Court Opinion

ID: 9676503
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:25:53.543063+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:48.986060
License: Public Domain

GONZALEZ, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment of the court. However, I disagree with the dicta that pleadings alone can constitute the charging of usurious interest. I consider the issue an open question.
This court has not directly faced this issue. In Tyra v. Bob Carroll Constr. Co., 639 S.W.2d 690 (Tex.1982), the court upheld a bona fide error defense, “assuming that there was a ‘charge’ of interest” in a pleading without reaching the issue. Id. at 691. Likewise, in Petroscience Corp. v. Diamond Geophysical, Inc., 684 S.W.2d 668 (Tex.1984), the court rejected the court of appeals reasoning on this issue and instead focused on the issue of implied post-maturity interest. Furthermore, in Jim Walter Homes, Inc., v. Schuenemann, 668 S.W.2d 324 (Tex.1984) we stated that when a party “contracted to charge time price differential in excess of double the amount allowed by” the Consumer Credit Code, the party is subject to penalties under the code. Id. at 329. The legislature “intended to penalize a creditor who included such provisions in a retail installment contract_” Id. at 333. This is a far cry from penalizing a creditor for an inadvertent pleading error.
The better rule is that the filing of a petition may constitute the charging of usurious interest only when the underlying agreement sought to be enforced is usurious, see e.g., Fifth Nat’l Bank of Grand Rapids v. Pierce, 117 Mich. 376, 75 N.W. 1058, 1061 (1898) (error creating a claim for usurious interest does not render a lawful *306contract usurious); Freitas v. Geddes Savings and Loan Assoc., 63 N.Y.2d 254, 481 N.Y.S.2d 665, 471 N.E.2d 437, 444 (1984) (usury must be established on the face of the loan instrument); Palmer v. Stevens-Norton, Inc., 75 Wash.2d 155, 449 P.2d 689, 692 (1969) (law of usury was never intended to benefit those who are not and cannot be injured by- the usurious transaction); Tacoma Hotel, Inc. v. Morrison & Co., 193 Wash. 134, 74 P.2d 1003, 1007 (1938) (errors in the drafting of a complaint cannot change the terms and meaning of the original agreement); or when the usurious charge was not the result of a bona fide error. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat.Ann. art. 5069-8.01 (Vernon Supp. 1987); Moore v. Sabine Nat’l Bank of Port Arthur, 527 S.W.2d 209, 213 (Tex.Civ.App. —Austin 1975, writ ref’d n.r.e.). See Southwestern Inv. Co. v. Mannix, 557 S.W.2d 755, 760 (Tex.1977) (defenses of accidental and bona fide error not raised); Moore v. White Motor Credit Corp., 708 S.W.2d 465, 471 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1985, writ ref d n.r.e.) (no evidence of maintenance of procedures designed to avoid violations); Nationwide Fin. Corp. v. English, 604 S.W.2d 458 (Tex.Civ.App. — Tyler 1980, writ dism’d) (bona fide error not discussed); General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Uresti, 553 S.W.2d 660 (Tex.Civ.App. — Tyler 1977, writ ref d n.r.e.) (bona fide error not discussed).
As Judge Higginbotham stated in Fibergrate Corp. v. Research-Cottrell, Inc., 481 F.Supp. 570, 572 (N.D.Tex.1979): “construing a claim asserted only in a pleading filed in a law suit as an interest charge triggering the draconian penalties of usury would do little to serve any reasonable purpose of the statute.” Such a policy “would exalt form over substance” and run contrary to the well established practice that pleading amendments ought to be freely allowed to avoid injustice. Id. at 572. See Tex.R. Civ.P. 63; Fenwal, Inc. v. Mencio Sec., Inc., 686 S.W.2d 660 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Rogers v. Gonzales, 654 S.W.2d 509 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1983, writ ref'd n.r.e.).