Woodside v. Woodside

• Decision Date: 02 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 08-03-00275-CV.,08-03-00275-CV.
• Citation: 154 S.W.3d 688
• Parties: Mark W. WOODSIDE, Appellant, v. Cathy K. WOODSIDE, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

154 S.W.3d 688

Mark W. WOODSIDE, Appellant, v. Cathy K. WOODSIDE, Appellee.

No. 08-03-00275-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, El Paso.

December 2, 2004.

Mark W. Woodside, Midland, pro se.

Sharon Letson Weathers, Midland, for Appellee.

Before Panel No. 4 BARAJAS, C.J., LARSEN, and McCLURE, JJ.

OPINION

RICHARD BARAJAS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the trial court's granting of a summary judgment against Appellant related to a division of property in a prior divorce. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The substantive facts in this case are not disputed. Appellant, Mark W. Woodside, and Appellee, Cathy K. Woodside¹ were divorced in 1999. Incidental to the divorce, the court divided the community estate of the parties and entered a decree of divorce on December 23, 1999. Though the decree itself is not included in the appellate record, the parties do not dispute the disposition of the property contained therein. Among other things, the trial court awarded the primary residence of the property to the Appellee and provided that upon its sale, the Appellant would be obligated to execute a promissory note payable to Appellee, in the amount of four hundred thousand dollars. Appellant was also obligated to make monthly payments to discharge his obligations under the note.

Appellant did not execute the promissory note under the decree and did not make any of the payments under the note as required. In March of 2000, Appellee filed a Motion for Enforcement of the Divorce Decree in state court. On March 18, 2000, Appellant and his company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. On November 13, 2001 the state court issued a letter ruling granting the Motion for Enforcement and awarding Appellee certain fees. Appellee filed an adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court entitled Complaint to Determine Right to Discharge and Dischargeability of Debts and seeking to designate the money owed to her by Appellant as "nondischargeable." On July 23, 2002, the Bankruptcy Court conducted a trial to determine the dischargeability of the debt. On August 16, 2002 the Bankruptcy Court issued a Final Judgment ruling that the payments owed by Appellant were not dischargeable.

Appellant appealed that ruling to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and the Honorable Royal Furgeson affirmed the Final Judgment and Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law of the United States Bankruptcy Court on January 6, 2003. Appellant attempted to appeal that decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals but said appeal was dismissed on June 3, 2003 for want of prosecution because of Appellant's failure to file a record and a sufficient brief.

On March 13, 2003 Appellee filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment seeking judgment against Appellant on the obligations related to the $400,000 promissory note. Appellee's motion was scheduled for submission on May 6, 2003. Appellant's response was due on April 30, 2003. On April 30, 2003 Appellant filed a Motion for Continuance which was denied by the trial court. Thereafter, Appellant filed an untimely response to the Appellee's Motion for Summary Judgment on May 5, 2003. The trial court entered an Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on May 12, 2003 granting judgment in favor of Appellee against Appellant for the $400,000 promissory note, $57,625.98 as the interest due under the promissory note, attorney's fees to be determined, costs of court, and post-judgment interest.

On March 19, 2003 Appellee filed a motion for Entry of Final Judgment which requested that the court enter a final judgment in the case. The court finalized the Order of May 12, 2003 in a Final Judgment filed May 28, 2003 and awarded attorney's fees in favor of Appellee Cathy Kinslow.

Appellant filed a notice of appeal on June 5, 2003.

II. DISCUSSION

In two issues on appeal, Appellant challenges the court's granting of the Appellees' motion for summary judgment. In a compound and virtually indecipherable argument, issue number one attempts to complain of the trial court's granting of the motion for partial summary judgment because of a letter ruling of the trial court issued November 13, 2001 in response to Appellee's Motion for Enforcement. Though the point of the issue is unclear, we read it as contending that, because a letter ruling issued by the trial court and dated November 13, 2001 did not make a determination regarding the characterization of the promissory note as "spousal support" the trial court may not make a determination regarding Appellant's contractual obligations and now grant a summary judgment confirming Appellant's obligations under the note.

Issue One attempts to raise "the affirmative defense of Collateral Estoppel" and seems to complain of the fact that the trial court did not consider Appellant's untimely response to Appellee's Motion for Summary Judgment for the reason that the Federal Bankruptcy Court addressed the issue of whether Appellant was obligated to payments under the note. As stated previously, the Federal Bankruptcy court ruled that the contractual obligation under the note was not dischargeable, the Federal District Court Judge affirmed the decision and the Appellant's appeal to the Fifth Circuit was dismissed. Though raising the defense of collateral estoppel is not an appropriate appellate issue for our consideration, we observe that Appellant appears to ignore the fact that the federal courts have ruled against him.

Both issues are minimally briefed and do not properly preserve error for review by this court. When a trial court's summary judgment rests upon more than one independent ground, as the judgment does here, the aggrieved party must assign error to each ground or the judgment will be affirmed on any ground not complained of. Nabors Corporate Services, Inc. v. Northfield Ins. Co., 132 S.W.3d 90, 95 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2004, no pet.h.); Williamson v. State Farm Lloyds, 76 S.W.3d 64, 67 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2002, no pet.). Appellant's issues do not direct this Court's attention to any specific error on which he bases his complaint. See TEX.R.APP.P. 38.1(e). A complaint on appeal must address specific errors and not merely attack the trial court's order in general terms. McGuire v. McGuire 4 S.W.3d 382, 385 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, no pet.); Hollifield v. Hollifield, 925 S.W.2d 153, 155 (Tex.App.-Austin 1996, no writ).

Because Appellant's response to Appellee's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment was untimely, Appellant did not raise any challenges to the motion for summary judgment and therefore may not raise any on appeal. TEX.R.CIV.P. 166a. In Issue One, appellant claims that the trial judge "improperly ruled in Appellee's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment" without articulating a basis for error by the court. The issue makes reference to a previous letter ruling of the trial court but does not explain how the final judgment was granted in error. The argument in support of this issue appears to be attempting to attack the entry of the judgment for the reason that Appellant does not believe that the property has been properly characterized as "spousal support." The argument cites to a few irrelevant cases and statutes which do not support an appellate argument. Issue One is thus waived for inadequate briefing. See TEX.R.APP.P. 38.1(h); Stephens v. Dolcefino 126 S.W.3d 120, 125-26 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2003, no pet.); Franz v. Katy Indep. Sch. Dist., 35 S.W.3d 749, 755 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, no pet.).

The brief "must contain a succinct, clear, and accurate statement of the arguments made in the body of the brief." TEX.R.APP.P. 38.1(g). Rule 38 requires Appellant to provide us with such discussion of the facts and the authorities relied upon as may be requisite to maintain the point at issue. See Tesoro Petroleum Corp. v. Nabors Drilling USA, Inc., 106 S.W.3d 118, 128 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, review denied); Franklin v. Enserch, Inc., 961 S.W.2d 704, 711 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 1998, no pet.). This is not done by merely uttering brief conclusory statements, unsupported by legal citations. Tesoro, 106 S.W.3d at 128. By presenting such attenuated, unsupported argument, Appellant waives his complaints. We overrule Appellant's Issue One.

Similarly, Issue Two appears to complain of the trial court's granting of summary judgment in favor of Appellee because Appellant believes he can assert a defense of collateral estoppel to...