Mr. W. Fireworks, Inc. v. Mitchell

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM
• Citation: Mr. W. Fireworks, Inc. v. Mitchell, 622 S.W.2d 576 (Tex. 1981)
• Decision Date: 07 October 1981
• Docket Number: No. C-500,C-500
• Parties: MR. W. FIREWORKS, INC., Petitioner, v. David MITCHELL, Respondent.

Page 576

622 S.W.2d 576

MR. W. FIREWORKS, INC., Petitioner, v. David MITCHELL, Respondent.

No. C-500.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Oct. 7, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 12, 1981.

Benjamin F. Walker, San Antonio, for petitioner.

Bayne, Snell & Krause, Andrew Cline, San Antonio, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

This is an action brought by David Mitchell to recover from Mr. W. Fireworks, Inc. on a contract for personal services. The case involves construction of a trial amendment seeking to increase the amount of attorney's fees sought and the jurisdiction of the county court at law to render a judgment in excess of $5,000.

The trial court awarded Mitchell $6,803.30 in damages and attorney's fees. The court of civil appeals modified the judgment and affirmed. 621 S.W.2d 636. Pursuant to Rule 483, ¹ we grant both applications for writ of error, and without hearing oral argument, reverse the judgment of the court of civil appeals and remand the cause to that court for consideration of a point of error contending that the amount of attorney's fees was excessive.

Mitchell brought suit in the county court at law No. 5 of Bexar County to recover $1,043.30 alleged to be due him for personal services rendered. In addition to the contract amount, Mitchell sought reasonable attorney's fees in the amount of $750 pursuant to article 2226. At trial, Mitchell amended his original petition to ask simply for "reasonable attorney's fees." Trial was to a jury, and the verdict awarded Mitchell $1,043.30 in contract damages plus $5,760 in attorney's fees. The trial judge rendered judgment on this verdict.

The court of civil appeals held that the trial amendment offered by Mitchell was ineffective to increase the amount pleaded for and modified the judgment of the trial court to award only $750 in attorney's fees. Because the judgment as modified was within the $5,000 maximum jurisdictional limit of the county court at law, the court of civil appeals did not reach the question of jurisdiction.

We hold the judgment of the court of appeals regarding attorney's fees is in conflict with our holding in Liberty Sign Co. v. Newsom, 426 S.W.2d 210 (Tex. 1968), thus requiring reversal under Rule 483. In Liberty Sign, the plaintiff's first amended original petition alleged that Liberty Sign Company had employed attorneys and agreed to pay them a reasonable fee in the amount of $1,500. By trial amendment, Liberty Sign Company alleged merely that it had employed attorneys and agreed to pay them reasonable fees. Judgment was rendered for $2,750 in attorney's fees. We held that under the circumstances of that case, both parties as well as the trial court must have understood that Liberty Sign Company was seeking and would be entitled to $2,750 in attorney's fees. We see no distinction between the facts of Liberty Sign and the present case.

The court of civil appeals relied on our decision in Richardson v. First National Life Ins. Co., 419 S.W.2d 836 (Tex. 1967), in reaching its decision. In Richardson, we held that a general prayer for relief in the...