Court Opinion

ID: 9769516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:53:14.476774+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:37:53.599037
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION
REYNOLDS, Justice.
Because the trial court erred in summarily determining that Jean Reece Gordy has no justiciable interest in this litigation, I concur that the judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded. However, for the reason that I do not agree Shellie Looney is an indispensible party to this action, I respectfully disassociate myself from the majority’s instruction that the proceedings be abated until she is made a party.
Certainly, Shellie Looney would be a proper party to the action; but, in my view of Rule 39, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, she is not an indispensible party. By that rule, she is an indispensible party only if she is subject to service of process and if (1) in her absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties to this cause, or (2) she claims an interest in the subject matter of the litigation and is so situated that an adjudication in her absence may (i) actually impair or impede her ability to protect that interest, or (ii) subject any of those who are parties to a substantial risk by reason of that interest. It seems at once apparent that the circumstances of this cause do not bring Shellie Looney within the operation of the rule.
First and foremost, Shellie Looney’s adoptive identity has not been revealed and, so long as it remains undisclosed, she is not subject to service of process. She, therefore, is not, within the meaning of the rule, an indispensible party.
Moreover, the issue now before the trial court — i. e., whether a constructive trust is to be imposed on the decedent’s estate in favor of Jean Reece Gordy — can be adjudicated in the absence of Shellie Looney. *151While it may be said that any interest she may have as an heir of the decedent could be better protected if she were a party to the action, the decisive fact is that an affirmative claim of interest in her behalf has not been interposed in the proceedings.
Additionally, there is no assurance of Shellie Looney’s voluntary appearance in the cause. Thus, sans service of process on or a voluntary appearance by Shellie Looney, neither of which is within the control of the parties to the cause, the majority’s instruction to abate dictates that the issue now ripe for adjudication will pend forever.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent to the holding that the proceedings be abated until Shellie Looney is made a party. I would reverse the judgment and remand the cause without direction.