Watson v. Grissom

675 S.W.2d 813, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6192
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 12, 1984
DocketNo. 08-83-00287-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 675 S.W.2d 813 (Watson v. Grissom) 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
Watson v. Grissom, 675 S.W.2d 813, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6192 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

WARD, Justice.

The Defendant, Doug Watson, appeals a grant of a post answer default judgment entered in favor of the Plaintiff Lester Grissom. The appeal is based on the trial court’s failure to grant the Defendant’s timely filed motion for new trial. We conclude that the failure to reasonably notify the Defendant of the setting of the case for trial compels us to reverse and remand.

This is a personal injury suit. The original petition was filed on August 6, 1982. An original answer was filed by attorney Louis Sandbote of Dallas on September 20, 1982, Sandbote having been hired by the Defendant’s insurance carrier. The original answer was signed by Sandbote and properly included his Dallas office address, telephone number and bar number. This answer was mailed to the District Clerk of Ector County together with a transmittal letter on the stationary of the Odessa law firm of Brannan & Stevens, P.C. This transmittal letter was nevertheless signed by Sandbote and not by some member of the Odessa law firm. The letter requested that the district clerk date-stamp a copy of the letter upon filing the answer and return the copy in an enclosed, stamped envelope bearing Sandbote’s Dallas address. The court’s civil docket sheet listed Sand-bote as attorney of record and included his Dallas office address. Brannan and Stevens, P.C. are not shown on any instrument in the clerk’s file as being attorneys for the Defendant, although the transmittal letter was in the file.

In January, 1983, the district clerk prepared and dispatched to interested parties and attorneys the schedule of civil settings for the ensuing six months. At the new trial hearing, the district clerk and court [815]*815coordinator testified that setting lists are either picked up by the attorneys or mailed to them by the clerk’s office. Ector County attorneys receive the entire schedule. Out-of-county attorneys receive only listings in which they are involved. Notice is not sent to the parties themselves, but to their attorneys. The testimony further disclosed that the district clerk determines what attorney to notify by the records in each case and not by the letterheads of documents on file.

In January, 1983, the trial of this case was set for the week of May 16, 1983, and in January, notice was sent by mail of this setting of this case to the offices of Bran-nan & Stevens. On the setting sheet kept in the clerk’s office, the listing of Sandbote as attorney of record was annotated by hand by the court coordinator to read “w/Brannan & Stevens.” This annotation and the mailing of the notice to Brannan and Stevens was due solely to the letterhead of the transmittal letter accompanying the original answer. The Defendant Doug Watson resided in Odessa and his address was set forth in the Plaintiff’s original petition. Both Defendant and Sandbote filed affidavits in support of the motion for new trial that neither of them ever received any notice of the setting.

On February 11, 1983, upon motion by Sandbote, the court permitted Sandbote leave to withdraw as counsel of record. Sandbote advised the insurance carrier of his withdrawal, but neither he nor the insurance carrier advised the insured Defendant of such action.

The case was called on May 16, and the Defendant failed to appear. Plaintiff’s evidence was heard and judgment in favor of the Plaintiff in the amount of $155,000.00 was entered on May 20. The Defendant was notified of the default judgment and immediately contacted Sandbote, who, on June 10, filed a motion for new trial. This motion for new trial set up the lack of notice, set out that the failure of the Defendant to appear for trial was not inten•tional or a result of conscious indifference on his part but was due to a mistake or an accident, set out facts constituting a defense to the cause of action asserted by the Plaintiff and offered to reimburse the Plaintiff for any reasonable costs incurred by the Plaintiff as a result of the judgment entered against the Defendant on May 20, 1983. The motion was supported by affidavits setting up the facts alleged and particularly those facts supporting meritorious defense.

The motion for new trial was heard on July 8, and after testimony was heard, the same was overruled. The trial judge in his order made the following findings:

(1) The Original Answer for Defendant Doug Watson was mailed to the District Clerk of Ector County, Texas and a letterhead piece of paper from the Odessa Law Firm, Brannan & Stevens was used as a letter of transmittal;
(2) Docket Settings for the following six (6) months were mailed to all attorneys of record on January 18, 1983, with most local Odessa attorneys picking their copies of the Docket Settings up in person;
(3) The District Clerk, Jackie Sue Barnes, and Sandra S. Jones, District Court Coordinator, both testified that a copy of the Docket Settings had been mailed to the Odessa Law Firm, Brannan & Stevens, on behalf of Louis Sandbote;
(4) Although Jackie Sue Barnes and Sandra S. Jones both testified that they customarily sent notice of the Docket Settings to the attorneys of record, those who signed the pleadings, and never to a letterhead address, that in this case, they did send it to Brannan & Stevens, instead of Mr. Louis Sand-bote, attorney of record .for Defendant Doug Watson;
(5) That since Brannan & Steven’s letterhead paper had been used as a letter of transmittal for the Original Answer, then Brannan & Stevens were the agents of Attorney Sandbote, and that therefore Sandbote had received notice of the trial setting of this case [816]*816before he withdrew as attorney of record for Defendant Doug Watson on February 11, 1983;
(6) That it was reasonable for the District Clerk and the District Court Coordinator to send the Docket Setting notice to the letterhead address of the local Odessa Law Firm, Brannan & Stevens, although neither Brannan nor Stevens appear as an attorney of record in this case;
(7) That neither Defendant Doug Watson nor his liability insurance carrier, took any affirmative action to protect Defendant Doug Watson or to notify this Court of any substitution of attorneys prior to the date of Judgment.

The parties are in agreement that the Defendant was compelled to meet the requirements set forth in Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, Inc., 134 Tex. 388, 133 S.W.2d 124 (1939). The Supreme Court has held that the requisites for granting a motion to set aside a trial court’s default judgment also apply to a post-answer default judgment. Ivy v. Carrell, 407 S.W.2d 212 (Tex.1966). The rule as originally stated in Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, Inc., 134 Tex. 388, 393, 133 S.W.2d 124, 126 (1939) was as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Grissom v. Watson
704 S.W.2d 323 (Texas Supreme Court, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
675 S.W.2d 813, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watson-v-grissom-texapp-1984.