Guynn v. Corpus Christi Bank & Trust

• Decision Date: 12 April 1979
• Docket Number: No. 1360,1360
• Citation: 580 S.W.2d 902
• Parties: Gene GUYNN, Appellant, v. CORPUS CHRISTI BANK & TRUST, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 902

580 S.W.2d 902

Gene GUYNN, Appellant, v. CORPUS CHRISTI BANK & TRUST, Appellee.

No. 1360.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Corpus Christi.

April 12, 1979.

Rehearing Denied May 10, 1979.

Anthony F. Constant, Carl C. Chase, Corpus Christi, for appellant.

Robert C. Wolter, Wood, Burney & Wolter, Corpus Christi, for appellee.

OPINION

NYE, Chief Justice.

The question presented by this appeal is whether the Honorable Walter Loughridge (Retired), sitting as visiting trial judge in the 105th District Court, committed reversible error by rendering judgment in total disregard of a settlement agreement reached by and between the parties. The settlement was dictated into the record pursuant to Rule 11, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. A somewhat detailed factual statement is helpful in order to place the case in its proper procedural context, and to understand the parties' appellate contentions.

Appellee Corpus Christi Bank & Trust (Bank) brought this suit to recover the unpaid balance due and owing on a promissory note, together with interest and attorney's fees (contractual), against defendants International Equipment & Service Company, Inc. (IESCO), the maker of the note, and Ralph W. Hardin, Jack L. Whitson, and Gene Guynn, guarantors of the note. The Bank alleged that defendant IESCO executed a promissory note dated July 5, 1974, payable to the Bank for the principal sum of $89,861.00 payable with interest on or before sixty days from the date of execution and that the note had been renewed and extended to become due and payable on December 4, 1974. The Bank further alleged that the note was secured by: (1) three separate guaranty agreements executed by Hardin, Whitson and Guynn; and 2) a security interest in certain described couplings; as well as 3) all of the corporate maker's accounts receivable. The Bank alleged that the collateral was seized after default and sold at a public sale for the sum of $30,000.00, leaving an unpaid principal balance as of October 17, 1975, of $66,730.40.

The guarantors filed cross-actions seeking contribution and indemnity from each other and, in addition, from Claude E. Birge and Paul Emery, alleged shareholders and officers of IESCO, on the basis that Birge and Emery had agreed to share in equal portions any judgment recovered against the guarantors, Hardin, Whitson or Guynn. The guarantors also filed a counterclaim seeking, in addition to other relief, damages from the Bank because the Bank had allegedly sold the collateral for an unreasonable price. The Bank amended its pleadings to name Emery and Birge as additional defendants, seeking to claim, as a third party beneficiary, the benefits of any agreement among the defendants concerning liability for the payment of the debts evidenced by the note to the Bank.

Defendant Paul Emery did not answer and did not appear at the trial. The Bank, IESCO and all the individual defendants appeared and, through their attorneys of record, announced they had reached a settlement agreement disposing of some of the issues in the lawsuit. The following terms of the settlement were then dictated into the record:

(Attorney for appellee Bank): ". . . that the Defendant Whitson and the Defendant Hardin and the Defendant Guynn have agreed to pay Corpus Christi Bank and Trust sixty thousand dollars cash on or before January 18 at five o'clock P.M. at Corpus Christ, Texas. In consideration for the bank not further asserting its claims against them severally or jointly upon the note dated July 5, 1974, and for the same consideration to the bank, the Defendants Whitson, Guynn, and Hardin do not pursue any of their defenses, affirmative or negative, in their pleadings against the claims of Corpus Christi Bank and Trust, and the sixty thousand dollar settlement with those three guarantors would be the extent of their liability as to principal, interest, and attorneys' fees, and we didn't discuss court costs, but we won't be that disturbed on it, and it is all conditioned on that amount of money in cash or its equivalent, as approved by me, being in the bank's possession as the Court has suggested at five o'clock on January 18, 1978.

The bank, in addition to that, will keep the couplings that they bid in the collateral for thirty thousand dollars, which credit has been allowed on the note, which would make the equivalent of receiving ninety thousand dollars if the couplings are worth thirty, which is highly speculative in my opinion, but that's part of the consideration, and, further, as I understand it, those three Defendants would not contest the introduction of the promissory note, security agreement, and all written instruments relating to the bank's claim."

After the agreement was dictated into the record, the trial judge asked each party to the agreement whether or not he understood what had been dictated and whether the terms of the agreement were agreeable and acceptable. All of the parties responded affirmatively.

Thereafter, the attorneys for the respective parties requested Judge Loughridge to postpone the jury portion of the trial on the remaining issues in the case for two days until the due date of the guarantors' settlement payment so that the cause could be tried in toto if the guarantors failed to raise the cash settlement payments. The trial judge refused. The attorneys for the respective parties then proceeded to determine what issues in the lawsuit remained for trial. The parties agreed that it remained for the Bank to prove up its prima facie case against IESCO and the defaulting defendant Emery, and that this part of the case would be before the trial judge sitting without a jury. The remainder of the issues, (as to whether there was to be contribution and indemnity between the various parties), would be tried to a jury.

The Bank then proceeded to present its evidence, including testimony that the principal and interest outstanding and unpaid on the note amounted to $76,680.69 as of the hearing date. The guarantors did not object to the Bank's evidence and did not present any evidence in support of their affirmative defenses against the Bank, all in accordance with the settlement agreement. At the close of the Bank's evidence, the trial judge stated:

"The Court will grant you judgment against the corporation for seventy-six thousand, six hundred, eighty dollars, sixty-nine cents plus ten per cent attorneys' fees, and against Mr. Emery for a like amount."

A discussion then ensued among the parties and the trial judge concerning the remaining issues to be tried before the jury. The record reflects some confusion as to the nature of the Bank's participation, if any, in the remainder of the case. The defendant guarantors had pled an agreement among themselves plus Birge and Emery to share in the obligations of IESCO in the event of a default. The Bank, on the other hand, sought some affirmative relief from Birge and Whitson because the Bank had pled that it was entitled to receive the benefits of any agreement between the parties under a third party beneficiary theory. Toward the end of the courtroom discussion, the trial judge stated:

"You have an agreement dictated in the record, and it is enforceable, and the way to enforce it and get the bank out of the way of Mr. Birge is to go ahead and render judgment against these three men as guarantors on the amount proven up and then when you pay the sixty thousand dollars you can get a release and that lets the bank out and they can sit by and wait and see what you prove against Mr. Birge. They will ride your coattail on that feature of it. That is the way to solve it.

(Attorney for Bank): The Bank will so move, Your Honor.

(Judge Loughridge): If nobody is going to make the motion, the Court will do it on its own motion. Who are the guarantors, Guynn, Hardin, and Whitson? . . .

(Attorney for Bank): Yes, sir, where is the posture of International Equipment and Service Company?

(Judge Loughridge): You have a judgment against them and Mr. Emery also.

(Attorney for Bank): For how much?

(Judge Loughridge): Whatever amount you proved up.

(Attorney for Bank): Okay, sir.

(Judge Loughridge): The judgment against the guarantors is the same amount you proved up.

(Attorney for Bank): Jointly and severally?

(Judge Loughridge): Surely. Now you can sit behind these three guys and get a jury panel in here. Those three are Plaintiffs, and Mr. Yarbrough (the attorney for IESCO) is Defendant.

(Attorney for Bank): And the bank has no strikes, no comments?

(Judge Loughridge): No, nothing to do but just ride their coattails.

(Attorney for Bank): And we are not a party to the case?

(Judge Loughridge): No, we got you out of it pretty slick."

After a jury was selected, evidence was submitted concerning whether or not there was an oral guaranty agreement among the five defendants. In response to a sole special issue, the jury refused to find that Hardin, Whitson, Guynn, Emery and Birge had mutually agreed that each of them would be equally responsible to each other for the note to the Bank. Thereafter, the trial judge entered a final judgment providing, in part, that:

"CORPUS CHRISTI BANK & TRUST have judgment against and recover of and from INTERNATIONAL EQUIPMENT AND SERVICE COMPANY, INC., a Texas corporation, RALPH W. HARDIN, GENE GUYNN, JACK L. WHITSON, and PAUL EMERY, jointly and severally, in the sum of $84,348.76 (being liquidated amounts of $76,680.69 unpaid principal and accrued interest to date hereof and $7,668.07 being collection (attorney's) fees equal to ten percent (10%) of the unpaid principal and interest owing) together with interest from date hereof on such $76,680.69 thereof until paid at rate of ten percent (10%) per annum and with interest on $7,668.07 thereof until paid at the rate of nine percent (9%) per annum."

The judgment did not mention the prior agreement which had been dictated into the record limiting the liability of the three guarantors to the sum of...