Williams v. Stansbury

634 S.W.2d 924, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4594
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 26, 1982
DocketNo. 08-81-00110-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 634 S.W.2d 924 (Williams v. Stansbury) 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
Williams v. Stansbury, 634 S.W.2d 924, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4594 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

OSBORN, Justice.

This case arises out of multi-party litigation over a promissory note which was assigned to the Appellant, John Williams, after the maker of the note had been served in a garnishment case and ordered to pay the monthly payments into the registry of the court. John Williams recovered judgment in the trial court only for payments due to be made after the garnishment case was dismissed. He appeals. We affirm.

The facts are complicated by the number of parties involved in the various transactions which resulted in this suit. The more important and controlling facts are:

September 21, 1967 Harriett Clements purchased laundry equipment and gave a promissory note to Norge Village.
September 26,1967 Norge Village assigned the note with recourse to Transamerica Financial Corporation.
December 2,1968 Transamerica Financial Corporation sold the note to Northern Commercial Corporation.
January 7,1970 Northern Commercial obtained a judgment against Clements as a result of her default in payments.
January 15,1970 Clements sold her interest in the laundry equipment to Robert Stansbury and took a promissory note as consideration for the sale.
March 31,1970 Northern Commercial obtained 8 writ of garnishment against Stans-bury to recover the sum he owed Clements.
May 1,1970 The trial court in the garnishment case ordered Stansbury to pay his monthly note payments into the registry of the court.
[927]*927September 20,1970 Northern Commercial assigned its judgment and the recourse note, which was the basis for the judgment, to Fednor Corporation, a successor to Norge Village.
May 8,1971 Clements sold and delivered Stans-bury’s note to John Williams.
August 9,1973 The garnishment suit was dismissed and $8,252.85 in the registry of the court was ordered returned to Stansbury.1
April 28,1975 John Williams filed this suit.

When Williams was unable to obtain the balance due on his note from Stansbury, he filed this suit. He also sued Northern Commercial, Fednor Corporation and others claiming tortious interference, conversion and conspiracy.

On May 10,1971, Williams notified Stans-bury that he held the note and demanded payment. On May 13, Stansbury’s attorney replied requesting proof of ownership of the note. He also advised that payments were being made into the court in the garnishment case. On May 25, Williams sent Stansbury a copy of the note and threatened legal action if payments were not made to him. On August 30, Williams advised Stansbury the payments had been accelerated and the note turned over to an attorney for collection and foreclosure. Stansbury heard nothing further from Williams for nearly four years. The garnishment suit was settled about two years later.

After John Williams completed his evidence, the trial court granted a motion for instructed verdict as to all defendants except Stansbury. After all evidence was presented, the jury found (1) Williams did not know the note was overdue when he purchased it; (2) Williams knew of the garnishment suit after May 25, 1971; (3) Williams knew of his right to file suit against Stansbury after May 25,1971; (4) Williams by his conduct or silence led Stansbury to believe that he would not pursue his rights with respect to the note; (5) when Stans-bury settled the garnishment action he relied on the conduct or silence of Williams and (6) enforcement of the note would result in a financial loss to Stansbury. Based upon this verdict, the court awarded Williams recovery from Stansbury of those twenty installments accruing after the settlement of the garnishment case, and this resulted in Stansbury receiving credit for those payments which were paid into the registry of the court in the garnishment case. Recovery was denied as to all other defendants, including Northern Commercial and Fednor Corporation.

The Appellant’s first three points of error attack the direct verdict in favor of Northern Commercial and Fednor. These points assert a tortious interference with contract rights under the note, wrongfully receiving payments made into the registry of the court in the garnishment case, and a conspiracy to deny Williams the benefit of his note. In passing on the evidence, we consider all of the evidence in its most favorable light in support of the plaintiff’s position and discard all contrary evidence and inferences. Henderson v. Travelers Insurance Company, 544 S.W.2d 649 (Tex.1976); Tryad Service Corporation v. Machine Tool Center, Inc., 512 S.W.2d 785 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1974, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

As it had a right to do, Northern sought the writ of garnishment after obtaining judgment against Clements. More than six months before Williams obtained the Stansbury note, Northern assigned its note and judgment to Fednor and was no longer involved in the garnishment proceedings even though Fednor, as an assignee, could pursue the case either in its name or that of the assignor. Texas Machinery and Equipment Company v. Gordon Knox Oil and Exploration Company, 442 S.W.2d 315 (Tex.1969). Williams makes no attack upon the proceedings in the garnishment case, and does not seek any relief for wrongful garnishment. He does not claim that any order entered in that case was void or erroneous. By the time the case was settled [928]*928and the payments made, Northern Commercial was no longer a party in interest in the case. Fednor, the assignee of the judgment, was entitled to and did receive payment from the funds in the court.

Certainly, the garnishment proceedings prevented Williams from receiving payments on his note, but, if the garnishment be considered an interference with the contract (note), such conduct was not wrongful. It was the exercise of a lawful statutory right. The court addressed the issue in Black Lake Pipe Line Company v. Union Construction Company, Inc., 538 S.W.2d 80 (Tex.1976), and said:

An important element in a right of recovery for contract interference is that the interference must be without right or justification. Interference with contractual relations is privileged where it results from the exercise of a party’s own rights or where the party possesses an equal or superior interest to that of the plaintiff in the subject matter.

All authorities seem to recognize that the harmful act must have been done without legal justification. Herider Farms-El Paso, Inc. v. Criswell, 519 S.W.2d 473 at 476 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 1975, writ ref’d n.r.e.). There is no evidence of a wrongful interference done without legal justification.

Likewise, there is no evidence that the funds deposited with the court were wrongfully paid to Fednor.

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Related

Upper Valley Aviation, Inc. v. Mercantile National Bank
656 S.W.2d 952 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Williams v. Stansbury
649 S.W.2d 293 (Texas Supreme Court, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
634 S.W.2d 924, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-stansbury-texapp-1982.