“PAID” May Mean Paid

June 12, 2013

UES sued Four D for failing to pay its invoices.  In support of its motion for summary judgment, UES attached an affidavit that established the amount due.  The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of UES, and Four D appealed.  Four D argued that fact issues exist on the amount owed on the account.  The court of appeals rejected UES’s argument that the affidavit could not support the summary judgment motion because it failed to meet the requirements of an interested witness affidavit.  The court found that UES waived this argument because it failed to obtain a ruling on its objection.  “Reasserting” the objection in UES’s motion for a new trial, which was subsequently overruled by operation of law, did not preserve the error.  However, the court agreed with Four D that invoices attached to the affidavit that were stamped “PAID” raised a fact issue as to the amount owed.  The court of appeals reversed and remanded.

Four D Construction v. Utility & Environmental Services, No. 05-12-00068-CV