Iris Williams v. VRM-Vendor Resource Management Duly Authorized Agent for Service Office of Veteran Affairs ( 2015 )

Opinion issued June 25, 2015.
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-14-00272-CV
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IRIS WILLIAMS, Appellant
V.
VRM-VENDOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DULY AUTHORIZED
AGENT FOR SERVICE OFFICE OF VETERAN AFFAIRS, Appellee
On Appeal from County Court at Law No. 4
Fort Bend County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. 13-CCV-051775
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Iris Williams appeals a judgment in favor of VRM - Vendor Resource
Management Duly Authorized Agent for the Service Office of Veteran Affairs
(VRM) in a forcible detainer action. In two issues, Williams contends that the
county court erred in granting judgment in VRM’s favor because (1) Williams was
entitled to purchase the property through a short sale, and (2) the court should have
abated or continued the forcible detainer action until after Williams’s entitlement
to a short sale was decided in a separate suit. Although she does not describe them
as such, Williams’s complaints are best understood as a challenge to the justice and
county court’s subject matter jurisdiction over the forcible detainer action.
Finding no error in the county court’s judgment, we affirm.
Background
Following its February 7, 2012 purchase of a home in Fort Bend County at a
non-judicial foreclosure sale (the Property), VRM filed a forcible detainer action in
justice court seeking to evict Williams and any other occupants of the Property.
Williams was occupying and holding possession of the Property through the
borrowers/mortgagors on the Deed of Trust lien that was non-judicially foreclosed.
The Deed of Trust contains a tenant at sufferance clause making the borrower and
anyone holding possession of, or occupying, the Property by, through, or under, the
borrower after a foreclosure sale, a tenant at sufferance.
Because Williams did not file an answer or otherwise make an appearance in
the case, the justice court awarded VRM possession of the Property by means of a
default judgment. Williams appealed to the county court at law. After conducting a
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de novo bench trial, at which Williams was present, the county court awarded
VRM possession of the Property.
Forcible Detainer
A forcible detainer action is a summary, speedy, and inexpensive remedy for
resolving a dispute over “who is entitled to possession of the premises.” See
McGlothlin v. Kliebert, 672 S.W.2d 231, 232 (Tex. 1984). The only issue to be
determined in a forcible detainer action is the right to actual possession of the
premises; the trial court may not adjudicate questions of title. See TEX. R. CIV. P.
510.3(e); Chinyere v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 440 S.W.3d 80, 82 (Tex. App.—
Houston [1st Dist.] 2012, no pet.) (citations omitted); see also Shutter v. Wells
Fargo Bank, N.A., 318 S.W.3d 467, 471 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2010, pet. dism’d
w.o.j.) (stating that any defects in foreclosure process or with purchaser’s title to
property may not be considered in forcible detainer action). Such defects must be
pursued, if at all, in a separate suit for wrongful foreclosure or to set aside the
substitute trustee’s deed. Shutter, 318 S.W.3d at 471. An action for forcible
detainer is cumulative of all other remedies a party may have in the courts of this
State and may be prosecuted concurrently with a title dispute in district court. See
Morris v. Am. Home Mortg. Servicing, Inc., 360 S.W.3d 32, 35 (Tex. App.—
Houston [1st Dist.] 2011, no pet.) (citing McGlothlin, 672 S.W.2d at 233); Hong
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Kong Dev., Inc. v. Nguyen, 229 S.W.3d 415, 437 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.]
2007, no pet.).
Courts, however, have recognized that a question of title may be so
intertwined with the issue of possession as to preclude adjudication of the right to
possession without first determining title. See Chinyere, 440 S.W.3d at 83. In such
cases, neither the justice court nor the county court on appeal has jurisdiction. Id.;
Dormady v. Dinero Land & Cattle Co., 61 S.W.3d 555, 557 (Tex. App.—San
Antonio 2001, pet. dism’d w.o.j.). A challenge to a court’s lack of subject matter
jurisdiction can be raised at any time, including for the first time on appeal.
Chinyere, 440 S.W.3d at 83 (citation omitted). We review such questions of law
de novo. Id. (citation omitted).
“Whether an existing title dispute in another court deprives the justice and
county courts of jurisdiction to adjudicate possession in forcible-detainer actions
generally turns on whether there is a basis—independent of the claimed right to
title—for the plaintiff’s claim of superior possession rights in the property.” Id.
Under well-settled law, a deed of trust that establishes a landlord-tenant
relationship between the borrower and the purchaser of the property at the
foreclosure sale demonstrates such a superior right to possession. Morris, 360
S.W.3d at 34–35; Villalon v. Bank One, 176 S.W.3d 66, 71 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] 2004, pet. denied) (“The landlord-tenant relationship established in the
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deed of trust provided a basis for the county court to determine that [the bank] had
the right to immediate possession without resolving whether [the bank] wrongfully
foreclosed on the property, an issue relating directly to who has title to the
property.”); Dormady, 61 S.W.3d at 559 (“The landlord-tenant relationship [in the
deed of trust] provides a basis for determining the right to immediate possession
without resolving the ultimate issue of title to the property.”); Bruce v. Fed. Nat’l
Mortg. Ass’n, 352 S.W.3d 891, 893 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2011, pet. denied) (same
holding).
Here, the record reflects that Williams had possession of the Property by or
through the borrower on the Deed of Trust and that Williams failed to surrender
the Property to VRM after the foreclosure. Thus, under the terms of the Deed of
Trust, Williams became VRM’s tenant at sufferance. The existence of this
landlord-tenant relationship provides a basis for VRM’s forcible detainer action
independent of any title dispute, and, as such, the justice and county court had
jurisdiction over the forcible detainer action. See Chinyere, 440 S.W.3d at 82;
Morris, 360 S.W.3d at 34; Villalon, 176 S.W.3d at 71. Because the lower courts
had jurisdiction over VRM’s claim for immediate possession of the Property, the
courts did not have discretion to abate or continue the forcible detainer action until
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after William’s entitlement to a short sale was decided in a separate suit. 1 See
Meridien Hotels v. Lho Fin. P’ship I, L.P., 97 S.W.3d 731, 738 (Tex. App.—
Dallas 2003, no pet.) (holding justice court’s abatement of forcible detainer action
until finalization of district court’s decision regarding right to possession under
lease agreement in concurrent proceeding was abuse of discretion because district
court case did not deprive justice court of jurisdiction in forcible detainer action).
We overrule both of Williams’s issues.
Conclusion
We affirm the county court’s judgment.
Russell Lloyd
Justice
Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Huddle, and Lloyd.
1
The record before us does not reflect that Williams ever requested a continuance
or abatement. We further note that Williams did not file a separate suit to
adjudicate title until June 3, 2014—over four months after the final judgment in
the forcible detainer action.
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