Gloria Zavala f/n/a Gloria Z. Franco v. Apolinar C. Franco

El Paso, Texas - Divorce attorney represented Apolinar C. Franco with violating the terms of their divorce decree by failing to pay him for his one-half equity interest in their marital homestead upon its sale.

Apolinar C. Franco (Appellee here) filed suit against his former spouse, Gloria Zavala

(Appellant here), claiming that she violated the terms of their divorce decree by failing to pay him

for his one-half equity interest in their marital homestead upon its sale. He filed a summary

judgment motion seeking relief on that claim to which Zavala did not file a response. She now

appeals the trial court's order granting summary judgment in Franco's favor. In two issues,

Zavala contends that the trial court erred in granting the summary judgment because (1) the statute

of limitations barred Franco's recovery, and (2) Franco did not conclusively establish his right to

relief on all elements of his claim. Because Zavala failed to properly raise limitations as an

affirmative defense to Franco's lawsuit, we conclude that she waived her right to raise that issue 2

on appeal. In addition, we conclude that Franco came forward with sufficient uncontroverted

summary judgment evidence to support his claim for relief.

Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.