Court Opinion

ID: 9773279
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:41:06.576909+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:51.449044
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
Appellees have filed a motion for rehearing asserting we erroneously reversed both summary judgments “because pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, no properly assigned point of error was placed in issue,” relying heavily upon Vawter v. Garvey, 786 S.W.2d 263 (Tex.1990).
Vawter was a per curiam opinion by the supreme court. The court held it was error for the court of appeals to reverse a summary judgment on a ground “not raised by Garvey in either his response to Vawter’s motion for summary judgment, his brief to the court of appeals, his motion for rehearing to the court of appeals, or his application for writ of error to this court.” If we correctly understand the interpretation of Rule 166a, Tex.R.Civ.P., this portion of Vawter did not depart from prior decisions; it merely reannounced the rule that courts of appeal may not reverse on unassigned error. However, further on in the opinion the supreme court stated:
Furthermore, Rule 52(a) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure provides, “[i]n order to preserve a complaint for appellate review, a party must have presented to the trial court a timely request, objection or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling....” Garvey did not present any of these grounds to the trial court, nor were they briefed or argued.
It is unclear, to say the least, whether the supreme court intends to apply Rule 52(a) to summary judgments, because they again added the phrase “nor were they briefed or argued.” While we believe Rule 52(a) requirements should be applied in summary judgment proceedings, this appears to be too bold a step for us to take, based upon the Vawter per curiam opinion.
The record shows, without question, that appellant did not complain in her response to either motion for summary judgment that the summary judgment was an improper attack upon her pleadings. Each of appellant’s four points of error in this court contend the trial court erred in granting summary judgment, with each point specifying a further, particular reason. While none of the points specifically contends that the use of summary judgment, rather than special exception, to contest the sufficiency of the pleadings was error, appellant does argue under three of the points that if the trial court granted summary judgment based upon the insufficiency of the allegations in the petition, then it was error to grant summary judgment without first giving her an opportunity to amend her petition, citing Texas Department of Corrections v. Herring, 513 S.W.2d 6 (Tex.1974). This appears to satisfy the rules, except for Rule 52(a), and the opinions of the supreme court, with the possible exception of the per curiam Vawter opinion. We will leave it to the supreme court to further elucidate its passing reference to the applicability of Rule 52(a) to summary judgment proceedings.
*727We overrule appellee’s motion for rehearing.