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668 S.W.2d 686

27 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 206

Leissner v. Schott

Texas Supreme Court

Decided February 8, 1984

Texas Supreme Court · decided 1984-02-08

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“We refuse the application for writ of error, finding no reversible error. In doing so, we do not decide whether the court of appeals was correct in stating that the issues of bad faith and harassment are for the jury. Although an award under § 17.50(c) is to be based “[o]n a finding by the court,” a number of lower court decisions have held that the court is to determine whether a suit is groundless, but that the jury determines whether the suit was brought in bad faith or for the purpose of harassment. See [Parks, LaChance, West, Genico, O’Shea and Bray]. The validity of this interpretation is not before us. Accordingly, we reserve judgment on whether all findings required by § 17.50(c) must be made by the trial court.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Blizzard v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co.

“On a finding by the court that an action under this section was groundless and brought in bad faith, or brought for the purpose of harassment, the court shall award to the defendant reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees and court costs.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including McDuffie v. Blassingame

Relies on Bray v. Curtis · O'Shea v. International Business MacHines Corp. · LaChance v. McKown

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1984-02-08

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently November 2011

11 state decisions

801984199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PER CURIAM.

¶1 B.E. Leissner filed suit against Louis Schott, III, under the Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act. TEX.BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. §§ 17.-41-.63 (Vernon Supp.1982). The jury found no violation of the DTP A, but did find that Leissner’s suit was brought in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment. The trial court, however, did not award Schott his attorney’s fees, because the court did not find that Leissner’s suit was groundless.

¶2 The DTPA authorizes an award of attorney’s fees to the defendant in certain cases. As amended in 1979, § 17.50(c) provides:

On a finding by the court that an action under this section was groundless and brought in bad faith, or brought for the purpose of harassment, the court shall award to the defendant reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees and court costs.

¶3 The trial court considered a finding that the suit was groundless to be necessary in all cases. The court of appeals construed the amended act to allow fees based on (a) a finding of harassment, or (b) a finding that the suit was groundless and brought in bad faith. Because there was a finding of harassment, the court of appeals held that fees should be awarded. 659 S.W.2d 752.

¶4 We refuse the application for writ of error, finding no reversible error. In doing so, we do not decide whether the court of appeals was correct in stating that the issues of bad faith and harassment are for the jury. Although an award under § 17.-50(c) is to be based “[o]n a finding by the court,” a number of lower court decisions have held that the court is to determine whether a suit is groundless, but that the jury determines whether the suit was brought in bad faith or for the purpose of harassment. See Parks v. McDougall, 659 S.W.2d 875 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1983, no writ); LaChance v. McKown, 649 S.W.2d 658 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1983, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Computer Business Services, Inc. v. West, 627 S.W.2d 759 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1981, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Genico Distributors, Inc. v. First National Bank of Richardson, 616 S.W.2d 418 (Tex.Civ. *687 App.—Texarkana 1981, writ ref’d n.r.e.); O’Shea v. International Business Machines Corp., 578 S.W.2d 844 (Tex.Civ.App. —Houston [1st Dist.] 1979, writ ref’d n.r. e.); Bray v. Curtis, 544 S.W.2d 816 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1976, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The validity of this interpretation is not before us. Accordingly, we reserve judgment on whether all findings required by § 17.50(c) must be made by the trial court.

¶5 The application for writ of error is refused, no reversible error.

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