Case Name: Rosalinda V. FLORES, Relator, v. Honorable James C. ONION, Respondent
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1985-06-19
Citations: 693 S.W.2d 756
Docket Number: No. 04-85-00210-CV
Parties: Rosalinda V. FLORES, Relator, v. Honorable James C. ONION, Respondent.
Judges: Before ESQUIVEL, CANTU and DIAL, JJ.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 693
Pages: 756–759

Head Matter:
Rosalinda V. FLORES, Relator, v. Honorable James C. ONION, Respondent.
No. 04-85-00210-CV.
Court of Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.
June 19, 1985.
John M. Eeonomidy, San Antonio, for relator.
Terrance McDonald, San Antonio, for respondent.
Before ESQUIVEL, CANTU and DIAL, JJ.

Opinion:
OPINION
DIAL, Justice.
RELATOR'S WRIT OF MANDAMUS CONDITIONALLY GRANTED
This is an original petition for writ of mandamus. Relator, petitioner in a divorce action below, seeks to compel respondent, the Honorable James C. Onion, Judge of the 73rd District Court of Bexar County, Texas, to sign and enter a final judgment in the divorce action. Relator contends that Judge Onion had previously rendered an agreed judgment, but now refuses to sign and enter a formal, typed copy of the judgment. Judge Onion has responded that he has not yet rendered judgment, that a hearing was set on relator's motion to enter judgment, and that at the hearing the real party in interest, Luis Enrique Flores, respondent in the divorce action, revoked his consent to the agreed judgment. Thus, Judge Onion refused to enter judgment. The issue in this petition is whether judgment had been rendered prior to Mr. Flores' revocation of consent. We hold that it was and conditionally grant the petition for writ of mandamus.
The facts are set out in an affidavit of relator's trial attorney. The divorce case was set for hearing on April 4, 1985. On that day the parties and their attorneys conferred and were able to reach an agreement which was reduced to handwriting. The handwritten document is styled "Flores v. Flores," and numbered "85-CI-01321." It is captioned "Decree and Agreement." The document states, "Divorce granted," and, "All jurisdictional requirements satisfied." The document goes on to detail child conservatorship and support and a division of the parties' property and debts. It also arranges for payment of fees and costs, and concludes, "Relief requested and not granted is denied." It is signed by the parties and their attorneys.
Relator's trial attorney states in his affidavit that he and his client then went before Judge Onion and verbally proved up the case in open court, that Judge Onion verbally granted the divorce and signed the handwritten document beside the words, "Signed and rendered." The document was filed with the district clerk among the papers of the cause. No court reporter was present. Judge Onion in his response declares that he has no independent recollection of any testimony being offered on April 4.
Relator's trial attorney prepared a typewritten copy of the handwritten judgment and presented it to Mr. Flores' attorney. By that time, however, Mr. Flores had apparently changed his mind and no longer approved of the agreed judgment. His attorney, therefore, would not concur in the typed decree. Relator filed a motion to enter judgment which was set for hearing on May 6, 1985. At the hearing Mr. Flores stated that he was not pleased with the provisions of the agreement concerning the amount of child support he was to pay, and concerning the division of the family home. Based on these reservations Judge Onion refused to sign the proposed decree and denied the motion to enter judgment.
A party may revoke his consent to settle a case any time before judgment is rendered. Samples Exterminators v. Samples, 640 S.W.2d 873, 874-75 (Tex.1982). Thus this case turns on the question of whether the signing by Judge Onion of the handwritten document on April 4 was a "rendition" of judgment. If it was, then Judge Onion has a ministerial duty to see that a final decree is entered in accordance with the agreement of the parties, 4 r. McDonald, texas civil practice § 17.22 (rev. 1984), and mandamus will lie to compel the entry of judgment. State ex rel. Pettit v. Thurmond, 516 S.W.2d 119, 121 (Tex.1974). If judgment was not rendered on April 4, then Mr. Flores timely revoked his consent to the agreement, and Judge Onion properly refused to render judgment on May 6.
The "rendition" of a judgment is the pronouncement by the court of its conclusions and decision upon the matter submitted to it for adjudication which may be oral as well as written. Knox v. Long, 152 Tex. 291, 257 S.W.2d 289, 292 (1953). A judgment is "rendered" when the decision is officially announced either orally in open court or by memorandum filed with the clerk. Id. The "entry" of the judgment is the ministerial act which furnishes enduring evidence of the judicial act of rendition. Eastin v. Eastin, 588 S.W.2d 812, 814 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1979, writ dism'd).
We hold that Judge Onion rendered judgment on April 4 when he signed the handwritten consent decree prepared by the parties. By his signature on the agreement, Judge Onion officially announced the court's decision by memorandum filed with the clerk. Knox v. Long, 257 S.W.2d at 292. Nothing was left for adjustment between the parties relating to the subject matter of the agreement. Matthews v. Looney, 132 Tex. 313, 123 S.W.2d 871, 873 (1939). The decree granted the divorce, indicated that all jurisdictional requirements were satisfied, divided the property and debts of the parties, provided for con-servatorship and support of the parties' child, awarded costs and fees, and indicated that relief not granted was denied. In this regard the agreement was unlike that in Eastin where the agreement was not in the form of a judgment, did not purport to dispose of the question of marriage, and was nothing more than a recital of the terms of the agreement. 588 S.W.2d at 813. There is nothing in the record before us to indicate that Mr. Flores objected to the consent decree on April 4. In fact, all the evidence is to the contrary. Mr. Flores signed the agreement indicating his approval on the day it was drafted and rendered.
The writ of mandamus is conditionally granted. We are confident Judge Onion will sign a formal, typed decree in conformity with the consent decree rendered on April 4, and see that that final decree is entered of record. The writ of mandamus will issue only if he refuses to do so.
. It is agreed by all sides that this proposed judgment contains a typographical error in the distribution of the parties' debts and it, therefore, docs not conform to the agreement readied on April 4. Judge Onion would have been correct in refusing to enter this judgment had this been the only reason for his refusal to do so. As will be made apparent, however, he was incorrect in refusing to enter judgment based on Mr. Flores' withdrawal of his consent subsequent to rendition of judgment.