Court Opinion

ID: 9668896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:30:55.306391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:49.701495
License: Public Domain

COHEN, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with Justice Bass’ opinion. This opinion is written to expose what I consider to be weaknesses in current Texas law regarding what must be done to preserve for appellate review a claimed error in overruling a motion for directed verdict.
Texas law has traditionally imposed two requirements on parties appealing the overruling of a motion for directed verdict. The first is that the ruling must appear in the judgment or be recited in a separate order. The second is that a defendant who introduces evidence after the motion for directed verdict is overruled must reurge the motion at the close of the case, or else he waives it. I think those rules should be abandoned.

REQUIREMENT FOR A SEPARATE ORDER OR JUDGMENT RECITAL

Many Texas eases have held that an order overruling a motion for directed verdict must appear in the judgment or be recited in a separate written order; it is not sufficient that the ruling is recorded fully in the statement of facts. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Berry, 833 S.W.2d 587, 590 (Tex.App.— Texarkana 1992, writ requested, Aug. 18, 1992); Soto v. Southern Life & Health Ins., Co., 776 S.W.2d 752, 754 (Tex.App.— Corpus Christi 1989, no writ); Pierce v. Gillespie, 761 S.W.2d 390, 396 (Tex.App.— Corpus Christi 1988, no writ); Superior Trucks, Inc. v. Allen, 664 S.W.2d 136, 145 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1983, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Steed v. Bost, 602 S.W.2d 385, 387 (Tex.Civ.App. — Austin 1980, no writ); Southwestern Materials Co. v. George Consol. Inc., 476 S.W.2d 454, 455 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1972, writ ref’d n.r.e.).
This requirement seems to have been created and enforced solely by the intermediate appellate courts. I have found no supreme court authority for the rule. If there is today a reason for the rule, I cannot discern it. The rule has been criticized by commentators as being unfair, unnecessary, and contrary to statutory authority. Michael A. Hatchell and Lori M. Gallagher, Ten Worst Traps — And a Few Runners Up: (State Bar of Texas, Advanced Civil Appellate Practice Course A-6 (September, 1992). The rule seems to have first appeared in its present form in Southwestern Materials. That opinion cited two cases as authority for the rule, but neither case supports it. In Ellis Drilling Corp. v. McGuire, 321 S.W.2d 911, 912 (Tex.Civ.App. — Eastland 1959, writ ref’d n.r.e.), the court merely held that the motion was waived because it was never presented and overruled. The same is true of Lewis v. Smith, 198 S.W.2d 598, 600 (Tex.Civ.App. — Fort Worth 1946, writ dism’d). Nevertheless, the rule created in Southwestern Materials has been repeatedly applied without being explained or justified.
*609I know of no reason why an oral ruling that is fully recorded in the statement of facts will not preserve error in overruling a motion for directed verdict. Two different parts of Tex.R.App.P. 52 indicate that is sufficient.
Rule 52(a) provides:
In order to preserve a complaint for appellate review, a party must have presented to the trial court a timely request, objection or a motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling he desires the court to make ... It is also necessary for the complaining party to obtain a ruling upon the parties request, objection or motion ... It is not necessary to formally except to rulings or orders of the trial court.
(emphasis added.)
SIPCO complied with this rule. It made a motion and obtained a ruling; it should not have to formally except to the oral ruling by getting a written order to memorialize it.
Moreover, the requirement for a separate written order is inconsistent with Tex. R.App.P. 52(e)(10), which provides:
Anything occurring in open court or chambers that is reported and so certified by the court reporter may be included in the statement of facts rather than a formal bill of exception ...
Thus, a party should not have to obtain a written order, which is like a formal bill of exception, in order to show what is already shown by the statement of facts.

WAIVER BY PRESENTING EVIDENCE

The second rule limiting appellate review is that a party who introduces evidence after the motion is overruled must reurge the motion at the close of all evidence, or else waive review. Bryan v. Dockery, 788 S.W.2d 447, 449 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1990, no writ); Texas Steel Co. v. Douglas, 533 S.W.2d 111, 114 (Tex.Civ.App. — Fort Worth 1976, writ ref’d n.r.e.). SIPCO introduced evidence after its motion was overruled and did not reurge the motion at the close of all evidence.
Like the previous rule, this requirement also seems to have been created and enforced solely by the intermediate appellate courts. Courts have applied the rule in both jury and nonjury trials. Wenk v. City Nat’l Bank, 613 S.W.2d 345, 348 (Tex.Civ.App. — Tyler 1981, no writ); Horizon Properties Corp. v. Martinez, 513 S.W.2d 264, 265 (Tex.Civ.App. — El Paso 1974, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Thornhill v. Elskes, 412 S.W.2d 73, 74 (Tex.Civ.App. — Waco 1967, no writ).
On original submission, we applied the rule in Bryan v. Dockery and held that SIPCO waived appellate review because it introduced evidence after the judge overruled its motion for directed verdict and did not reurge its motion for directed verdict at the close of all evidence. I now believe that following this rule in a nonjury case, as we originally did, would conflict with Tex.R.App.P. 52(d).
A motion for directed verdict is a complaint that the plaintiffs evidence was legally insufficient. Since its amendment effective September 1, 1990, rule 52(d) has provided in pertinent part as follows:
A party desiring to complain on appeal in a nonjury case that the evidence was legally or factually insufficient to support a finding of fact, that a finding of fact was established as a matter of law or was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence shall not be required to comply with paragraph (a) of this rule.
Rule 52(a) requires a party to complain in the trial court in order to preserve issues for appellate review. Rule 52(d) excuses parties in nonjury cases from that requirement when they complain of legally or factually insufficient evidence. Thus, rule 52(d), as I understand it, says that no predicate is required for SIPCO to raise its complaint. If no predicate is required, SIP-CO ⅛ failure to renew its motion at the close of all evidence should not constitute a waiver.1 Thus, I would hold that the cases *610applying the rule in Bryan v. Dockery to nonjury cases are no longer good law because they require the defendant to do more than rule 52(d) requires. Consequently, I would decline to follow them, and instead hold that the insufficient evidence complaint was preserved for review, even though SIPCO presented evidence and did not renew its motion at the close of all evidence.
This holding, however, would raise questions about the standard of review. In deciding legal sufficiency, should the appellate court consider all the evidence, including evidence introduced after the judge denied the motion, or only the evidence as it stood when the judge denied the motion for directed verdict?
In San Antonio Traction Co. v. Kelleher, 48 Tex.Civ.App. 421, 107 S.W. 64 (1908, writ dism’d), the court held that all the evidence should be considered, no matter when the motion for directed verdict was made. The court wrote:
In the absence of such proof at the time plaintiff closed his testimony, we think that the court should have granted defendant’s motion to instruct a verdict in its favor. But it does not follow from this that the judgment should be reversed on this assignment of error. To have effected such results the defendant should have rested its case upon the refusal of the court to grant the motion to instruct a verdict in its favor upon the close of plaintiff’s testimony. Instead of doing so the defendant introduced its evidence. The effect of this was to waive its right to have the judgment reversed on account of the error of the court in refusing its peremptory instruction, if the plaintiff’s evidence, together with that introduced by the defendant, was sufficient to carry the case to the jury on any one or more of the alleged grounds of negligence. Grooms v. Neff Harness Co., 79 Ark. 401, 96 S.W. 135. The question as to whether the evidence, after the introduction of all the testimony, was sufficient to require a submission of the case to the jury, will be determined in considering subsequent assignments.
107 S.W. at 66. The Kelleher court cited with approval the rule in Grooms v. Neff Harness Co., 79 Ark. 401, 96 S.W. 135 (1906) (op. on reh’g). There, the Arkansas Supreme Court relied on three decisions by the United States Supreme Court, and held:
[I]n testing the sufficiency of the evidence, the court must consider all the evidence, whether introduced by the plaintiff or by the defendant. So, in testing the correctness of the trial court in denying a request for peremptory instruction, regardless of the time when the request is made, this court must look to all the testimony introduced, and will not reverse the case on account of the trial court’s refusal to give the request, even though the evidence was insufficient at the time the request was made, if upon the whole case there is sufficient [evidence] to sustain the verdict.
96 S.W. at 137.
This is still the rule in federal courts. Farley Transp. Co. v. Santa Fe Transp. Co., 786 F.2d 1342, 1345 n. 1 (9th Cir.1985); see also 5A James W. Moore Et Al., Moore's Federal - Practice, § 50.05F(1) (1992); 9 C. Wright and A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2534 (1971). The, federal cases rely on Bogk v. Gassert, 149 U.S. 17, 13 S.Ct. 738, 37 L.Ed. 631 (1892), which held:
Without going into the question whether the motion was properly made in this case, it is sufficient to say that the defendant waived it by putting in his testimony. A defendant has an undoubted right to stand upon his motion for a non suit, and have his writ of error if it be refused; but he has no right to insist upon his exception, after having subsequently put in his testimony and made his case upon the merits, since the court and jury have the right to consider the whole case as made by the testimony. It not infrequently happens that the defendant himself, by his own evidence, supplies the missing link, and, if not, he may move to take the case from the jury upon conclusion of the entire testimony.
149 U.S. at 23, 13 S.Ct. at 739.
Texas criminal courts follow the same rule. Degarmo v. State, 691 S.W.2d 657, *611661 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 973, 106 S.Ct. 337, 88 L.Ed.2d 322 (1985); Kuykendall v. State, 609 S.W.2d 791, 794 (Tex.Crim.App.1981). However, several judges on this court, myself included, have stated that in criminal cases, the rule violates the constitutional protection against double jeopardy because it gives the State two chances to prove its case. Herbert v. State, 827 S.W.2d 507, 508, 509-12 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, no pet.); Winter v. State, 725 S.W.2d 728, 731-34 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, no pet.) (Cohen, J., concurring).
I question the rule in Bogie. 149 U.S. at 23, 13 S.Ct. at 739. The rule in Bogk is based on the premise that “the court and jury have the right to consider the whole case as made by the testimony.” Id. The premise is flawed to the extent it relies on any right of the jury. If the jury’s right to consider the whole case were paramount, we would not give trial and appellate judges the right under any state of the evidence to set aside a jury’s verdict or to direct verdicts in the first place.
As for the court, why should a judge have the right to consider the whole case when there would be no “whole case” except for the judge’s erroneous denial of the motion for directed verdict? If the plaintiff presents insufficient evidence and the defendant points that out by moving for directed verdict, there should be no defendant’s evidence. The defendant should not even be there. The trial should have ended, and the defendant should have been discharged. As I have stated in the criminal law context,
By considering later presented evidence to decide sufficiency, the courts allow the State to benefit both from its own failure to present sufficient evidence and from the trial judge’s erroneous denial of the defendant’s constitutional right to an acquittal. This case is a typical example of harm from such error: the judge’s erroneous ruling forced the defendant to testify and now the State seeks to use that testimony to cure the insufficiency of its own evidence.
Herbert, 827 S.W.2d at 511 (Cohen, J., concurring). If the word “plaintiff” is substituted for “State” and the reliance on the double jeopardy provision is removed, the same considerations apply in a civil case.
Reviewing the evidence after the erroneous denial of a motion for directed verdict puts the defendant to an unfair choice: surrender the right to be heard or risk waiving the insufficiency of the evidence by presenting its own evidence. Unfortunately, under present law, giving up the right to be heard is “the price which must be paid” by the defendant to appeal the judge’s refusal to direct a verdict at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case. David B. HarRison, Annotation, Propriety of Direction of Verdict in Favor of FeweR Than All Defendants at Close of Plaintiff’s Case, 82 ALR3d 974, 981 (1978). Why should a defendant suffer that choice when the plaintiff’s evidence was insufficient and the trial judge failed to recognize it? No one would argue that a defendant should suffer a judgment when the evidence is insufficient, and no one would argue that a defendant should not be allowed to present evidence. Why, then, would anyone say that a defendant can enjoy one of these rights, but not both? Cf. Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 389-94, 88 S.Ct. 967, 973-76, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968) (criminal defendant’s incriminating testimony at pretrial motion to suppress hearing could not be used against the nontestifying defendant at trial because that would force him to give up his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination in order to assert his fourth amendment right against illegal search and seizure). This situation is comparable to one where the judge erroneously overrules an objection to evidence and the objecting party then presents more evidence about the same fact to rebut, minimize, or explain the erroneously admitted evidence. In that case, the objecting party does not waive the judge’s error in admitting the evidence. This sound rule is recognized in civil and in criminal cases. See Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 222-26, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 2010-12, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968); Valcarcel v. State, 765 S.W.2d 412, 417-18 (Tex.Crim.App.1989); Roosth & *612Genecov Production Co. v. White, 152 Tex. 619, 262 S.W.2d 99, 104 (1953); Miller v. State, 786 S.W.2d 494, 496-97 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 1990, no pet.); D.L.N. v. State, 590 S.W.2d 820, 823 (Tex.Civ.App. — Dallas 1979, no writ). The eases recognize reality: the erroneous ruling forced the objector to present the evidence or risk even greater harm from having it go unanswered. The same is true of a party forced to present its entire case after a motion for directed verdict is wrongfully denied.
To determine legal sufficiency, I would review only the evidence as it stood when the motion for directed verdict was denied. If the defendant did not move for directed verdict at the close of the plaintiffs case, then I would review all of the evidence presented. In my opinion, these considerations apply to both nonjury and jury cases. Thus, I would apply the same rule in jury cases, even though they are not covered by the last sentence of rule 52(d).
I concur in the judgment here because . under either standard, whether judging the evidence as a whole or as it stood when the motion for directed verdict was overruled, it was sufficient.

. The same is true of a movant’s failure to attain a written order overruling its motion for directed verdict. If, in a nonjury trial, a party does not have to move for directed verdict to complain of insufficient evidence, it certainly should not have to obtain a written order overruling the unnecessary motion.