DISSENT; Opinion Filed August 31, 2016.
S In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-14-00982-CV
WILLIAM D. SHEETZ, Appellant
V.
YOLANDA SLAUGHTER, Appellee
On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 08-10401-A
DISSENTING OPINION
Before Justices Bridges, Lang-Miers, and Schenck
Dissenting Opinion by Justice Lang-Miers
Yolanda Slaughter sued attorney William Dean Sheetz alleging legal malpractice and
various violations of the DTPA. Following a bench trial, the trial court found, among other
things, that Sheetz committed numerous negligent acts and omissions in his representation of
Slaughter, that his “negligent acts or omissions breached the duty” he owed to her, and that
“[t]he breach proximately caused Slaughter’s injury.” The court concluded that Slaughter
suffered damages “in the amount of $40,000.00” and that Sheetz was liable for those damages
(less a credit paid by another defendant). The trial court rendered judgment in favor of Slaughter
against Sheetz without stating whether the judgment was based on the legal malpractice claim,
the DTPA violations, or both.
On appeal, Sheetz challenges the evidence to support the judgment with regard to the
DTPA violations, but he does not challenge the findings and conclusions that support the
judgment with regard to Slaughter’s claim for legal malpractice. When an appellant does not
challenge the trial court’s findings of fact, those findings are binding upon both the party and the
appellate court. See McGalliard v. Kuhlmann, 722 S.W.2d 694, 696 (Tex. 1986); see also In re
Estate of Miller, 243 S.W.3d 831, 839 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008, no pet.).
Additionally, when a judgment is supported by two independent grounds, but the
appellant appeals only one of those grounds, “we must accept the validity of that unchallenged
independent ground, and . . . any error in the grounds challenged on appeal is harmless because
the unchallenged independent ground fully supports the complained-of ruling or judgment.”
Oliphant Fin. LLC v. Angiano, 295 S.W.3d 422, 423–24 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2009, no pet.); see
also Britton v. Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice, 95 S.W.3d 676, 681 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st
Dist.] 2003, no pet.). As our sister court explained, “This rule is based on the premise that an
appellate court normally cannot alter an erroneous judgment in favor of an appellant in a civil
case who does not challenge that error on appeal.” Britton, 95 S.W.3d at 681.
I would conclude that the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law support the
trial court’s judgment on the legal malpractice claim, and it was Sheetz’s burden on appeal to
attack every independent basis or ground that fully supports the judgment. But Sheetz does not
challenge the legal malpractice claim on appeal; consequently, I would affirm the judgment on
that unchallenged ground. See Angiano, 295 S.W.3d at 423–24; Britton, 95 S.W.3d at 681.
Because the majority does not, I respectfully dissent.
/Elizabeth Lang-Miers/
ELIZABETH LANG-MIERS
JUSTICE
140982DF.P05
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