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Lynne C. Renfo and G. Lee Finley v. New Rez LLC D/B/A Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing
Citation: Not availableDocket: 05-22-00843-CV
Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; December 14, 2022; Texas; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas dismissed the appeal filed by Lynne C. Renfro and G. Lee Finley against New Rez LLC d/b/a Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing and Nationstar Mortgage, LLC due to the non-appealable nature of the summary judgment orders contested. The underlying case involved a home equity loan secured by a deed of trust on a property shared by Renfro and Finley, with Renfro initiating the suit after defaulting on the loan and facing foreclosure. Renfro raised multiple claims, including breach of contract, against Shellpoint, the current mortgagee, and Nationstar, its predecessor. In response, the defendants sought attorney's fees and filed counterclaims against Renfro, including breach of contract and judicial foreclosure. The first order granted Shellpoint an equitable lien on the property, while the second order granted summary judgment on all of Renfro's claims and on Shellpoint's remaining claims, stating that further judgment would follow. The third order addressed Nationstar's participation in the summary motions and granted it judgment on all claims against it. The appellate court questioned its jurisdiction as the orders did not finalize the amount of attorney's fees or definitively address all claims, leading to the conclusion that the judgments were not final. Both Shellpoint and Nationstar acknowledged that their requests for fees were still pending, which further indicated the lack of a final, appealable judgment. The court clarified that an award of costs does not suffice to finalize a judgment and dismissed the appeal, ordering that the appellees recover their costs from the appellants.