales, Tex.Civ.App., 304 S.W.2d 429, writ refused, n. r. e.; Tindall v. Tacconelly, Tex.Civ.App., 328 S.W.2d 909, 910-911, writ refused, n. r. e. The purpose of the quoted provision of Rule 324 as it relates to a party whose motion non obstante veredicto is denied is to authorize appeal on the grounds stated in the motion without the necessity of incorporating the grounds in a motion for new trial. It was not the purpose of that language to eliminate the necessity for complaining in a motion for new trial of other errors committed on the trial. A party whose motion for judgment non obstante veredicto is denied may forego the filing of a motion for new trial and predicate his points of error on appeal on the matters included in such motion. If he follows that course, he may complain on'appeal only of the denial of the motion non obstante veredicto. If he files a motion for new trial as a predicate for complaining of other errors, he need not incorporate in it assignments complaining of the overruling of his motion for judgment non obstante veredicto.”

Rule 324, T.R.C.P. was amended in 1962 so as to clarify and restate it in the light of Wagner v. Foster, supra.

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