Wright v. Lewis

777 S.W.2d 520, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277, 1989 WL 99894
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 1989
Docket13-88-584-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 777 S.W.2d 520 (Wright v. Lewis) 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
Wright v. Lewis, 777 S.W.2d 520, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277, 1989 WL 99894 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

UTTER, Justice.

Marshall Wright, appellant, brought suit against John E. Lewis, appellee, for legal malpractice and deceptive trade practices which were allegedly committed while ap-pellee was defending appellant in a criminal case in federal court. The essence of appellant’s pleadings revolve around appel-lee’s alleged failure to communicate a misdemeanor plea bargain offer to appellant. Appellee answered by general denial and thereafter filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that appellant’s causes of action were barred by the statute of limitations and that there were no material issues of fact capable of either forming the basis of a cause of action or the necessary proximate cause. The trial court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment.

Appellant was a licensed podiatrist. In 1978, he was indicted in federal court on thirty-four counts of making false statements on Medicare claims which were submitted to a government agency. See 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Appellant was offered a plea bargain wherein he would plead guilty to one felony count of the indictment, but he rejected that offer. Appellant subsequently pled not guilty at trial, but was convicted on twenty-five counts, and assessed a punishment of three years’ imprisonment and a $10,000.00 fine. The conviction was affirmed on appeal.

When reviewing the granting of a motion for summary judgment, we must consider the summary judgment evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and indulge every reasonable inference in its favor. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, Inc., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985); Wilcox v. St. Mary’s University, 531 S.W.2d 589, 592 (Tex.1975). The mov-ant’s burden is to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. MMP, Ltd. v. Jones, 710 S.W.2d 59, 60 (Tex.1986); Major Investments, Inc. v. De Castillo, 673 S.W.2d 276, 279 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

By his seventh point of error, appellant contends that his written response and opposing affidavits to appellee’s motion for summary judgment were timely filed. Appellant further contends that the affidavits were neither defective in form, nor contained facts which would not be admissible in evidence.

On July 26, 1988, appellant filed a written response opposing appellee’s motion for summary judgment, original affidavits of himself and Bernard J. Hersh, an original affidavit certifying public records and the respective public records, and a copy of Leo Villareal’s affidavit. On July 29, 1988, the original of Leo Villarreal’s affidavit was filed, but without leave of court. The hearing on appellee’s motion for summary judgment was held on August 2, 1988.

Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(c) provides that any written response or opposing affidavits to a motion for summary judgment shall be filed “not later than seven days prior to the day of hearing ... except on leave of court.” Any written response or opposing affidavit filed on the seventh day before the day of the hearing will be deemed timely and may be properly considered without leave of court. Benger Builders, Inc. v. Business Credit Leasing, Inc., 764 S.W.2d 336, 338 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1988, no writ); Volvo Petroleum, *522 Inc. v. Getty Oil Co., 717 S.W.2d 134, 137-38 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, no writ); see also Hittner & Liberato, Summary Judgments in Texas, 20 St. Mary’s L.J. 243, 247-48 (1989).

We conclude that appellant’s written response and other documents which were filed on or before July 26, 1988 were timely. Regardless, the Amended Order Granting Final Summary Judgment expressly states that the trial court considered all papers and documents timely filed by the parties, and the record is devoid of any indication that the trial court failed to consider these materials because they were untimely. We overrule appellant’s seventh point of error insofar as it relates to the timely filing of appellant’s materials filed in opposition to appellee’s motion for summary judgment.

Appellant further argues by his seventh point of error that the various affidavits and records he filed were not defective. Appellant also contends that appellee’s written objections to these materials were not timely filed and that, even if they were, he was not given an opportunity to correct those defects. Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a(e).

Although appellee filed his objections to appellant’s response and supporting documents on the day before the summary judgment hearing, we hold that the trial court did not err in considering appellee’s reply. First, appellant did not file a written motion to strike appellee’s reply or otherwise file any written objection to ap-pellee’s reply in the trial court. Second, appellant did not request an opportunity to amend any defects in the trial court, and even had he done so, the trial court would only be obligated to give him an opportunity to amend “defects in the form of affidavits or attachments.”

Tex.R.Civ.P. 166a does not specify when such a written reply setting forth a mov-ant’s objections to the non-movant’s responsive materials must be filed. However, since the primary purpose of filing objections is to call the court’s attention to improper evidence and procedure, we find no harm in permitting such objections to be filed on or before the day of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. For clarity, we will review the various alleged defects when we address appellant’s remaining points of error. Appellant’s, seventh point of error is overruled.

By his second point of error, appellant contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment against him because a material fact issue exists regarding whether a misdemeanor plea bargain offer was ever communicated to appellee by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Smith during the former federal criminal action.

Appellee argued in his motion for summary judgment that no material fact issue exists which would form the basis of a cause of action because there is no evidence that a misdemeanor plea bargain was ever offered.

In this case, appellant sought to use the failure to disclose the existence of a misdemeanor plea bargain offer as the sole basis of liability under both his legal malpractice and deceptive trade practice claims. In regards to his legal malpractice claim, appellant must show that the inaction of the attorney in failing to disclose material information was the proximate cause of some injury to him. See Willis v. Maverick, 760 S.W.2d 642, 645 (Tex.1988); McClung v. Johnson, 620 S.W.2d 644, 647 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1981, writ ref'd n.r. e.); Citizens State Bank of Dickinson v. Shapiro, 575 S.W.2d 375, 386 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1978, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

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Bluebook (online)
777 S.W.2d 520, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277, 1989 WL 99894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-lewis-texapp-1989.