Court Opinion

ID: 9676471
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:25:06.250671+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:48.767967
License: Public Domain

DUNN, Justice,
dissenting.
My dissent is respectfully directed to appellant’s last point of error. I concur with the majority in their disposition of all other points.
In his last point of error, the husband argues that the trial court abused its discretion in entering monetary sanctions in the amount of $15,000 against him.
A review of the record indicates that the wife filed a motion for sanctions on August 1, 1983. She alleged that her husband failed to pay fines, attorney’s fees, and temporary alimony, and failed to file his sworn inventory.
Following a hearing on the matter on October 6, 1983, the trial court issued an order requiring the husband to pay past due alimony, certain costs, and attorney’s fees to the wife’s attorney and ordered each of the parties to file a sworn inventory by November 20, 1983.
On February 10, 1984, a hearing was held on the wife’s motion requesting sanction against the husband for his failure to comply with the court’s October 6, 1983 order. The testimony at the hearing concerning the wife’s request related to the husband’s failure to pay temporary alimony, failure to pay his wife’s attorney’s fees, and failure to file an inventory on November 20, 1983. The husband justified his delay in filing his inventory because of the necessity of having to send the inventory to Egypt three times between the October 6, 1983 order and the date the husband’s inventory was filed, i.e. December 14, 1983. After a hearing, the court signed an order dated February 22, 1984, stating that the motion for sanctions would be taken under advisement. There were no further orders of the court regarding the inventories nor were either of the parties held in contempt.
On August 9, 1984, the trial court levied sanctions against the husband in the amount of $15,000 “for his acts and omissions as alleged” by the wife.
Provisions for the imposition of sanctions were consolidated in Tex.R.Civ.P. 215, amended December 1983, effective April 1, 1984.
Rule 215 sets out the specific circumstances under which a party may file a motion for sanctions. More specifically, Rule 215(l)(b) provides that a party may apply for sanctions:
(1) if a party fails to comply with Rules 200-2b, 201-4 or 208; or
(2) if a party fails:
(a) to appear for deposition; or
(b) to answer either oral or written questions; or
(3) fails to serve answers or objections to interrogatories under Rule 168; fails to respond to request for discovery under Rule 167; or fails to respond or permit inspection under Rule 167.
Even though Rule 215 does not list failure to file an inventory ordered under sec. 3.58 of the Texas Family Code as one of the circumstances under which a party may invoke Rule 215, the wife contends that an inventory is a specie of “discovery,” and therefore, the court had authority to award sanctions under Rule 215.
The Texas Family Code provides that the trial court may issue temporary orders requiring, among other things, either party to file a sworn inventory. See Tex.Fam. Code Ann. sec. 3.58(c)(1) (Vernon Supp. 1985). Further, the legislature saw fit to specifically set out in sec. (f) the provision *226for punishment if a party fails to comply with a court’s temporary order under this section. Tex.Fam.Code Ann. sec. 3.58(f).
Rule 215 does not include inventories, ordered pursuant to sec. 3.58 of the Tex. Fam.Code, in the list of circumstances under which a party may request sanctions. In fact, the legislature amended sec. 3.58(f), effective September 1, 1983, to provide that the violation of any orders issued under this section would be punishable by contempt. If the legislature had intended that inventories, ordered pursuant to sec. 3.58, should be interpreted as a specie of discovery within Rule 215 “Abuse of Discovery; Sanctions,” it could easily have included same in its specific listing of circumstances to which the rule should apply. We note that Rule 215 was amended a few months after the legislature amended sec. 3.58(f).
Assuming, arguendo, that the inventory is a specie of discovery, on a similar state of facts, the Beaumont Court of Appeals held that the trial court abused its discretion in granting sanctions. Illinois Employers Insurance Co. v. Lewis, 582 S.W.2d 242 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 590 S.W.2d 119 (Tex.1979). The defendant filed their “answers to interrogatories” two weeks late but before the court applied sanctions similar to this case. The Texas Supreme Court approved the holding by the Beaumont Court specifically on the point of abuse of discretion. Lewis, 590 S.W.2d at 120. The Texas Supreme Court further stated that only where a party wholly fails to comply, can the other party move for imposition of sanctions without first seeking and obtaining an order from the court requiring further action, and then, if the party fails to comply, the court would be authorized to act as provided under Rule 215a. Id. at 120.
I would hold that the court not only abused its discretion, but had no authority to award $15,000 against the husband as sanctions for failure to file an inventory under Rule 215 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.