Court Opinion

ID: 9770715
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:19:54.451614+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:20.044150
License: Public Domain

SEERDEN, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the result of this case and with the reasoning of the majority opinion, except for the majority’s statement that we cannot consider the trial court’s findings contained within the body of the judgment.
I would hold that we may consider findings within the body of the judgment, even if those findings are not in compliance with Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 299a, so long as they are not in conflict with separately-filed findings that are in compliance with the rules. Specifically, Rule 299a states:
Findings of fact shall not be recited in a judgment. If there is a conflict between findings of fact recited in a judgment in violation of this rule and findings of fact made pursuant to Rules 297 and 298, the latter findings will control for appellate purposes. Findings of fact shall be filed with the clerk of the court as a document or documents separate and apart from the judgment.
Rule 299a is not entirely silent on the effect of findings included in a judgment, but provides only that such findings are invalid in case of conflict with properly-filed findings. If findings incorrectly included in the judgment were to be treated as a nullity, Rule 299a could easily have stated that. It does not. Moreover, if the implied intent of Rule 299a was to nullify such findings entirely, then the provision for resolving conflicts between the “null” findings in the judgment and properly-filed findings would be meaningless. Accordingly, a fair reading of the rule imples that non-conflicting findings in the judgment are entitled to be given effect.
*321It is true that several courts, including our own, have under Rule 299a refused to treat recitations in the judgment as valid findings of fact, even in the absence of any separately-filed findings. Valley Mechanical Contractors, Inc. v. Gonzales, 894 S.W.2d 832, 834 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1995, no writ); R.S. v. B.J.J., 883 S.W.2d 711, 715-16 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1994, no writ) (“Such findings [in the body of the judgment] are inappropriate and may not be considered on appeal.”); Boland v. Natural Gas Pipeline Co., 816 S.W.2d 843, 844 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1991, no writ); Sutherland v. Cobern, 843 S.W.2d 127, 131 n.7 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 1992, writ denied).
However, I believe that a better reasoned approach has been taken by the court in McElwee v. McElwee, 911 S.W.2d 182, 190 n.6 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st. Dist.] 1995, writ denied), which refused to apply Rule 299a to bar the effect of findings included in the judgment when there were no properly-filed conflicting findings. See also Rondos Entertainment, Inc. v. Quinney Electric, Inc., 948 S.W.2d 820, 825 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1997, n.w.h.) (Duncan, J., Dissenting). In Rondos, Justice Duncan presents a reasoned and persuasive historical argument for construing Rule 299a to recognize and give effect to findings contained in a judgment absent a conflict.
Finally, I conclude that there is no logical reason to deny effect to findings included in a judgment. I concede that there are good reasons for requiring that findings be filed separately from the judgment and for ignoring recitations in the judgment which conflict with those separately-filed findings. This requirement distinguishes the true findings on which the trial court relied in rendering judgment from merely incidental factual references that the judge may have included in the judgment or extraneous details that merely explain the background of the ease and on which the trial court never intended to be bound. Accordingly, separately-filed findings provide a more precise and certain basis for the support or attack of the judgment on appeal. However, when the factual recitations in the judgment are the only indication of the judge’s reasoning, there is no reason to disregard clearly articulated findings merely because they were incorrectly included in the judgment.