Camp, Matter of

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Before WISDOM, JONES and EMILIO M. GARZA; EMILIO M. GARZA
• Citation: Camp, Matter of, 59 F.3d 548 (5th Cir. 1995)
• Decision Date: 02 August 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-50247,94-50247
• Parties: In the Matter of Hope G. CAMP, Debtor. Wilburn C. McDANIEL, Independent Personal Representative of the Estate of Betty J. McDaniel, deceased, Appellant, v. Hope G. CAMP, et al., Appellees.

Page 548

59 F.3d 548

In the Matter of Hope G. CAMP, Debtor Wilburn C. McDANIEL, Independent Personal Representative of the Estate of Betty J. McDaniel, deceased, Appellant, v. Hope G. CAMP, et al., Appellees.

No. 94-50247.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 2, 1995.

Gary M. Poenisch, San Antonio, TX, for appellant.

John M. Tutt, San Antonio, TX, for appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before WISDOM, JONES and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

The district court affirmed a bankruptcy court order voiding, under the Texas Constitution's provisions governing homestead rights, a pre-petition transfer of debtor Hope G. Camp's property. Betty McDaniel, claiming title to the property, appeals the district court's judgment. We reverse and remand.

I

Hope Camp was married to Betty McDaniel's father, who is now deceased. In his will, McDaniel's father bequeathed to Camp title to a house located on La Manda Street in San Antonio, Texas (the "La Manda property"). Thereafter, Camp evicted McDaniel from the La Manda property and sold it to David L. Gutierrez. At the time Camp evicted her, McDaniel had lived in the house for approximately six years.

McDaniel believed that she held superior title to the La Manda property by virtue of a bequest from her grandmother, and sued Gutierrez in a trespass to try title action. McDaniel successfully obtained both possession of the house and a money judgment for back rent against Gutierrez, and Gutierrez filed a breach of warranty of title suit against Camp in state court.

Camp failed to file an answer in the breach of warranty suit, and the state court entered a default money judgment in Gutierrez' favor. In order to determine what properties Camp owned that could be used to satisfy his money judgment against her, Gutierrez sent post-judgment interrogatories and requests for admissions to Camp. Gutierrez asked Camp to admit that she had "abandoned any homestead claim [she] may have in and to" a house located on Linda Drive in San Antonio, Texas ("the Linda property"). At that time, Camp was living in the Linda property and had lived there for approximately twenty-three years.

When Camp failed to answer the discovery requests, the state court issued an order compelling her to answer. When Camp failed to comply with the order, Gutierrez filed a motion for sanctions against Camp. When Camp did not reply to the motion, the court issued a sanctions order (1) deeming her to have admitted that she had "abandoned any and all homestead claim she may have had" to the Linda property, (2) declaring that the Linda property was not her homestead, and (3) "prohibiting [Camp] from introducing into evidence documents or testimony to support the exempt status of [the Linda] property." ¹ The court also issued a writ of execution, and the Bexar County Sheriff levied on the Linda property and noticed it for sale. Gutierrez bought the property, and later transferred title to McDaniel to satisfy the money judgment McDaniel had earlier obtained against him.

After the sale of the Linda property, Camp filed a bankruptcy petition and claimed the Linda property as her homestead. The bankruptcy court refused to give res judicata effect to the sanctions order that had declared that Camp had abandoned her homestead claim to the Linda property. Instead, the court issued an order declaring that the Linda property was in fact and law Camp's homestead. The court also voided the sheriff's sale. McDaniel filed an interlocutory appeal from the bankruptcy court's order, and the district court affirmed. McDaniel appeals, contending that both the sanctions order and subsequent judicial sale of the Linda property were valid, and that the bankruptcy court should have given the sanctions order res judicata effect.

II

McDaniel contends that the bankruptcy court improperly reached the question of the homestead character of the Linda property. ² The district court held that "the bankruptcy court's determination that Camp satisfied her burden of establishing the initial homestead character of the [property] was not clearly erroneous" because "it was undisputed that Camp occupied the [property] continuously as her homestead for approximately 23 years." McDaniel argues that under the state court's sanctions order, Camp was prohibited from claiming the Linda property as her homestead in the bankruptcy court.

McDaniel contends that the sanctions order was a valid final judgment, and that the bankruptcy court should have given res judicata effect to the state court's decrees that the Linda property was not Camp's homestead and that Camp be prevented from "supporting" a homestead claim to the property. The district court held that "the Sanctions Order did not establish that Camp had 'abandoned' her homestead claim to the [Linda property] as a matter of law," ³ and that "post-judgment discovery is simply not capable of overriding the protection afforded to homestead claimants under the Texas Constitution."

A court may invoke the doctrine of res judicata to bar consideration of a claim already presented to a Texas court upon finding: "(1) that the prior judgment was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction; (2) that there was a final judgment on the merits; (3) that the parties, or those in privity with them, are identical in both suits; and (4) that the same cause of action is involved in both suits." Sutherland v. Cobern, 843 S.W.2d 127, 130 (Tex.App.--Texarkana 1992, writ denied). If, however, the court that rendered the prior judgment lacked jurisdiction, the judgment is void and has no res judicata effect. ⁴ A party may collaterally attack a void judgment. See Holloway v. Starnes, 840 S.W.2d 14, 18 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1992, writ denied) ("A collateral attack is proper only if the judgment is 'void in law.' "), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 93, 126 L.Ed.2d 60 (1993); Dews, 413 S.W.2d at 805 ("When the judgment is not merely erroneous, but an absolute nullity, it can have no binding force or effect, either in the tribunal in which it is rendered, or in any other in which it may be brought in question." (emphasis omitted)). ⁵ Under Texas law, courts have no jurisdiction where they lack 1) jurisdiction over the person of a party or the party's property, 2) jurisdiction over the subject matter, 3) jurisdiction to enter the particular judgment rendered, or 4) capacity to act as a court. Steph v. Scott, 840 F.2d 267, 270 (5th Cir.1988); accord Austin Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Sierra Club, 495 S.W.2d 878, 881 (Tex.1973); Holloway, 840 S.W.2d at 18 (citing Cook v. Cameron, 733 S.W.2d 137, 140 (Tex.1987)).

As a court of general jurisdiction, the trial court had subject-matter jurisdiction over Gutierrez's breach of warranty suit. See Tex. Const. art. 5, Sec. 8 ("District court jurisdiction consists of exclusive, appellate and original jurisdiction of all actions, proceedings, and remedies ...."). From this jurisdictional base, the trial court properly entered a default judgment after Camp's failure to answer. See Tex.R.Civ.P. 239 (governing entry of default judgments). The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure further allow a "successful party" at any time after rendition of judgment to "initiate and maintain in the trial court in the same suit in which said judgment was rendered any discovery proceeding authorized by these rules for pre-trial matters." Tex.R.Civ.P. 621a. Camp's refusal to answer post-trial discovery requests and the motion for sanctions led to the sanctions order entered by the trial court. See Tex.R.Civ.P. 215 (governing sanctions for abuse of discovery).

Accordingly, the trial court had general jurisdiction to sanction Camp, but that does not end our inquiry. "[W]hen the Legislature creates a right, it can also restrict the remedies available and the means of determining their enforcement." Testoni v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 861 S.W.2d 387, 390 (Tex.App.--Austin 1992, no writ) (noting, in benefits context, that trial court lacked jurisdiction to render judgment on remedy when proceedings were not in compliance with statutory restrictions). Concerning homestead rights, the courts operate under limited jurisdiction. Thus, even if a court has general jurisdiction to act, a judgment is void if the actual action taken orders a remedy not within the court's jurisdiction. ⁶

In this case, therefore, the issues require us to determine whether the state trial court sanctions order declaring the Linda property not Camp's homestead and the trial court's order of sale contravened such a jurisdictional restriction. At first blush, Rule 215 would seem to allow trial courts to enter "such orders in regard to the failure [to respond to discovery] as are just," including "an order that the matters regarding which the order was made or any other designated facts shall be taken to be established" and "an order refusing to allow the disobedient party to support or oppose designated claims or defenses, or prohibiting him from introducing designated matters in evidence." Tex.R.Civ.P 215(2)(b). However, the character of the sanctions imposed by the trial court--the declaration that the Linda property is not homestead property, not exempt from execution, and order of execution--requires us to examine the jurisdiction of the trial court over the "subject matter"--namely the homestead--given the language of the Texas Constitution. See Tex. Const. art. XVI, Sec. 50 ("The homestead ... shall be, and hereby is protected from forced sale, for the payment of all debts [except those provided for in this section]."); accord Curtis Sharp Custom Homes, Inc. v. Glover, 701 S.W.2d 24, 25 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.) ("Since the purported equitable lien was imposed by judicial decree, we must examine the jurisdiction of the trial court in that case over the subject matter, to-wit: the homestead, in view of the language...