Court Opinion

ID: 9766803
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:59:47.969347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:26.423904
License: Public Domain

BLEIL, Justice,
dissenting.
The result reached by the majority of this Court seems fair enough. Because a primary goal of our courts is to obtain a just determination of the litigants’ rights based on the merits of a case, it is natural that we abhor default judgments. But I cannot join today’s majority in reaching what it considers to be a just result when that result is reached by doing violence to our system of justice under law.
The mental process used by the majority is transparent. Initially, it acknowledges the controlling authorities on the question of when a motion for new trial should be granted and when a default judgment should be set aside, viz, Grissom v. Watson, 704 S.W.2d 325 (Tex.1986), and Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, 134 Tex. 388, 133 S.W.2d 124 (Tex.Comm’n App.1939, opinion adopted).
The majority then, while acknowledging that Joiner did not “detail his contention that his failure to answer was due to a mistake or accident,” proceeds to review decisions which it says “are not harmoni*322ous concerning the type of mistake which is sufficient to show that the failure to answer was not intentional or due to conscious indifference." (Majority opinion, p. 320). After establishing that cases based upon many different sets of facts have not been decided in precisely the same manner, the majority ostensibly establishes its right to choose a “proper” outcome, regardless of how the law — which remains settled— might apply to the present facts.
As noted by the majority, in order to prevail on a motion for new trial to set aside a default judgment, the defendant must first show that the failure to answer was not intentional or the result of conscious indifference, but rather was due to mistake or accident. Grissom v. Watson, supra, and Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, supra.
When Joiner did come in after judgment and move for a new trial, he did not allege or prove any facts showing that his failure to answer was the result of an accident or mistake.1 Of course, the trial court’s judgment ordinarily is supported by implied findings in support of its judgment. Renfro Drug Co. v. Lewis, 149 Tex. 507, 235 S.W.2d 609 (1950). This would include a finding, or a failure to find, that Joiner’s failure to answer was not the result of an accident or mistake. The majority, without requiring Joiner to have alleged or proved the facts, apparently concludes that Joiner conclusively showed accident and mistake. Further, the majority displays a willingness to substitute its factual determination for those of the trial court, as it states, “We find that the motion for a new trial ... fulfills] the three requirements ... We further find ... an abuse of discretion.” (emphasis added).2
This appeal calls to mind the oft-cited case of Alexander v. Hagedorn, 148 Tex. 565, 226 S.W.2d 996 (1950). In that case the Alexanders sued Hagedorn claiming that he had wrongfully allowed his mule onto the highway at night, that the mule had stepped onto the road immediately in front of their vehicle, and that Mrs. Alexander was required to swerve into a ditch causing damages to the car and personal injuries.
Hagedorn was not only not a lawyer, he was not born “ ‘in this country,’ ” was seventy-five years old, and could not read or write the English language. So, when the deputy sheriff served citation upon him, Hagedorn asked about its meaning. The officer described the suit and said that Hagedorn had to appear at district court at Lockhart on September 1, 1947. When he appeared for court on that date, the district clerk informed him that the judge was not in Lockhart and that no court would be held that week. Since he had no attorney, Hagedorn left his name and address with the clerk and understood that the clerk would notify him when to return for court.
The next time Hagedorn heard about the legal proceedings was when the Alexanders garnished his bank account following judgment in the primary lawsuit. Then Hagedorn hired a lawyer and sought to set aside the default judgment. At that hearing, it developed that the mule did not belong to Hagedorn, he was not responsible for the animal, and as found by the trial court, Hagedorn “ ‘had a complete and absolute defense’ ” to the Alexanders’ suit. *323Id. at 997. In reversing the trial court’s judgment and the Court of Civil Appeal’s decision, the court first announced that Hagedorn had to allege and prove that his failure to answer the suit was caused by fraud or wrongful act of the opposite party rather than by his own fault or negligence. The court then determined that Hagedorn’s reliance upon his “understanding” of what the officials had told him was his own fault or his own negligence.
The court held against Hagedorn and announced that actions,
seeking relief from judgments “are always watched by courts of equity with extreme jealousy, and the grounds on which interference will be allowed are narrow and restricted”; and the rules are not to be relaxed merely because it may appear in some particular case that an injustice has been done.
Id. at 998, citing Harding v. W.L. Pearson & Co., 48 S.W.2d 964 (Tex.Comm’n App.1932, judgm’t adopted).
In this controversy, as was true in Hage-dorn, the court is called upon to apply existing rules to the given facts, rather than to achieve what the men on this Court determine to be justice in this “particular case.” The majority of the Court fails to answer this call.
I cannot join in the majority’s decision.

. Today’s majority finds Joiner’s argument on appeal sufficient to supply facts never presented to the trial court. Joiner’s attorney now argues that Joiner did not have an attorney at trial and was unaware that he was required to file an answer to the suit against him. Assuming the truth of this argument, a mistaken belief as to the necessity to file an answer does not negate conscious indifference. Dupnik v. Aransas County Navigation District No. 1, 732 S.W.2d 780, 782 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1987, no writ); Carey Crutcher v. Mid-Coast Diesel Services, 725 S.W.2d 500 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1987, no writ).

. Normally a movant bears the burden of establishing facts that entitle him or her to a new trial. Galveston Oil Co. v. Thompson, 76 Tex. 235, 13 S.W. 60 (1890). And the motion for new trial is addressed to the trial court’s sound discretion and the ruling on the motion is not disturbed on appeal absent movant's showing an abuse of discretion. United Beef Producers, Inc. v. Lookingbill, 532 S.W.2d 958 (Tex.1976). Today’s decision relieves Joiner of the requirement that he allege and show facts entitling him to a new trial and the requirement that he show an abuse of discretion. This relief comes in the form of the majority’s findings.