Court Opinion

ID: 9674799
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:35:36.901395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:29.726394
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
Since appellee’s motion for rehearing was filed, the Texas Supreme Court decided Bonniwell, et al. v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 663 S.W.2d 816, 27 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 140 (1984) (on motion for rehearing). The Supreme Court in Bonniwell held that “[njeither article 2212 nor article 2212a provides any right of contribution to a joint tortfeasor who has settled the plaintiff’s claim.” While this is now the law, it has no bearing on the present case where IMCO, the contribution claimant, is a judgment debtor and not a party who has merely settled a lawsuit.
“To come within the ambit of article 2212 ... a tortfeasor must be established as a judgment debtor through the rendition of a contested or agreed judgment.” Lubbock Mfg. Co. v. International Harvester Co., 584 S.W.2d 908, 911 (Tex.Civ.App.1979, writ ref’d n.r.e.). By entering into the agreed judgment with Gloria Hernandez, the plaintiff in the original suit, IMCO is now a judgment debtor as contemplated by article 2212. The contribution claimant in Bonniwell was not a judgment debtor for her settlement was not reduced to judgment.
Any dispute over whether an agreed judgment is sufficient to satisfy the judgment debtor requirement of article 2212 is well settled by the courts. That precise issue was addressed by the Eastland Court of Civil Appeals in Callihan Interests, Inc. v. Duffield, 385 S.W.2d 586 (Tex.Civ.App. 1964, writ ref’d). The Court held that Calli-han could maintain an action for contribution against another tortfeasor who was not a party to the judgment, even though the judgment was an agreed judgment and not one judicially determined after trial. *214See Travelers Insurance Co. v. United States, 283 F.Supp. 14 (S.D.Tex.1968).
Article 2212 requires a legally enforceable judgment; a mere settlement agreement which was not reduced to judgment form would not satisfy the prerequisites to recovery under article 2212. While this difference may seem overly technical, the rationale behind the requirement of a judgment, as opposed to simply a settlement, is sound. The Court in Bonniwell simply reaffirmed this principle; it did not abrogate rules established in Callihan and Travelers, supra.
Appellee’s motion for rehearing is overruled.