Texas Supreme Court
Kunstoplast of America, Inc. v. Formosa Plastics Corp.
Kunstoplast of America, Inc. and Ashok K. Chauhan, Petitioners v. Formosa Plastics Corporation, USA, Respondent
937 S.W.2d 455
Decided February 21, 1997
Good LawGood law: 5 citing cases carry treatments with no negative treatment.
Summary
The Texas Supreme Court held that a corporate officer who is not a licensed attorney may file cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds to perfect an appeal for both a corporation and an individual, and that the individual need not appear personally or be represented by an attorney for that purpose. The Court reversed the Court of Appeals' dismissal for lack of jurisdiction and remanded for further proceedings on the merits.
Holdings
- Whether a non‑lawyer corporate officer may file cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds to perfect an appeal on behalf of the corporation.. Yes. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 40(a)(1) and 41(a)(1) do not preclude a nonlawyer from performing the ministerial task of depositing cash in lieu of a cost bond. 937 S.W.2d 455
- Whether an individual must appear personally or be represented by a licensed attorney to perfect an appeal when cash deposits are filed by a non‑lawyer.. No. The requirement of personal appearance or attorney representation under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 7 does not apply to the filing of cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds. 937 S.W.2d 455
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How later courts treated this case
226 opinions cite this case
Cited
Custom-Crete, Inc., Appellant v. K-Bar Services, Inc., Appellee, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 4177. Cited for attorney‑representation rule.
Applied
In Re Nancy Vasquez and Bolivar Building and Contracting, LLC v. the State of Texas. Legal entities, such as a corporation or a limited liability company, may generally appear in court only through a licensed attorney.
Applied
Jacob T. Jones v. Service Credit Union. Kunstoplost of America case emphasizes that notice must be actual or constructive and cannot be inferred solely from mailing
Applied
Jacob T. Jones v. Service Credit Union. Kunstoplost of America case emphasizes that notice must be actual or constructive and cannot be inferred solely from mailing
Applied
In Re: James Craig Guetersloh, 326 S.W.3d 737. The right of a party to self-representation is not, however, absolute.
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In this case
Opinion of the Court
We decide whether a corporate officer, who is not a licensed attorney, may nevertheless perfect an appeal by filing cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds on behalf of the corporation and an individual. The court of appeals held that he could not, and dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction. 928 S.W.2d 582. We reverse that judgment and remand the case to the court of appeals for consideration on the merits.
On November 30, 1995, Formosa Plastics Corp., U.S.A., obtained a judgment against Kunstoplast of America, Inc., and Ashok K. Chauhan. To perfect an appeal for both parties, Justin Seth, an officer of Kunsto-plast, filed cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds on behalf of both Kunstoplast and Chauhan. See Tex.RApp. P. 46(b), 48.
The court of appeals dismissed Kunsto-plast’s appeal, holding that only a licensed attorney can represent a corporation. 928 S.W.2d at 582. The court also dismissed Chauhan’s appeal because he did not represent himself or appear by a licensed attorney as required by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 7. Id. at 583. We reject the court of appeals’ holding on both counts.
Both Kunstoplast and Chauhan made bona fide attempts to invoke the court of appeals’ jurisdiction by having Seth file their cash deposits in lieu of cost bonds. See Grand Prairie Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Southern Parts Imports, Inc., 813 S.W.2d 499, 500 (Tex.1991); Woods Exploration & Producing Co. v. Arkla Equip. Co., 528 S.W.2d 568, 570 (Tex.1975). “It is our policy to construe rules reasonably but liberally, when possible, so that the right to appeal is not lost by creating a requirement not absolutely necessary from the literal words of the rule.” Jamar v. Patterson, 868 S.W.2d 318, 319 (Tex.1993). Generally a corporation may be represented only by a licensed attorney, see Moore v. Elektro-Mobil Technik GmbH, 874 S.W.2d 324, 327 (Tex.App. —El Paso 1994, writ denied), and an individual must appear in person or by an attorney. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 7. We hold, however, that Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 40(a)(1) and 41(a)(1) do not preclude a nonlawyer from performing the specific ministerial task of depositing cash with a clerk in lieu of a cost bond.
Accordingly, the Court grants Petitioners’ application for writ of error and, without oral argument, pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 170, reverses the judgment of the court of appeals and remands this case to that court for further proceedings.
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