Hinde v. Hinde
| Decision Date | 23 October 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. C-4364,C-4364 |
| Citation | 701 S.W.2d 637 |
| Parties | Richard Louis HINDE and Housesearch, Inc. v. Helen Marlene HINDE. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Counts, Dodge, Ringer & McInerney, John R. Guittard, David Westfall, Dallas, for petitioner.
Kelsey, Gregory, Holt & Phillips, Richard H. Kelsey, Denton, for respondent.
This is a suit on a divorce property settlement agreement. The trial court awarded Marlene Hinde $49,547.11 payable by Richard Hinde in cash or partly in cash and partly by reinstating a $25,000.00 insurance policy. The court of appeals, on an unbriefed point, reversed and remanded, holding the judgment too indefinite to be final and appealable. 689 S.W.2d 519. We grant the writ of error and pursuant to Tex.R.Civ.P. 483, without hearing oral argument, reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the cause to that court for consideration of the points of error before it.
On divorce in 1982, Marlene and Richard Hinde reached a property settlement agreement creating ongoing contractual obligations. Marlene Hinde brought this suit in 1983 against Richard Hinde for breach of contract and for declaration of property rights. The jury findings pertinent to this appeal are that Richard Hinde breached parts of the contract and wrongfully cancelled an insurance policy. After deducting credits, the trial court rendered judgment for Marlene Hinde, which states in part:
The Court awards HELEN MARLENE HINDE the sum of $25,000.00 damages for such policy; however, if RICHARD L. HINDE shall cause such policy to be fully and unconditionally reinstated according to its original terms and conditions at his expense, RICHARD L. HINDE shall be credited against the amount of this judgment as a payment thereon the sum of $25,000.00;
Provided further, that if this judgment shall become final without such policy being reinstated, such credit shall not thereafter be allowed.
It is accordingly ordered that HELEN MARLENE HINDE have and recover of and from the defendant, RICHARD L. HINDE, the sum of $49,547.11, as damages for breach of contract, less any applicable credit for reinstatement of the Anchor Life Insurance policy.
The court of appeals held that the provision allowing Richard Hinde a payment credit for reinstating the insurance policy defeated the judgment's finality for appellate purposes. According to the court of appeals, the credit made the judgment indefinite and its amount uncertain so that a district clerk preparing a writ of execution could not ascertain the amount of the judgment. After holding the judgment fundamentally deficient, the court of appeals reversed and remanded the cause to the trial court to determine whether Richard Hinde had reinstated the policy and to render an appropriate judgment.
Absent certain exceptions not applicable here, appellate courts can review only final and definite judgments. A final judgment fully disposes of all issues and all parties in the lawsuit. North East Independent School District v. Aldridge, 400 S.W.2d 893 (Tex.1966).
A judgment must [also] be sufficiently definite and certain to define and protect the rights of all litigants, or it must provide a definite means of ascertaining such rights, to the end that ministerial...
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