Buffalo Bag Co. v. Joachim

• Decision Date: 16 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. A14-85-621-CV,A14-85-621-CV
• Citation: 704 S.W.2d 482
• Parties: BUFFALO BAG COMPANY et al., Appellants, v. Mortimer R. JOACHIM et al., Appellees. (14th Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 482

704 S.W.2d 482

BUFFALO BAG COMPANY et al., Appellants, v. Mortimer R. JOACHIM et al., Appellees.

No. A14-85-621-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Houston (14th Dist.).

Jan. 16, 1986.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 13, 1986.

Van E. McFarland, Houston, for appellants.

John A. Cavin, Morley H. White, Houston, for appellees.

Before J. CURTISS BROWN, C.J., and SEARS and ELLIS, JJ.

OPINION

J. CURTISS BROWN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the entry of a judgment based on a settlement agreement made in open court pursuant to Tex.R.Civ.P. 11. Appellants (defendants below) contend the trial court erred in entering judgment for the appellees (plaintiffs below) because (1) the appellants repudiated the agreement prior to the rendition of judgment, (2) the proposed judgment did not reflect the intent of the appellants, (3) there was no timely notice of the hearing on the motion for entry of judgment, (4) the judgment divested appellants of real property in violation of the statute of frauds, and (5) the appellants did not receive a copy of the transcript of the hearing on the motion for entry of judgment, thus depriving appellants of due process. Finding that the appellants withdrew consent to the agreement prior to the rendition of judgment, we reverse and remand.

The underlying lawsuit arose from an intra-family sale by appellees to appellants of stock in a family business, payment for which was made by a promissory note secured by deeds of trust on two parcels of land owned by appellants. When appellants defaulted on the first payment, appellees accelerated the debt and sought public sale of shares of stock in the business and judicial foreclosure of the land covered by the deeds of trust. This action came on for trial with a jury impaneled on April 30, 1985, at which time both parties informed the trial court that a settlement agreement had been reached which would result in an entry of judgment for the appellees. Counsel for appellees specified the terms of the agreement, which were dictated into the record, after which the trial court carefully questioned both sides as to their understanding of the terms and willingness to enter into the settlement agreement. Satisfied that both sides understood and consented to the agreement, the trial court approved the settlement and noted on the docket sheet "Judgment to be entered accordingly." However, when the formal judgment was presented for entry on May 10, 1985, appellants claimed that the judgment did not reflect the intent of the parties in that it did not dispose of all potential suits against the appellants by the trustee in the deeds of trust. After a lengthy discussion between the trial court and counsel for the parties, judgment was entered against appellants.

In their first point of error appellants claim the trial court erred in entering judgment for the appellees because the appellants repudiated the settlement agreement prior to the rendition of judgment.

Notwithstanding a valid Rule 11 agreement, consent must exist at the time an agreed judgment is rendered. Kennedy v. Hyde, 682 S.W.2d 525, 528 (Tex.1984). Therefore, a party may revoke its consent to settle a case anytime before judgment is rendered. Samples Exterminators v. Samples, 640 S.W.2d 873, 874 (Tex.1982). A rendition of judgment is the pronouncement by the court of its conclusions and decision upon the matters submitted to it for adjudication. Such conclusions and decisions may be oral or written, and judgment is rendered when the decision is officially announced either orally in open court or by a memorandum filed by the clerk of the court. Comet Aluminum Co. v. Dibrell, 450 S.W.2d 56, 58 (Tex.1970). Rendition is distinguishable from the entry of judgment which is a purely ministerial act by which the judgment is made of record and preserved. Ex parte Gnesoulis, 525 S.W.2d 205, 209 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975, no writ).

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the trial court rendered judgment at the hearing held on April 30, 1985. The language from the bench during that hearing indicates that the trial court was pleased that the parties had reached a settlement but does not go so far as to constitute an oral pronouncement by the court of its conclusions and decision on the settlement agreement presented. Therefore, the question becomes whether the docket sheet notation "Judgment to be entered accordingly" suffices as a rendition of judgment.

There is no case law directly on point. Several courts have addressed the sufficiency of a written memorandum to constitute a rendition of judgment. In Samples Exterminators v. Samples, 640 S.W.2d at...