Kendrick v. Seibert

LAURA CARTER HIGLEY

Affirmed.

Rebecca L. Reitz, John F. Gay, Gay & Reitz Attorneys at Law, Houston, TX, for Appellant. Marcela Ortiz–Taing, Ortiz–Taing Law Firm, P.C., League City, TX, for Appellee.

LAURA CARTER HIGLEY, Justice.

Appellant, Nancy C. Kendrick, appeals the trial court's judgment in a suit to modify the parent-child relationship and agreement incident to divorce. In three issues, Kendrick argues the evidence is legally insufficient to establish that the attorney's fees awarded were reasonable.

We affirm.

Kendrick and Seibert's divorce decree was an agreed decree, making it both a contract and a judgment. See Schwartz, 247 S.W.3d at 806; Rich, 2003 WL 21027940, at *2. Kendrick violated the contract's terms concerning delivery of the children's passports. Seibert filed suit seeking enforcement of the passport provisions. Accordingly, Seibert's suit included a claim for a written contract. Section 38.001 allows a party to recover reasonable attorney's fees for such a claim. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 38.001(8). When section 38.001 applies, a trial court can take judicial notice of the case file and of the usual and customary attorney's fees, and the usual and customary fees are presumed to be reasonable. See id. §§ 38.003, .004(1). Taking judicial notice of these two things is legally sufficient to support a determination that the attorney's fees award was reasonable. Gill Sav. Ass'n, 797 S.W.2d at 32.

We hold the evidence is legally sufficient to establish that the trial court's award of attorney's fees incurred in enforcing the passport provision. We overrule Kendrick's three issues.

We affirm the judgment of the trial court.