Walp v. Williams

330 S.W.3d 404, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10005, 2010 WL 5118566
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 16, 2010
Docket02-09-00444-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 330 S.W.3d 404 (Walp v. Williams) 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
Walp v. Williams, 330 S.W.3d 404, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10005, 2010 WL 5118566 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

LEE GABRIEL, Justice.

Appellant Gary Reed Walp, an inmate at the James V. Allred Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division (TDCJ), appeals from the trial court’s dismissal of his claims against Appellee Eddie C. Williams, senior warden at the Allred Unit. In this appeal, we consider whether an inmate’s application [405]*405for writ of habeas corpus challenging the loss of good-time credit may serve as the basis for a finding that the inmate is a vexatious litigant under section 11.054(1) of the civil practice and remedies code. We hold that it may not. Because we hold that the trial court erred by finding Walp a vexatious litigant, we reverse the trial court’s order dismissing his claims and remand the case to the trial court.

In his petition, Walp alleged the following facts. On March 28, 2008, after Walp and other prisoners had been placed on lockdown, Williams authorized the seizure of Walp’s radio and night lamp. Walp alleged that Williams had authorized the lockdown as a pretext for seizing Walp’s property, that the seizure violated TDCJ’s lockdown policy, and that the seizure of his property was “meant to cause [him] psychological pain associated with anger, resentment, and hatred towards authority.”

Williams filed an answer asserting a general denial, various affirmative defenses, and immunity. Williams also filed a motion to declare Walp a vexatious litigant.

A hearing, which Walp attended, was held on Williams’s motion. The trial court entered an order granting Williams’s motion and finding Walp to be a vexatious litigant. Based on that finding, the trial court ordered that Walp furnish security of $1,000 by December 3, 2009, and that “should [Walp] fail to furnish such security within the time set by this Order, the above referenced and numbered cause is [dismissed].” Walp did not furnish the security. On December 11, 2009, Walp filed his notice of appeal to this court. Walp also filed a motion for reconsideration to file litigation, which the local administrative judge denied on February 2, 2010.

In Walp’s first of four points, he argues that the trial court erred by declaring him a vexatious litigant. Civil practice and remedies code section 11.054(1) allows a trial court to find a plaintiff a vexatious litigant if the defendant establishes two prongs of the statute, one relating to the substance of the plaintiffs claims and one relating to the disposition of previous claims asserted by the plaintiff. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 11.054 (Vernon 2002). First, the defendant must show that there is not a reasonable probability that the plaintiff will prevail on his claims against the defendant. Id. Second, the defendant must show that, in the seven-year period preceding the date of the motion, the plaintiff has commenced, prosecuted, or maintained at least five litiga-tions, each of which must have been

(A) finally determined adversely to the plaintiff;
(B) permitted to remain pending at least two years without having been brought to trial or hearing; or
(C) determined by a trial or appellate court to be frivolous or groundless under state or federal laws or rules of procedure.

Id. The term “litigations” as used in the statute refers only to civil actions. Id. § 11.001(2) (Vernon 2002).

If the trial court finds the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant, it must order the plaintiff to furnish security for the defendant’s benefit. Id. § 11.055 (Vernon 2002). If the plaintiff fails to furnish security, the trial court must dismiss the litigation. Id. § 11.056 (Vernon 2002).

Here, Williams introduced evidence of six previous claims in the seven years immediately preceding the date of Williams’s motion. Williams established that Walp had filed four civil cases in state court. Williams also presented two exhibits regarding filings in federal court. Exhibit A was a copy of an order from the Fifth [406]*406Circuit dismissing an appeal by Walp for failing to timely file a motion for certificate of appealability. Williams concedes that this appeal was from the denial of habeas relief.

Exhibit B was an order of dismissal and a report and recommendation of dismissal on Walp’s application for a writ of habeas corpus challenging a disciplinary proceeding that resulted in “a loss of good time and a reduction in time-earning class status.” The order states that Walp was eligible for mandatory supervision, and therefore he presented a legitimate claim for federal habeas relief, but that the application was moot because he had already been released from physical custody on mandatory release. Williams argues that either one of the exhibits establishes the fifth litigation required under the vexatious litigant statute. See id. § 11.054.

This court has not addressed whether an application for writ of habeas corpus challenging a loss of good-time credit may be considered a “litigation” that can be used to satisfy section 11.054(1) — that is, whether it may be classified as a civil action. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has on two previous occasions considered how to classify an application for a writ of habeas corpus under Texas law. In Ex parte Rieck, the court considered how to characterize an inmate’s habeas application complaining about the time credit consequences of his parole revocation. 144 S.W.3d 510, 519 (Tex.Crim.App.2004). Although the issue in that case was whether an application for habeas relief can be considered a “lawsuit” for purposes of government code section 498.0045, Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 498.0045 (Vernon Supp. 2010) (requiring the forfeiture of an inmate’s good conduct time if an inmate files a lawsuit that is dismissed as frivolous, but not addressing whether it should be characterized as civil or criminal), the court did discuss the trouble with characterizing applications for habeas relief. Rieck, 144 S.W.3d at 515-16. The court observed that “most jurisdictions have traditionally regarded habeas corpus as a civil remedy, even when the relief sought is from confinement in the criminal justice system” but that “courts have struggled with how to characterize habeas proceedings and have sometimes characterized them as ‘neither civil nor criminal but rather sui generis.’ Id. It noted that the United States Supreme Court has acknowledged the characterization of habeas corpus proceedings as civil but has also referred to that label as “gross and inexact” and has stated that “[ejssentially, the proceeding is unique.” Id. at 516 (citing Harris v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 293-94, 89 S.Ct. 1082, 1087, 22 L.Ed.2d 281 (1969)). The court of criminal appeals also noted that “Texas has gone further in eschewing the civil label for habeas proceedings arising from criminal prosecutions or convictions. Such proceedings are categorized as ‘criminal’ for jurisdictional purposes and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure do not ordinarily apply. Article 11.07 habeas proceedings are categorized as criminal proceedings by statute.” Id.

The court ultimately held that a habeas proceeding under code of criminal procedure article 11.07 is not a “lawsuit” for purposes of government code section 498.0045. Id. at 521.

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330 S.W.3d 404, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10005, 2010 WL 5118566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walp-v-williams-texapp-2010.