Mosley v. Ticor Title Ins. Co. of California

• Decision Date: 17 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 11-93-279-CV,11-93-279-CV
• Citation: 875 S.W.2d 10
• Parties: L.G. MOSLEY and Jynnifer Mosley, Appellants, v. TICOR TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 10

875 S.W.2d 10

L.G. MOSLEY and Jynnifer Mosley, Appellants, v. TICOR TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, Appellee.

No. 11-93-279-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Eastland.

March 17, 1994.

Rehearing Denied April 14, 1994.

Minor E. Pounds, Lancaster, Lindy D. Jones, Laura L. Worsham, Jones, Allen & Fuquay, Dallas, for appellants.

Andrew G. Jubinsky, Timothy A. Daniels, Figari & Davenport, Dallas, for appellee.

OPINION

McCLOUD, Chief Justice.

The issue is whether a final judgment adjudicating the validity of an existing lien on a homestead is void and subject to collateral attack.

Plaintiffs, L.G. Mosley and wife, Jynnifer Mosley, filed suit on March 18, 1993, against defendant, Ticor Title Insurance Company of California, seeking a declaratory judgment that a deed of trust lien upon the Mosley's homestead was void. Ticor filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that the Mosleys were collaterally attacking a prior final judgment and that the Mosleys' claims were barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel. The trial court granted Ticor's motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

Ticor does not challenge that the 9.5-acre tract in question is the Mosley's homestead. Ticor is the assignee of the note and deed of trust in question which were originally executed in favor of Guaranty Bank.

On July 24, 1990, a final judgment was entered in the 192nd Judicial District Court of Dallas County between the Mosleys and Ticor ordering that a promissory note in the original principal sum of $1,285,000 and a deed of trust securing the note and covering the 9.5-acre tract in question were judicially reformed to provide that the note and deed of trust were executed by L.G. and Jynnifer Mosley in their individual capacities rather than by L.G. Mosley as president of Bloods of Quality, Inc. The judgment ordered that the deed of trust was a "valid, subsisting and perfected first lien" in favor of Ticor against the property in question in the "principal amount of $300,000.00." The judgment further provided that the deed of trust would secure the "Mosleys' repayment of the principal amount of $300,000.00, plus interest, as more fully described in the Settlement Agreement and Release and the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law." The pleadings at the time the judgment was entered clearly show that the homestead issue was before the court. The parties agreed to reduce the approximate 1.2 million dollar obligation to a debt of $300,000. In the findings of fact and conclusions of law which were expressly incorporated into the July 24, 1990, judgment, the trial court found that:

[O]f the proceeds advanced by the Bank, on or about October 6, 1986, in connection with the Note and Deed of Trust, $300,000.00 was disbursed by the Bank to discharge valid purchase money and improvement liens against the property." (Emphasis added)

The Mosleys contend on appeal that the July 24, 1990, judgment is "void" because the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. If the judgment is valid, Ticor's res judicata and collateral...