No offer? No problem, maybe.

June 17, 2019

Not offered in evidence? Might not be a problem, at least on the following record::

On appeal, the Pelley parties argue that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the award because there was no sworn expert witness testimony, neither of the “two exhibits which the attorney for the Wynne Parties handed to the court reporter to be marked . . . were ever offered into evidence by the [Wynne parties], nor were they ever admitted into evidence by a ruling of the Trial Court.” They also contend that even if the statements by the Wynne parties’ counsel had been properly presented to the trial court, his assertions “would have been objected to as being unreliable, and should have been excluded as evidence.” [1] The Pelley parties, however, did not object to, but rather discussed, the Westfall affidavit in their arguments in the trial court. [2] Nor did the Pelley parties object to the Wynne parties’ references to Westfall’s billing records on the basis they were not in evidence. The reporter’s record clearly shows that the parties and the trial court treated the Westfall affidavit and attached billing records as if they had been admitted into evidence. We conclude that the Westfall affidavit and attached billing records were, “for all practical purposes, admitted.”

Pelley v. Wynne, No. 05-18-00550-CV (June 13, 2019) (emphasis and colorful highlighting added).