Court Opinion

ID: 9661651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:45:48.094552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:31.829900
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
Defendant, in its motion for rehearing, among other assignments of error, contends: 1) “the trial court, having rendered judgment on December 15, 1978, was without jurisdiction to render an additional judgment on May 11,1979, containing additional provisions for attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest not included in the final judgment earlier rendered on December 15, 1978”; and 2) “the Court of Civil Appeals committed fundamental error in upholding an award for attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest where a final judgment was rendered by the trial court on December 15,1978, for $6,136.76, and a purported final judgment was later entered on May 11, 1979, containing additional provisions for attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest.”
Defendant (appellant), on page 2 of its brief (filed on December 4,1979), stated:
“The trial court after hearing evidence on May 22, 1978, granted judgment in favor of PLAINTIFF together with prejudgment interest and attorney’s fees on May 11, 1979. It is from this judgment that Appellant has perfected its appeal.”
In both its brief and in its motion for rehearing, defendant asks this Court to re*345verse the May 11, 1979, judgment of the trial court and render judgment that plaintiff take nothing, or, in the alternative, that the judgment be reversed and the cause be remanded to the trial court. We can do neither under the above-quoted assignments of error. Defendant filed its appeal bond on May 18, 1979, and filed its first motion for extension of time to file the record in this Court on July 16, 1979. Pursuant to the extensions granted by this Court, the transcript was filed in this case on July 16,1979, and the original statement of facts was filed on November 1, 1979. Therefore, if the trial court did render a final judgment on December 15, 1978, as defendant says it did, then we could only dismiss the appeal from the May 11, 1979, judgment for lack of jurisdiction. We could not reverse and render or reverse and remand the May 11, 1979, judgment.
Trial in this case commenced on May 22,1978. On December 15,1978, more than six months after the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge wrote a letter to counsel for both parties. It reads, in pertinent part, as follows:
“. . . [T]he Court is hereby granting a judgment to the plaintiff in the amount of $6,136.76 . . The plaintiff’s counsel will prepare the judgment . . ”
On January 8, 1979, counsel for defendant, wrote a letter to the trial judge and sent a copy thereof to counsel for plaintiff. The letter, insofar as this appeal is concerned, reads:
“It is my understanding that the Court has granted a judgment to Plaintiff, Motheral Contractors, Inc., in the amount of $6,136.76. It is also my understanding the Court has not ruled as to the issues of prejudgment interest or attorney’s fees

The only judgment which appears in the record is the judgment which was signed by the trial court on May 11, 1979, and from which defendant has timely perfected its appeal. There is nothing in the record which shows that a final judgment was rendered on December 15,1978. The aforesaid letter from the judge did not constitute the rendition of a final judgment. Defendant does not by a point of error, claim that the judgment which the record shows was rendered and signed on May 11, 1979, and which awarded plaintiff the amount sued for, attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest, was not in accordance with the announcement made in the letter of December 15, 1978. Counsel for defendant, in his letter of January 8, 1979, in effect, admits that the announcement did not dispose of all issues in the lawsuit.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.