PJC Business 2024

PJC 115.56

D AMAGES

PJC 115.56 Predicate Findings for Equitable or Legal Relief (Comment)

Predicate findings are often necessary for a party to obtain equitable or legal relief or to otherwise enable a trial court to enter a final judgment. Texas law has long pro vided that juries resolve factual predicate findings even in cases involving equitable claims rather than legal claims. When contested fact issues must be resolved before a court can determine the expediency, necessity, or propriety of equitable relief, a party is entitled to have a jury resolve the disputed fact issues. See State v. Texas Pet Foods, Inc. , 591 S.W.2d 800, 803 (Tex. 1979) (holding that a litigant has a right to have ulti mate issues of fact submitted to a jury in an equitable action). In this Comment, the Committee provides examples of when a predicate finding may be necessary for the trial court to grant requested equitable or legal relief. Note, however, that the Committee cannot draft “pattern” charges for all unique factual disputes that could arise. See Introduction 2 (“The infinite combinations of possible facts in contract, consumer, employment, and other business cases make it impracticable for the Committee to offer questions suitable for every occasion.… [A] charge should conform to the pleadings and evidence of a case, and occasions will arise for the use of questions and instructions not specifically addressed here.”). Specific performance of a contract. See discussion at PJC 115.57 regarding the predicate question required for an award of specific performance. Fee forfeiture. See PJC 115.17 and the current edition of State Bar of Texas, Texas Pattern Jury Charges—Malpractice, Premises & Products PJC 84.7 for a dis cussion on fee forfeiture. Declaratory judgment actions. The Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act pro vides a legal basis for submission of factual disputes pertaining to the construction or validity of “a deed, will, written contract, or other writings constituting a contract or whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordi nance, contract, or franchise.” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 37.004(a). Section 37.007 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, entitled “Jury Trial,” provides that fact issues under the Declaratory Judgments Act “may be tried and determined in the same manner as issues of fact are tried and determined in other civil actions in the court in which the proceeding is pending.” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 37.007; see Indian Beach Property Owners’ Ass’n v. Linden , 222 S.W.3d 682, 699–700 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2007, no pet.) (applying section 37.007 while recognizing that declaratory judgment is not a proper remedy for resolving purely factual disputes). Nevertheless, “[a] trial court’s duty is to submit only those questions, instructions, and definitions raised by the pleadings and the evidence.” In re Poe , 648 S.W.3d 277, 285 (Tex. 2022). Thus, the party seeking declaratory relief on an issue carries the bur den on its request for relief. See Double Diamond, Inc. v. Saturn , 339 S.W.3d 337,

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