Sanchez v. Rodriguez8/23/2001
Opinion by Justice Rodriguez
The trial court granted motions for summary judgment, sanctions and protective orders in favor of appellees, Raul Rodriguez (Rudy) and Francisco J. Rodriguez (Frank). Appellants, Samuel and Sheila Sanchez, Sr, contend the trial court erred in granting these motions. Appellants also complain that the trial court erred in not granting their motions for continuance, their motion for leave to file a supplemental response to Frank's summary judgment, and their motion to compel Frank, individually, to answer certified deposition questions. Finally, appellants contend the court erred in denying their motion for new trial. We affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In the underlying lawsuit, appellants sued General Motors Corporation (GM) for the wrongful death of their son. On October 5, 1992, appellants retained Rudy who associated with Frank to pursue appellants' legal claims against GM. On January 27, 1993, appellants settled with GM for $900,000.00.
In 1995, dissatisfied with the settlement, appellants sued GM and its counsel, Joe E. Garcia, claiming GM and Garcia defrauded them by settling their case for less than its true value. The case was removed to federal court. Appellants voluntarily dismissed GM without prejudice. The court dismissed their claims against Garcia, with prejudice. On July 11, 1997, appellants filed the current lawsuit against appellees asserting the following causes of action: negligence, gross negligence and professional negligence (legal malpractice), breach of warranty, breach of contract, violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), fraud, and civil conspiracy.
On May 28, 1999, appellees filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court set June 18, 1999, as the submission date for each motion. After appellants complained of Rudy's untimely notice, his submission date was reset to August 11, 1999. Appellants timely filed their responses to the summary judgment motions. On July 8, 1999, appellants filed their second amended petition adding Wilfrido (Willie) Rogelio Garcia as a co-defendant and, for the first time, asserting breach of fiduciary duty against appellees. On August 11, 1999, after Frank's submission date and on Rudy's submission date, without leave of court, appellants filed supplemental responses to the motions for summary judgment. That same day, the trial court heard appellants' motions for continuance of the submission dates. Neither summary judgment motion was argued at the hearing. Approximately one week later, appellants filed motions for leave to file their supplemental responses to appellees' motions. On September 14, 1999, without expressly ruling on appellants' motions for continuance or their motions for leave to file their supplemental responses, the trial court granted summary judgments in favor of appellees. The court severed appellants' causes of action against appellees from the remaining defendants, GM and Willie Garcia, and denied appellants' motions for new trial. Appellants filed two appeals in this case, Sanchez, et al., v. Frank Rodriguez, et al., No. 13-00-059-CV, and Sanchez, et al., v. Raul Rodriguez, et al., No 13-00-060-CV.
II. SUMMARY JUDGMENTS
Appellants' fundamental complaint in this appeal is that the trial court erred in granting appellees' motions for summary judgment.
A. Standard of Review
We must first determine whether the trial court granted the summary judgments on traditional grounds or "no-evidence" grounds, the determination of which will necessarily affect our review of this case. This is a critical distinction that must be made in a
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