Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of July 6, 2015.

NOTE:  Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues.  The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Aero at Sp. z.o.o. v. Gartman, No. 02-14-00330-CV (July 9, 2015) (Walker, J., joined by Dauphinot and Meier, JJ.).

Held:  Appellant filed a special appearance less than thirty days after the trial court signed a default judgment against Appellant.  Because the special appearance, in this circumstance, constituted a timely-filed postjudgment motion, Appellant is precluded from pursuing a restricted appeal.

McCoy v. Alden Indus., Inc., No. 02-12-00200-CV (July 9, 2015) (Meier, J., joined by Walker, J.; Dauphinot, J., dissents with opinion).

Held: The trial court erred by granting Alden summary judgment but not by denying McCoy partial summary judgment.  The grounds upon which Alden relied to show that the alleged insurance-funded redemption agreement is unenforceable are either not missing or are not essential, and material fact issues exists regarding whether the interim agreements contained sufficient consideration and whether there was a meeting of the minds between the parties that Alden would pay McCoy $250,000 per year for as long as he was a member of Alden's board of directors.

Dissent:  McCoy did not provide evidence raising a fact issue about whether Alden had agreed to an insurance-funded redemption agreement on the terms he seeks to enforce or about whether he and Alden had an agreement to pay him $250,000 for his services as a director.  Accordingly, the trial court's summary judgment should be affirmed.