Whitmire v. National Cutting Horse Association, No. 2-08-176-CV (Tex. App. 7/23/2009)
| Decision Date | 23 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 2-08-176-CV.,2-08-176-CV. |
| Parties | LAINIE WHITMIRE, Appellant, v. NATIONAL CUTTING HORSE ASSOCIATION, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the 236th District Court of Tarrant County.
Panel: CAYCE, C.J.; DAUPHINOT and WALKER, JJ.
In three issues, Appellant Lainie Whitmire appeals the summary judgment entered against her and in favor of Appellee National Cutting Horse Association (the NCHA). We will affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.
The NCHA is a non-profit association whose purpose is "to encourage, promote, advertise and develop the cutting horse as a unique and excellent equine athlete." The NCHA's board of directors has the power to make and amend the NCHA's rules and regulations, including rules for the admission, supervision, and expulsion of members. Members of the NCHA agree, as part of their applications, to follow and to be bound by the NCHA rules.
Under the rules, NCHA members may compete in cutting horse competitions as professionals, non-professionals, or amateurs, depending on certain qualifications.2 The rules provide that any person who has trained horses astride for direct or indirect remuneration shall be considered a professional.
Pursuant to NCHA Rule 37, a member may file a complaint regarding an alleged violation of NCHA rules by providing the NCHA executive director with a written complaint and a $50.00 filing fee. Upon receipt, the NCHA president will appoint a grievance committee to review and to investigate the complaint and, if necessary, to take disciplinary action against the member. The grievance committee's decision shall be final and binding unless the member appeals in writing pursuant to Rule 38.
Rule 38 provides that a member may appeal the grievance committee's decision and that the executive committee or a hearing committee will hold a de novo hearing regarding the alleged rule violation. The executive or hearing committee's decision on appeal is final and binding. Rule 38 provides, "Any member may be disciplined . . . whenever it shall have been established by a preponderance of the evidence that such member or non-member has violated any rule of the Association." A member must be given fifteen days' notice of a time and place for an appeal hearing and an opportunity to be heard at that hearing.
Whitmire was a member of the NCHA and competed in the amateur class. In 2004, the NCHA sent Whitmire a letter informing her that it had concerns regarding her amateur status and requested detailed information regarding her past employment. Later that year, on November 1, 2004, the NCHA sent Whitmire a second letter notifying her that the association had received information that she previously had trained horses for remuneration in violation NCHA rules for amateur and non-professional statuses. Specifically, the letter stated that "[t]he synopsis of the complaint is that you [Whitmire] have trained barrel horses for clients and received remuneration for your training." The letter informed Whitmire that the NCHA president had appointed a grievance committee to review and to investigate the complaint and that a hearing would be held in front of the grievance committee on November 15, 2004 in order to provide Whitmire an opportunity to be heard.
Whitmire and her attorney, Clark Brewster, appeared at the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the committee decided to revoke Whitmire's amateur status. The committee also decided to suspend her non-professional status unless, within fifteen days, Whitmire produced evidence to show her eligibility for non-professional status and took a polygraph examination concerning her past horse training experience.
Whitmire appealed the grievance committee's ruling pursuant to NCHA Rule 38, and an appeal hearing was scheduled for January 19, 2005. On the day of the hearing, Brewster and the NCHA's attorney, E. Eldridge Goins, Jr., reached an oral settlement agreement. Both parties agree that they reached a settlement agreement and that, as part of the agreement, Whitmire would withdraw all appeals and her membership would be suspended for six months. The parties dispute, however, whether reinstatement of Whitmire's non-professional status at the conclusion of the six-month suspension was a term of the settlement agreement.
Goins subsequently sent Brewster a letter, purportedly confirming the terms of the settlement agreement. The letter stated that the parties agreed that "all pending investigations and appeals are hereby ceased," that Whitmire's NCHA membership would be suspended for six months, and that Whitmire's amateur and non-professional statuses would be revoked. The letter did not mention reinstatement of Whitmire's non-professional status. Whitmire contends, however, that Brewster contacted Goins after receiving the letter and that Goins assured him that, contrary to the terms in the letter, Whitmire would be eligible for reinstatement of her non-professional status at the end of her six-month membership suspension. The letter did not provide a signature line for Brewster or Whitmire, and they did not otherwise respond in writing.
Sometime after the six-month membership suspension period had ended, Whitmire applied for reinstatement of her non-professional status. The NCHA denied her application due to ineligibility. In a letter dated March 2, 2006, Whitmire's new attorney, James Walker, requested reconsideration of Whitmire's application for non-professional status and an appeal to the NCHA executive committee if her application was denied for a second time. The NCHA again denied Whitmire's application and recommended that her NCHA privileges be revoked for one year because it claimed that she had made false statements in her application. Whitmire appealed this decision, and in August 2006 the NCHA held a hearing on her appeal; Whitmire appeared with her attorney, Walker. At the hearing, Walker acknowledged that the parties had previously reached a settlement agreement, although he did not detail the terms of that agreement, i.e., whether or not they had agreed that Whitmire's non-professional status would ultimately be reinstated. After the hearing, the executive committee denied Whitmire's application for non-professional status and suspended her NCHA membership for one year. The NCHA notified Whitmire that she could appeal the executive committee's decision, but she declined to do so.
In October 2006, Whitmire filed suit against the NCHA, asserting claims for declaratory judgment,3 for breach of contract regarding both the oral settlement agreement (which Whitmire claimed included the provision that her non-professional status would be reinstated after her six-month suspension) and the NCHA membership contract, and for fraud and negligent misrepresentation. Whitmire asserted a libel claim alleging that the NCHA published that she had violated NCHA rules in an official NCHA publication. She also asserted claims for violations of due process and breach of fiduciary duty based on the NCHA's disciplinary actions against her. Finally, she asserted claims for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress based on facts not relevant to this appeal.
Sometime after Whitmire filed this lawsuit, the NCHA notified her that a hearing had been scheduled to determine whether to indefinitely terminate her membership and requested her attendance at the hearing. Whitmire did not appear at the hearing, and the NCHA executive committee revoked her membership. Whitmire did not appeal this ruling.
In response to Whitmire's lawsuit, the NCHA filed a motion for summary judgment based on the doctrine of judicial non-intervention. Specifically, the NCHA claimed that Whitmire's claims for declaratory judgment, breach of contract, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, violation of due process, violation of fiduciary duty, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress arose from disciplinary proceedings for Whitmire's violation of NCHA rules and that these claims are barred by the judicial non-intervention doctrine. The NCHA also filed a supplemental traditional and no-evidence motion for summary judgment regarding Whitmire's claims for breach of the oral settlement agreement and false imprisonment. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the NCHA on all of Whitmire's claims except false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress; the trial court ordered those claims severed, and Whitmire perfected this appeal.
After an adequate time for discovery, the party without the burden of proof may, without presenting evidence, move for summary judgment on the ground that there is no evidence to support an essential element of the nonmovant's claim or defense. Tex. R. Civ. P. 166a(i). The motion must specifically state the elements for which there is no evidence. Id.; Johnson v. Brewer & Pritchard, P.C., 73 S.W.3d 193, 207 (Tex. 2002). The trial court must grant the motion unless the nonmovant produces summary judgment evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 166a(i) & cmt.; Sw. Elec. Power Co. v. Grant, 73 S.W.3d 211, 215 (Tex. 2002).
When reviewing a no-evidence summary judgment, we examine the entire record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, indulging every reasonable inference and resolving any doubts against the motion. Sudan v. Sudan, 199 S.W.3d 291, 292 (Tex. 2006). If the nonmovant brings forward more than a scintilla of probative evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact, then a no-evidence summary judgment is not proper. Moore v. K Mart Corp., 981 S.W.2d 266, 269 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 1998, pet. denied). We review a no-evidence summary judgment for...
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