Breazeale v. Casteel

• Decision Date: 21 October 1999
• Parties: (Tex.App.-Austin 1999) Lorie Breazeale, Appellant, v. William E. Casteel; Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Keiffer, Woodward & Weisbart, L.L.P.; Gary F. DeShazo; Gregory A. Soechting; and Judgment Purchase Corporation, Appellees. NO. 03-99-00061-CV.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 434

4 S.W.3d 434 (Tex.App.-Austin 1999)

Lorie Breazeale, Appellant, v. William E. Casteel; Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Keiffer, Woodward & Weisbart, L.L.P.;

Gary F. DeShazo; Gregory A. Soechting; and Judgment Purchase Corporation, Appellees.

NO. 03-99-00061-CV.

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN.

October 21, 1999.

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 167TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. 91-8634, HONORABLE JERRY DELLANA, JUDGE PRESIDING.

Before Justices Jones, Kidd and Patterson.

J. Woodfin Jones, Justice.

Appellant Lorie Breazeale sued appellee William E. Casteel and obtained an agreed final judgment against him. Six years later, Breazeale filed a motion for turnover in the same action seeking an interest in a lawsuit Casteel was pursuing against Crown Life Insurance Company. Appellees Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Keiffer, Woodward & Weisbart, L.L.P.; Gary F. DeShazo; Gregory A. Soechting; and Judgment Purchase Corporation (collectively, "intervenors"), having previously been assigned various interests in Casteel's suit against Crown, filed pleas in intervention in order to protect their own interests in any judgment Casteel might recover against Crown. The trial court denied Breazeale's motions to strike the pleas in intervention and denied her turnover motion. On appeal, Breazeale asserts that the trial court erred by allowing parties to intervene after a final judgment had been rendered. We will affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Lorie Breazeale sued William E. Casteel for violations of federal and state securities law, fraud, and breach of contract. By agreement of the parties, she obtained final judgment against Casteel on May 13, 1992 in the amount of $175,000 plus interest. That judgment, to date, has not been satisfied.

In an unrelated lawsuit, Casteel sued Crown Life Insurance Company for Insurance Code and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) violations. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Casteel for approximately $7.5 million, but the trial court granted Crown's motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and rendered judgment that Casteel take nothing against Crown. On appeal, this Court reinstated $1.4 million of the jury award for Casteel. See Casteel v. Crown Life Ins. Co., 3 S.W.3d 582 (Tex. App.-Austin 1997), rev'd in part, 42 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 945 (July 1, 1999).

Recognizing that Casteel now had an asset that might be used to satisfy her judgment, Breazeale sought post-judgment relief in her own suit. On October 16, 1998, Breazeale filed a "Motion Pursuant to Section 31.002 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code"-a motion for turnover-seeking "Mr. Casteel's interest in the Crown Verdict and any judgments, settlements, replacements, substitutions, products or proceeds . . . thereof."

Casteel had earlier assigned portions of his interest in the Crown judgment to the intervenors, and when Breazeale filed her turnover motion, the intervenors each filed a plea in intervention in Breazeale's lawsuit to protect their interests. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 60. Breazeale filed a motion to strike each intervention as untimely, arguing that intervention is not allowed after a final judgment has been rendered. The trial court overruled Breazeale's motions to strike, heard testimony from the intervenors, and ultimately overruled Breazeale's motion for turnover.

After Breazeale's turnover motion was overruled and this appeal was perfected, the Texas Supreme Court reversed in part this Court's judgment in Casteel's suit against Crown, rendering judgment that Casteel take nothing on his four DTPA claims. Casteel's final cause of action, under article 21.21 of the Texas Insurance Code, was remanded to the trial court for additional proceedings. See Crown Life Ins. Co. v. Casteel, 42 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 945, 954-55 (July 1, 1999). At present, therefore, Casteel holds no money judgment in the Crown litigation, but merely retains a single cause of action that he hopes will be fruitful. This anticipated, speculative recovery is now the subject of Breazeale's motion for turnover.

DISCUSSION

Intervention is permitted as a matter of right, "subject to being stricken out by the court for sufficient cause on the motion of any party." Tex. R. Civ. P. 60. Review of a trial court's order on a motion to strike intervention is subject to an abuse of discretion standard. See Guaranty Fed. Savs. Bank v. Horseshoe Operating Co., 793 S.W.2d 652, 657 (Tex. 1990). In Breazeale's sole issue for review, she urges that post-judgment interventions are barred as a matter of law and that the trial court therefore abused its discretion by allowing the intervenors to join as parties and testify at the hearing on her motion for turnover. We disagree and hold that post-judgment intervention is not barred under the circumstances of this case.

Breazeale directs us to several supreme court cases in support of her argument that intervention is not permitted after a final judgment has been rendered. In the seminal case on this issue, the State of Texas sought to intervene and file a petition in quo warranto over a month after the trial court had dismissed the cause. See Comal County Rural High Sch. v. Nelson, 314 S.W.2d 956, 957 (Tex. 1958). The supreme court held that the trial court did not err when it declined to allow the state to intervene because "[n]o plea of intervention could be filed in the cause until and unless...