Stites v. Gillum

• Decision Date: 23 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 2-92-262-CV,2-92-262-CV
• Citation: Stites v. Gillum, 872 S.W.2d 786 (Tex. App. 1994)
• Parties: Robert STITES, Appellant, v. Karen GILLUM, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 786

872 S.W.2d 786

Robert STITES, Appellant, v. Karen GILLUM, Appellee.

No. 2-92-262-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Fort Worth.

Feb. 23, 1994.

Rehearing Overruled April 28, 1994.

Anne Gardner, Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff, & Miller, L.L.P., Fort Worth, for appellant.

Richard N. Countiss, Burrow, Countiss, Barrie, & Ray, L.L.P., Houston, for appellee.

Before DAY, HICKS and FARRAR, JJ.

OPINION

HICKS, Justice.

Appellant, Robert Stites, appeals from a sanctions order imposed against him under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 13. We affirm.

Stites represented Ellen Kirkham in a divorce suit filed against her by her husband, William Kirkham. Stites included Karen Gillum as a respondent in Ellen Kirkham's counter-petition for divorce, entitled "Suit Against Third Party Counter-Respondent for Impairment and Interference with Familial Relationship." This counter-petition alleged that Gillum had set a course of conduct for the purposes of persuading William Kirkham to leave his wife, and to interfere with the family relationship and destroy Ellen and William's marriage.

Gillum moved for summary judgment, alleging that Ellen Kirkham's asserted cause of action against her was either an action for criminal conversation or for alienation of affections, and that both causes of action had been abolished in Texas. See TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. secs. 4.05, 4.06 (Vernon 1993). The court granted the summary judgment motion.

Gillum then filed a motion for sanctions against Stites, pursuant to TEX.R.CIV.P. 13. The court severed the motion for sanctions from the divorce proceedings, and after a hearing the court imposed $18,000 in sanctions against Stites.

Stites combines his argument regarding points one through seven, in which he contends the trial court abused its discretion in imposing sanctions under Rule 13 based on its findings that the action Stites filed on behalf of Ellen Kirkham against Gillum was groundless and in bad faith.

TEXAS RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 13:

This Rule provides, in pertinent part:

The signatures of attorneys or parties constitute a certificate by them that they have read the pleading, motion, or other paper; that to the best of their knowledge, information, and belief formed after reasonable inquiry the instrument is not groundless and brought in bad faith or groundless and brought for the purpose of harassment.

....

Courts shall presume that pleadings, motions, and other papers are filed in good faith. No sanctions under this rule may be imposed except for good cause, the particulars of which must be stated in the sanction order. "Groundless" for purposes of this rule means no basis in law or fact and not warranted by good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.

TEX.R.CIV.P. 13.

The parties agree that this Court should review Rule 13 sanctions by an abuse of discretion standard. See Home Owners Funding Corp. v. Scheppler, 815 S.W.2d 884, 887-89 (Tex.App.--Corpus Christi 1991, no writ); Zarsky v. Zurich Management, Inc., 829 S.W.2d 398, 399 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, no writ). See also GTE Communications v. Tanner, 856 S.W.2d 725, 730-32 (Tex.1993) (orig. proceeding) (applying abuse of discretion test to review of sanctions imposed under Rule 13).

The test for determining whether the trial court abused its discretion is whether it acted without reference to any guiding rules or principles. Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 241-42 (Tex.1985). If the trial court acts in an arbitrary or unreasonable manner, it abuses its discretion. Loftin v. Martin, 776 S.W.2d 145, 146 (Tex.1989). In reviewing abuse of discretion regarding imposition of Rule 13 sanctions, a trial court's ruling should be overturned only when it is based on an erroneous view of the law or a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence. Home Owners, 815 S.W.2d at 889. See also Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 405, 110 S.Ct. 2447, 2461, 110 L.Ed.2d 359, 381-82 (1990) (discussing abuse of discretion test as applied to sanctions imposed pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 11 ¹), and Chambers v. Nasco, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, ----, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 2139, 115 L.Ed.2d 27, 52 (1991) (abuse of discretion test is applied to sanctions imposed under a court's inherent power).

In Home Owners, the court stated:

The purpose of Rule 13 is to check abuses in the pleading process, i.e. to insure that at the time the challenged pleading was filed the litigant's position was factually well grounded and legally tenable.

Home Owners, 815 S.W.2d at 889.

PLEADINGS FILED BY STITES:

Stites asserts that when he filed Ellen Kirkham's counter-petition against Gillum, he was modifying or extending existing law on the causes of action "Interference with Familial Relationship" and "Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress." Thus, we will compare his pleadings to these two causes of action and to "Alienation of Affections." Because it is important that we review the exact language used by Stites in the counter-petition, we have set out the entire counter-petition:

14. Suit Against Third Party Counter-Respondent for Impairment and Interference with Familial Relationship

ELLEN LOUISE KIRKHAM, Counter-Petitioner, herein makes this claim against Dr. KAREN GILLUM, Third Party Respondent, for impairment and breach of the familial relationship and for cause thereof would show unto the Court as follows:

[Paragraph A pertains to service on Gillum.]

B.

Counter-Petitioner would show that she and her husband, WILLIAM O. KIRKHAM, were married by common law on or about October 1, 1981, and lived together happily as husband and wife until on or about December 20, 1989. Thereafter, the parties reconciled and lived together from approximately January 23, 1989 [sic 1990?], until July 11, 1989 [sic 1990?], when Dr. KAREN GILLUM again induced WILLIAM O. KIRKHAM to return to reside and live with her.

The parties were happily married until Third Party Respondent DR. KAREN GILLUM set a course of conduct for the purpose of persuading WILLIAM O. KIRKHAM to leave his wife and to establish a possibly sexual relationship with DR. GILLUM. DR. KAREN GILLUM did this for the purpose of interfering with the family relationship and to destroy the marriage of ELLEN KIRKHAM and WILLIAM O. KIRKHAM. DR. KAREN GILLUM has in fact told Counter-Petitioner that "I'll be waiting for your husband when it's over between the two of you."

C.

As a result of DR. GILLUM's conduct as aforesaid, the parties are now seeking divorce. The marriage has been ruined, and Counter-Petitioner's life has been interrupted and destroyed.

D.

Counter-Petitioner, ELLEN O. KIRKHAM, would show that by the conduct of the Third Party Respondent, DR. KAREN GILLUM, the relationship between her and her husband has been impaired, and that KAREN GILLUM has brought shame, embarrassment, and humiliation and great grief upon her.

E.

ELLEN KIRKHAM further alleges that in committing the above-described acts, DR. KAREN GILLUM acted with malice which resulted in the impairment of the marriage relationship between ELLEN KIRKHAM and WILLIAM O. KIRKHAM. Punitive damages accordingly should be rendered against her in an amount to prevent such further acts on her behalf in the future and to set an example in the community as against these malicious, intentional, wanton, willful acts.

[The Prayer is omitted.]

TRIAL COURT'S FINDINGS:

After a hearing on Gillum's motion for sanctions, the trial court made the following findings 4) The Court finds that the action filed by Robert T. Stites was an action for "alienation of affections" couched in other terms.

....

6) The Court finds that the action filed by Robert T. Stites was not an action seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

....

14) The Court finds, ... that Robert T. Stites brought the action in bad faith, without first considering the prohibition contained in Section 4.06 of the Texas Family Code.

15) This Court specifically finds that the action filed by Robert T. Stites was a groundless lawsuit which held no basis in law or fact and was not warranted by a good faith argument for the extension, modification or reversal of existing law.

....

16) [sic] The Court finds that for good cause sanctions shall assess against Robert T. Stites individually and in his capacity as attorney of record pursuant to Rule 13 and Rule 215b of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

STITES'S CONTENTIONS:

Stites's argument on appeal is that the counter-petition he filed on behalf of Ellen Kirkham does not allege alienation of affections, which is prohibited by Family Code section 4.06, but in fact alleges two other existing causes of action: interference with familial relationship; and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He insists that when he filed the counter-petition, existing legal authority in Texas did suggest the availability of either cause of action.

Accordingly, Stites asserts the trial court abused its discretion in awarding Rule 13 sanctions because the question of whether Family Code sections 4.05 and 4.06 preclude assertion of claims for interference with familial relations, or for intentional infliction of emotional distress, was one of first impression in Texas when the counter-petition was filed in January 1990.

Our initial task is to review the elements of the three causes of action, and to compare these elements to the allegations in the counter-petition.

ALIENATION OF AFFECTIONS:

Effective September 1, 1987, the Legislature amended the Texas Family Code to abolish the right of action by one spouse against a third party to alienation of affections. TEX.FAM.CODE ANN. sec. 4.06 (Vernon 1993) ². Prior to that date, alienation of affections had been defined as follows:

The gist of the alienation of affections action is the intentional or purposeful alienation of the affections of one spouse from the other; the damage, if any, in such a case is for loss of consortium; to establish...