Hall v. Stephenson
| Decision Date | 29 February 1996 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 2-94-229-C,2-94-230-CV,s. 2-94-229-C |
| Citation | 919 S.W.2d 454 |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Julie Anne Fagan HALL, Appellant, v. James A. STEPHENSON; Auld and Stephenson-A Professional Corporation, f/k/a Auld, Stephenson and Mansfield, P.C., A Texas Corporation; James G. Reynolds; Gandy, Michener, Swindle, Whitaker & Pratt, P.C., A Texas Professional Corporation; Michael B. Paddock; Paddock & Associates, f/k/a-Paddock, Loveless & Associates, A Professional Partnership; James M. Loveless; and Loveless, O'Neal & Associates, f/k/a Paddock, Loveless & Associates, A Professional Partnership, Appellees. Julie Anne Fagan HALL, Appellant, v. Robert D. COURTNEY and A. Lewis Crain, Appellees. |
Julie Ann Fagan Hall, Appellant Pro Se.
Michener, Larimore, Swindle, Whitaker, Flowers, Sawyer, Reynolds & Chalk, L.L.P. and John W. Michener, and James G. Reynolds, Pro Se, Fort Worth (No Briefs Filed), Cantey and Hanger, L.L.P. and Ernest Reynolds, III and Deeia D. Beck, Fort Worth, for Appellees Michael B. Paddock and Paddock & Associates, fka Paddock, Loveless & Associates, a Professional Partnership.
Auld and Stephenson, P.C. and Lexa Auld, Bedford, for Appellee James A. Stephenson and Auld and Stephenson, P.C.
Dale O'Neal, Fort Worth, for Appellees James M. Loveless, Loveless, O'Neal & Associates, fka Paddock, Loveless & Associates.
Frank R. Jelinek, Arlington, for Appellee Robert D. Courtney.
David R. Sweat, Sweat & Cochran, L.L.P., Arlington, for Appellee A. Lewis Crain.
Before DAUPHINOT, RICHARDS, and PAUL W. NYE (Retired), JJ.
Appellant Julie Anne Fagan Hall appeals the trial court's summary judgments in favor of appellees on her professional malpractice claims. Because we find that summary judgment was proper for all appellees, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Hall filed for divorce from her husband in 1987. During the pendency of this divorce action, Hall was represented by six different attorneys.
Rebecca Lucas filed Hall's divorce petition in late 1987. She withdrew from the case at Hall's request on January 28, 1988.
James Loveless and Michael Paddock represented Hall from January 1988 to March 1989. In February 1988, Loveless and Paddock requested a hearing for the issuance of temporary orders. The hearing was held on April 3, 1988, which resulted in an order for temporary support for Hall. They withdrew from representing her on March 10, 1989.
Robert Courtney represented Hall from March 1989 to June 1989. Courtney and Hall voluntarily terminated the representation in June 1989. James Reynolds represented Hall from June 1989 to July 1989. Reynolds scheduled a hearing that resulted in a new temporary support order for Hall. Reynolds withdrew from representing Hall on July 17, 1989. James Stephenson represented Hall from October 1989 to January 1990.
Hall then re-hired Courtney in January 1990. He was her attorney when the final divorce decree was entered. Courtney stopped representing Hall when the divorce judgment was final in 1990. In fact, Courtney wrote a letter to Hall stating that:
My final bill is enclosed and is now due, but I fully expect you not to pay it since you have not paid either of your financial experts who testified for you at time of trial.
I hope you find a school you want and can figure out a way to live on $3,100.00 per month in net resources until you finish your next degree.
Lewis Crain was a consulting accountant for Hall during February and March of 1990. He testified as an expert witness at her divorce trial on March 15.
After many delays that were caused by this multiple representation, a judgment of divorce was signed on April 9, 1990. This court affirmed the trial court's divorce decree on March 19, 1991, and the Texas Supreme Court denied Hall's writ of error on September 5, 1991. Hall v. Hall, No. 2-90-164-CV (Tex.App.--Fort Worth 1991, writ denied) (not designated for publication). Ann McClure represented Hall on appeal.
On September 3, 1993, Hall, representing herself pro se, sued Stephenson, Paddock, Reynolds, Loveless, Courtney, and Crain for professional malpractice/negligence, 1 gross negligence, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. 2 Hall also included the attorneys' law firms as defendants under the theory of respondeat superior. 3 All the defendants answered the petition generally denying Hall's claims.
Hall claimed that Paddock and Loveless's representation was sub-par because they: (1) filed a capped temporary order that required Hall to pay them money for attorneys' fees from money that Hall had withdrawn from a community account, when they knew Hall did not have that money; (2) did not seek sanctions against Hall's ex-husband for not filing an inventory and appraisal; (3) did not file an inventory and appraisal; (4) did not file for additional temporary orders; and (5) withdrew.
Hall was dissatisfied with Reynolds because he: (1) did not file an inventory and appraisal; (2) did not move to have her ex-husband sanctioned for not filing an inventory and appraisal; (3) did not appoint a receiver for assets that her ex-husband was making that was in excess of the new temporary support order; and (4) did not subpoena missing tax returns.
Hall alleged that Stephenson violated the DTPA and was negligent because he: (1) did not file an inventory and appraisal; (2) did not move for sanctions against Hall's ex-husband because he did not file an inventory and appraisal; (3) did not subpoena missing tax returns; and (4) withdrew while Hall was in the middle of bankruptcy.
Hall claimed that Courtney was negligent and violated the DTPA in his first representation because he: (1) did not schedule and attend a hearing for temporary orders; (2) did not try to have Hall's ex-husband sanctioned for not filing an inventory and appraisal; and (3) withdrew. During the second representation, Hall was not happy because Courtney: (1) did not subpoena or present at trial missing tax returns; (2) did not move for sanctions against her ex-husband for failing to file an inventory and appraisal; (3) did not introduce at trial the amount of missing money that was unaccounted for; (4) failed to object to her bankruptcy stay being lifted; (5) did not present a "key witness" during the motion for new trial; and (6) did not file a request for findings of fact or conclusions of law by the deadline.
Hall alleged that Crain was negligent and violated the DTPA because he did not testify about a conflicting 1986 corporate tax return that was filed by Hall's ex-husband.
Loveless, Paddock, Stephenson, and Reynolds filed motions for summary judgment. Hall did not file a response.
Loveless stated that he was entitled to summary judgment because Hall's claims were brought outside the statute of limitations. He also filed an affidavit stating that the temporary order was not capped, the parties had agreed to the value of their property, Hall did not tell him that she had given the money to her father until after the temporary order was entered, and Hall was not harmed by his withdrawal because she had hired a new attorney and had obtained additional temporary orders after the withdrawal.
Paddock moved for summary judgment on the grounds that there was no evidence of a breach of duty, no proximate cause, Hall had no standing to bring the suit because she had declared bankruptcy, Hall's suit was outside the statute of limitations, and the DTPA does not apply to legal malpractice. Paddock filed an affidavit that stated that he worked with diligence and made every effort to assist Hall.
Stephenson's motion stated that there was no evidence of negligence, gross negligence, or violations of the DTPA. He also stated that there was no proximate cause. Stephenson attached an affidavit by attorney Steven King who was co-counsel on Hall's appeal. He stated that, based on his experience and knowledge of the case, Stephenson did not violate the DTPA, was not negligent, and did not impact the outcome of Hall's divorce in an adverse way.
Reynolds moved for summary judgment on the basis that there was no issue of material fact regarding legal malpractice, Hall was barred by the statute of limitations on her gross negligence and DTPA allegations, and that there was no negligence or proximate cause. He attached his affidavit in which he stated that Hall never asked him to file sanctions against her ex-husband, to subpoena his corporate tax returns, or to appoint a receiver.
At this point, Crain filed special exceptions to Hall's pleadings. The trial court then held a hearing on the summary judgment motions and, on January 20, 1994, granted summary judgment in favor of the four movants. The trial court also severed out all the claims upon which summary judgment was granted. Thus, the trial court created two separate suits: one with Stephenson, Reynolds, Paddock, and Loveless as defendants (the "severed case") and one with Courtney and Crain as defendants (the "Courtney-Crain suit").
On February 3, the trial court ruled favorably on Crain's special exceptions and struck several of Hall's allegation paragraphs in the Courtney-Crain suit. On February 18, Hall filed a motion for new trial in the Courtney-Crain suit, instead of in the severed suit.
On April 4, the trial court granted Hall's motion for new trial on certain limited questions and set aside the summary judgments. These issues were:
a. What asset or assets were overlooked by any Defendant herein and therefore not available for division in the [divorce] trial ...? This information needs to be specific as to the asset itself, the estimated amount thereof and the location of the asset.
b. What did any Defendant herein do that caused him or her to be unaware of the asset(s) identified in "a" above, or what did they fail to do that would have revealed said asset(s)? This information needs to be specific...
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