Title: Warren v. Walter

State: texas

Issuer: Texas Supreme Court

Document:

414 S.W.2d 423 (1967) Jackie WARREN et al., Petitioners, v. Mrs. Mary Ann WALTER et vir, Respondents. No. B-97. Supreme Court of Texas. April 12, 1967. Phenix & Wilder, James N. Phenix, Henderson, for petitioners. Jack N. Price, Longview, for respondents. PER CURIAM. The opinion of the court of civil appeals, 409 S.W.2d 887, states the nature of the case and applicable law as follows: Because of the interlocutory character of the trial court's judgment, the court of civil appeals dismissed the appeal. We agree with the holding of the court of civil appeals that the judgment of the trial court is interlocutory and not appealable, and accordingly approve the judgment dismissing the appeal. However, we are not satisfied that the opinion of the *424 court of civil appeals has correctly declared the law in its statement that "Two trials, one to vacate the judgment by default and another on the merits of the original action, are not permitted, but every issue raised on both phases of the case must be disposed of on one trial * * *." Cases cited by the court of civil appeals in support of the quoted holding were decided before adoption of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 174(b) which confers broad discretion on trial courts to order a separate trial "of any separate issue." The holding is not an essential predicate for the judgment of dismissal, and our refusal of writ of error "no reversible error" is not to be regarded as either an approval or disapproval of the holding. Rule 483, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.