Court Opinion

ID: 9761667
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:49:22.924212+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:25.307999
License: Public Domain

SPURLOCK, Justice
(concurring).
As a general rule a void judgment cannot be validated by a subsequent proceeding. 46 Am.Jur.2d 349, “Judgments”, Sec. 50, “Validation of judgments".
The Hagedorn rule was established in a case in which the defendant was actually served with valid process and failed to appear and suffered a default judgment to be rendered against him.
I agree that it is unnecessary to comply with the Hagedorn requirements when the Court rendering judgment had no jurisdiction to render same; but, in any event, I would hold as a matter of law, that Mrs. Deen met the remaining requirements after Sanchez eliminated the second one. As a matter of law she had no duty to affirmatively intervene in the divorce case until she was served with citation. Absent such a duty she could not be negligent. She showed at least two valid defenses in that the undisputed record shows that Mr. Deen did not meet the residential requirements to obtain a divorce in Wichita County, and he was not entitled to a divorce on the only ground he plead, i.e.: 3 years living apart without cohabitation. The record shows Mr. and Mrs. Deen spent the night in the same bed the night of June 20, 1973, being the day before the waiver was signed and two days before the divorce suit was filed.
I feel it important to note that this case was set for trial and tried without Mrs. Deen having had the prior notice of the setting required by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 16, Rules of the District Court of Wichita County. This also denied her due process. Jackson v. Napier, 307 S.W.2d 833 (Fort Worth, Tex.Civ.App. 1957, no writ hist.). This fact alone would require a reversal of the judgment. Failure of a court to follow rules of civil procedure in certain instances may result in a party being denied due process. Ragsdale v. Ragsdale, 520 S.W.2d 839 (Fort Worth, Tex.Civ.App. 1975, no writ hist.).