599 S.W.2d 663 | Tex. App. | 1980
Mrs. Josephine Sanders brought this suit as an equitable bill of review to set aside a divorce judgment. The divorce suit was filed by Mrs. Sanders’ husband, James Edward Sanders, in Harrison County, but was
A full trial of the bill of review action was had before a jury which, in answer to special issues, found that the divorce was not procured by fraud or misrepresentations, Mrs. Sanders’ attorney did receive notice of the divorce hearing, and that Mrs. Sanders did not have a meritorious defense to the former judgment.
On appeal Mrs. Sanders urges that the divorce judgment should be set aside because no record was made at the hearing, because the court erred in admitting evidence in violation of Article 3716, Tex.Rev. Civ.Stat.Ann., and in excluding other admissible evidence, and because the findings of the jury are against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.
The first point of error is without merit. The rule of Rogers v. Rogers,
Where a judgment has become final and the time for seeking review by appeal or writ of error has passed, a party can procure a review or reversal of that judgment only by a proceeding in the nature of a bill of review. Tex.R.Civ.P. 329b(5); Schwartz v. Jefferson, 520 S.W.2d 881 (Tex.1975); 4 McDonald’s, Texas Civil Practice § 18.24. To sustain such a proceeding under the circumstances here, Mrs. Sanders first had the burden to plead and prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the divorce decree was rendered as a result of fraud, accident or wrongful act of the opposite party or official mistake unmixed with her own negligence. If she met that burden she then would have been required to present prima facie proof of a meritorious defense to the original action, after which the burden of persuasion would fall upon the original plaintiff to prove his cause of action by a preponderance of the evidence. Baker v. Goldsmith, 582 S.W.2d 404 (Tex.1979).
Without reciting it, we will observe that much evidence was adduced upon the questions of Mrs. Sanders’ and her attorney’s receipt of notice of the divorce hearing and her attorney’s actual appearance at such hearing. Although much of the evidence was conflicting, there was ample testimony and circumstances which, if believed by the jury, warranted their answers to the special issues, and we cannot say those answers are against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
. The divorce decree recited that the parties owned no community property.
. Rogers held that if a diligent appellant, through no fault of his own, is unable to obtain a statement of facts he is entitled to a new trial when his right to have the cause reviewed on appeal can be preserved in no other way.
.The bill of review trial was prior to the decision in Baker v. Goldsmith and was conducted according to the former procedure, but that fact does not affect the outcome here.