Oadra v. Stegall

• Decision Date: 10 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. B14-90-00863-CV,B14-90-00863-CV
• Citation: 871 S.W.2d 882
• Parties: Stella A. OADRA, Appellant, v. Robin Denise STEGALL, Individually, and as Next Friend of Jeffrey and Matthew Stegall, and as Successor Administratrix of the Estate of John J. Oadra, Deceased, Appellees. (14th Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 882

871 S.W.2d 882

Stella A. OADRA, Appellant, v. Robin Denise STEGALL, Individually, and as Next Friend of Jeffrey and Matthew Stegall, and as Successor Administratrix of the Estate of John J Oadra, Deceased, Appellees.

No. B14-90-00863-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Houston (14th Dist.).

Feb. 10, 1994.

Timothy E. McKenna, Houston, for appellant.

Paul D. Clote, Mary Ann Faust, Houston, for appellees.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION ON REMAND

J. CURTISS BROWN, Chief Justice.

This case involves a dispute over the ownership of funds on deposit in two bank accounts at Mainland Savings: a trust account (the Primary Account) and a joint account (the Small Account). On submission en banc, a majority of this court reversed the trial court's judgment awarding twenty-five percent (25%) of the Primary Account funds to Robin Denise Oadra Stegall (Stegall), Individually, twenty-five (25%) of the account funds to Jeffrey Stegall, twenty-five (25%) of the account funds to Matthew Stegall, and twenty-five (25%) of the account funds to Stella A. Oadra (Oadra). We held that Oadra, appellant, was the beneficial owner of all of the Primary Account funds under Chapter XI of the Texas Probate Code. Oadra v. Stegall, 828 S.W.2d 460, 466 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1992), rev'd, Stegall v. Oadra, 868 S.W.2d 290 (Tex.1993). The majority affirmed the trial court's judgment awarding the funds in the Small Account to the estate of John J. Oadra.

Chief Justice Brown and Justice Sears dissented. They would have held that Oadra had no beneficial ownership rights in the Primary Account funds and that upon the death of John J. Oadra, the funds passed to his estate under TEX.PROB.CODE ANN. § 439(d). Id. at 469. They would have concluded that the trial court properly held that Oadra did not own any of the funds in the Primary Account; however, instead of awarding the funds to the Robin, Jeffrey, and Matthew Stegall, Chief Justice Brown and Justice Sears would have concluded that the trial court should have awarded the funds to Robin Denise Oadra Stegall, as successor administratrix of the estate of John J. Oadra. Id. at 471.

The Texas Supreme Court granted appellees' writ of error. That court agreed with the reasoning and result suggested by the dissent. The supreme court held that the dissent was correct when it stated that the majority opinion created a right of survivorship among joint trustees in violation of section 439(a) of the Texas Probate Court and the supreme court's opinion in Stauffer v. Henderson, 801 S.W.2d 858 (Tex.1990). Stegall v. Oadra, 868 S.W.2d 290 (Tex.1993). The supreme court held that the funds in the Mainland Savings trust account should have passed through John J. Oadra's estate and therefore, the heirs and devisees of the estate of John J. Oadra were entitled to the funds. Id. The supreme court remanded the case back to this court for a consideration of Oadra's remaining points of error. Id. We now hold, pursuant to the supreme court's decision and our holdings in the other points of error, that the heirs and devisees of John J. Oadra, Robin Denise Oadra Stegall and Michael Oadra, are entitled to the funds in the Mainland Savings Primary Account and the Small Account. ¹ The judgment of the trial court is affirmed as modified.

In 1982, John J. Oadra and his mother, Stella A. Oadra, set up a "Jumbo" account at Mainland Savings with funds belonging to John J. Oadra. The account was opened with a cashier's check payable to Stella Oadra and John Oadra, as co-trustees. The account was styled:

JOHN J. OADRA or STELLA A. OADRA, Trustees for John J. and Michael Oadra and Robin and Jeffrey and Matthew Stegall. ²

The "Jumbo" account was renewed periodically by John J. Oadra and on February 1, 1984, the funds in the "Jumbo" account were placed in the account referred to as the Primary Account in the jury questions and the trial court's judgment. The account opened on February 1, 1984, is the subject of the dispute between Stella A. Oadra and the appellees.

The Primary Account was created under the terms and provisions of an Account Signature Card and a Revocable Trust Agreement. The beneficiaries were names on the front of the account card. They are John J. and Michael Oadra and Robin, Jeffrey and Matthew Stegall.

On April 14, 1984, John J. Oadra was murdered. His last will and testament, dated April 10, 1980, left his estate to Michael Oadra and Robin Stegall. On the date of the murder, the account at Mainland Savings had a balance of $408,366.74.

A short time after John J. Oadra's death, Oadra removed the funds from the account and placed them in a new account. Subsequently, various suits were filed to determine ownership of the funds. In its judgment, the trial court determined that the Primary Account was a trust account, the Small Account was a joint account, and divided the funds as stated above.

The Texas Supreme Court remanded this case back to this court so that we might review several points of error raised by Oadra in her original appeal. We did not review these points originally because they were unnecessary in light of our disposition of the case. We will now consider those points.

In point of error number two, Oadra complains that the trial court erred in rendering judgment for money damages in favor of Stegall and the estate of John J. Oadra because their claims were barred by the two year statute of limitations. See TEX.CIV.PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 16.003(a) (Vernon 1986).

The supreme court has already determined that the money in the Primary Account should pass through the estate of John J. Oadra to the heirs and devisees of the estate, i.e. to Robin Denise Oadra Stegall and Michael Oadra. Therefore, we need only determine whether the claims by the estate of John J. Oadra (the Estate) were barred by the statute of limitations.

Oadra claims that the Estate knew more than two years before suit was filed that Oadra had taken the money out of the account, and therefore, any claim to the funds in the Primary Account or the Small Account was barred by limitations. This argument is without merit in light of the supreme court's holding.

In its opinion, the supreme court held that section 439(d) of the Texas Probate Code applied to the disposition of the funds in the Primary Account. ³ The court stated that under this subsection of the Probate Code, the death of any party to a multiple-party account has no effect on beneficial ownership of the account. The only effect the death has is to transfer the rights of the decedent as part of his estate. The court went on to state that since it was undisputed that John J. Oadra, the decedent, owned all of the funds in the Primary Account during his lifetime, upon his death ownership vested in his heirs and devises as a matter of law.

Since the funds in the Primary Account passed to the Estate as a matter of law, it was unnecessary for the Estate to file suit against Oadra in order to retrieve the funds. Therefore, the statute of limitations was irrelevant as to any claim by the Estate.

The same argument, though not reached by the supreme court, applied to the funds in the Small Account. It is undisputed that the Small Account was a joint account. The signature card for that account clearly shows that it had no right of survivorship. Therefore, section 439(d) applied to that account as well. The funds in the Small Account passed, as a matter of law, to the Estate. Again, the Estate was not required to file suit to claim what belonged to it as a matter of law. Oadra's second point of error is overruled.

In points of error three and five, Oadra complains about the trial court award of attorney's fees against her. In point three, Oadra claims the trial court abused its discretion in awarding attorney's fees against her because she was entitled to prevail on her claim and did, in fact, prevail. The Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code authorizes the trial court to award reasonable and necessary attorney's fees as are equitable and just in a declaratory judgment action. TEX.CIV.PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 37.009 (Vernon 1986). Such an award is discretionary with the trial court and will not be overturned absent and abuse of discretion. Oake v. Collin County, 692 S.W.2d 454, 455 (Tex.1985). Oadra claims that the trial court erred in rendering its judgment in favor of her opponent and therefore, abused its discretion in awarding attorney's fees. Since it has been determined by the Texas Supreme Court and by this court that Oadra was not entitled to prevail on her claims to the funds in the accounts, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney's fees against her.

In her fifth point of error, she claims the trial court erred in awarding attorney's fees to Stegall and Thomas R. Conner, the ad litem, without limiting the award to the event of an unsuccessful appeal by Oadra. This point is moot. The appeal by Oadra has been decided against her, therefore, the failure of the trial court to limit the attorney's fee award is harmless. Points of error three and five are overruled.

In point of error four, Oadra again complains about the trial court's award of attorney's fees. She claims that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the award because the evidence failed to segregate the attorney's fees from and between Stegall and the Estate, and from and between the various claims and defendants.

The appellees claim that Oadra has waived this contention by failing to object to the attorney's fees evidence when it was offered and admitted. The Texas Supreme Court has held that it is not necessary to object to the attorney's fees evidence at the time it is offered in order to preserve this type of error for appeal. Stewart Title Guar. Co. v. Sterling, 822 S.W.2d 1, 10 (Tex.1991); see also Moody v. EMC Serv., Inc., 828 S.W.2d 237, 247 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, writ denied). An objection to the failure...