James Donald Ebarb v. Morian Kahla, Attorneys at LawAppeal from 1st District Court of Jasper County (memorandum opinion by chief justice mckeithen)
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In The Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ___________________ NO. 09-12-00471-CV ___________________ JAMES DONALD EBARB, Appellant V. MORIAN KAHLA, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, Appellee _________________________________________________________________ _ On Appeal from the 1st District Court Jasper County, Texas Trial Cause No. 32486 _________________________________________________________________ _ MEMORANDUM OPINION This is an appeal from a default judgment entered in a suit for breach of a contract to pay for legal services. We affirm the trial court s judgment. Appellee Morian Kahla, Attorneys at Law, L.L.P. ( Morian ) filed suit against appellant James Donald Ebarb, in which Morian contended it represented Ebarb in a criminal case in Newton County, and that Ebarb failed to pay the outstanding balance of attorney s fees due in the amount of $4000 under the terms of the parties contract. Morian also pleaded that it had demanded payment, but 1 Ebarb had refused to pay the balance due. Morian requested general damages in the amount of $4000, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, attorney s fees, and costs of suit. Attached to Morian s petition was a citation and return that showed Ebarb had been personally served with the lawsuit. Morian also filed a certificate of Ebarb s last known mailing address. In addition, the appellate record contains a letter from Morian to Ebarb, in which Morian asked Ebarb to let us know if you will come in and sign the Assignment we have prepared stating that you intend to pay the attorney s fee that you owe us out of your portion of your mother s estate. When Ebarb failed to file an answer or otherwise appear in the case, the trial court conducted a hearing, at which William Morian stated on the record that the remaining principal amount due for attorney s fees was $3900, which gave Ebarb the credits and offsets that he should have for payments that he made[.] After the hearing, the trial judge signed a default judgment in favor of Morian for $3900 as the principal amount due, attorney s fees of $500 if Ebarb did not appeal, court costs of $369.95, and interest in the amount of 5% per year. Morian also requested and obtained an abstract of judgment. Ebarb filed a motion for appeal, in which he pointed out that he had made two payments of $50 each, which reduced the principal amount owed from $4000 to $3900, and indicated that he would continue to pay $50 per month. 2 In his pro se brief, Ebarb neither sets forth any appellate issues nor cites to any authorities or the appellate record. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(f), (i) (Briefs must state the issues presented for review and contain appropriate citations to authorities and to the record.); Amir-Sharif v. Hawkins, 246 S.W.3d 267, 270 (Tex. App. Dallas 2007, pet. dism d) (A pro se litigant must comply with applicable laws and rules of procedure, and a court cannot speculate as to the substance of appellant s issues when they are inadequately briefed.). We therefore affirm the trial court s default judgment. AFFIRMED. ______________________________ STEVE McKEITHEN Chief Justice Submitted on June 10, 2013 Opinion Delivered June 27, 2013 Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Horton, JJ. 3
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