Preserving Error When Trial Court Refuses to Rule on Motion
What is the proper procedure to preserve error when a trial court refuses to rule on a motion for default judgment?
In Old Republic Insurance Co. v. Sisavath, the trial court refused to rule on the plaintiff's motion for default judgment and eventually dismissed the case for want of prosecution.
On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the trial court improperly denied the motion for default judgment.
The Dallas Court of Appeals, however, explained that the court did not deny the motion, it merely returned the proposed default judgment unsigned and identified several items for the plaintiffs to ameliorate before it could sign the judgment. To complain on appeal that the trial court refused to rule on a motion, the record must show that the complaining party objected to the refusal. But the record was void of any objections to the trial court's refusal to sign the default judgment. Thus, the error had not been preserved for appeal.
