Capital City Security, LLC; Alfonso Valenciano; and Lorena Valenciano v. Pro-Vision Solutions, LLC

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, affirmed a no-answer default judgment awarding damages, interest, and attorney’s fees to Pro-Vision Solutions, LLC. The court held that although the petition was not supported by the affidavit required for a sworn-account claim, the pleaded breach-of-contract theory independently supported the judgment. The court also concluded that the judgment’s recitals did not limit the judgment to the sworn-account theory.

Holdings

1. A petition that does not comply with Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 185 cannot support a default judgment on a sworn-account claim, but reversal is not required when an independently pleaded breach-of-contract theory fully supports the judgment.
2. The factual recitals preceding the decretal language are not the court's judgment; when the decretal portion does not specify the theory of recovery, an unchallenged alternate theory supporting the award is sufficient to affirm.
3. A sworn account is a procedural means of expediting recovery in qualifying contract actions, not an independent cause of action; a liquidated claim may therefore be both a breach-of-contract claim and a suit on a sworn account.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the absence of a Rule 185 affidavit made the no-answer default judgment unsupported on the face of the record.
2. Whether the default judgment had to be reversed when the petition pleaded both a sworn-account claim and an alternative breach-of-contract claim, and the judgment's decretal language did not identify the theory supporting the award.
3. Whether the trial court's reference to a claim being liquidated and proven by an open account supported the breach-of-contract theory even if it was considered part of the judgment.

Disposition

affirmed