Southern Paper Box Co. v. Houston

I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. I have no particular quarrel with the majority’s decision that the service was adequate because the appellant’s president had actual knowledge of the suit and thus had the opportunity to defend. However, I disagree with the majority’s, and the trial court’s, decision that the failure to file a timely answer was not excusable. What has happened is that the appellee, an attorney, induced the appellant’s president not to file an answer by agreeing to “drop the suit”. The majority finds that phrase ambiguous, but it is unlikely that the appellee…