Ahrenhold v. Sanchez

The trial court erred in concluding that the statute of limitations barred that portion of Wendy Ahrenhold's claim based on payments that were due earlier than four years before the date she filed suit.

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Click here for the full text of this decision FACTS:Wendy Ahrenhold filed suit seeking to recover $151,800 plus attorneys fees and costs for Donald L. Sanchez’s alleged failure to make payments under a 1992 support and maintenance agreement. She claimed that Sanchez failed to make payments from Feb. 15, 1993, through Feb. 15, 2004. After concluding the statute of limitations barred Ahrenhold from recovering any payments due beyond the four-year period before she filed suit, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of Ahrenhold for $55,200 plus pre- and post-judgment interest. The trial court also denied Ahrenhold’s request for attorneys fees. This appeal followed. HOLDING:Affirmed in part, reversed and remanded in part. In her first issue, Ahrenhold questioned whether the trial court entered formal findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court found that the trial court signed a memorandum the day after the trial and before the judgment was signed purporting to be “findings of fact and conclusions of law in aid of judgment.” Ahrenhold, the court stated, failed to provide any argument or authority with respect to how the trial court’s failure to enter more formal findings of fact and conclusions of law has harmed her or prevents her from properly presenting the issues in this appeal. Moreover, although she timely requested findings of fact and gave notice of past due findings, Ahrenhold never submitted to the trial court any more specific additional or amended findings. Accordingly, the court found that Ahrenhold waived any complaint with respect to the adequacy of the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. In her second issue, Ahrenhold contended that the trial court erred in concluding the statute of limitations barred that portion of her claim based on payments that were due earlier than four years before the date she filed suit. Specifically, Ahrenhold argued that the statute of limitations was tolled pursuant to Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code �16.063 when Sanchez, who stopped making payments after February 1993, moved out of Texas in June 1994. Section 16.063 suspends the running of the statute of limitations during the period a defendant is absent from the state, the court stated. Ahrenhold falls squarely within the category of persons the statute is designed to protect, the court stated. Moreover, the court found that Sanchez is precisely the type of defendant to which the statute applies. He resided in Texas when the agreement was executed and when he defaulted on the payments. Morever, he left the state and never returned before the statute of limitations had run. Accordingly, the court found that the trial court erred when it refused to toll the statute of limitations under �16.063. In her third issue, Ahrenhold complained the trial court erred when it refused to award her attorneys fees. Specifically, Ahrenhold asserted that under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code �38.004, the trial court should have taken judicial notice of the usual and customary attorneys’ fees and the contents of the case file to award her appropriate fees in the absence of any expert testimony on attorneys’ fees. But because Ahrenhold asserted her claim to attorneys fees under the agreement and not under the corresponding statute �38.001, the court stated that the trial court could not take judicial notice under �38.004. OPINION:Morris, J.; Morris, Wright and FitzGerald, JJ.

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