A Texas tenant who won a $250,000 default judgment against an apartment complex owner, including tens of thousands of dollars for emotional distress, has lost the award after an appeals court found a technical error in the court paperwork. The Texas First Court of Appeals in Houston ruled on 6 November 2026 that the original default judgment against Lavender Apartments LLC was invalid. 01-25-00270-CV) overturns the award issued by County Civil Court at Law No. 3 of Harris County.
The court found that the official documents showing delivery of the lawsuit contained errors and did not meet Texas legal requirements. The decision in Lavender Apartments LLC v. Kimberly Aguilera (Docket No. The case will now return to the trial court for further proceedings. Writing for the three-judge appeals panel, Justice Andrew Johnson explained that Texas law does not favour default judgments entered when a defendant fails to respond. Courts must strictly follow all legal rules for notifying a party before taking away its right to defend itself.
A deputy constable recorded that the legal papers were personally delivered on 7 June 2024. The Harris County trial judge ruled in her favour and ordered Lavender Apartments LLC to pay a total of $250,000 in damages and legal fees. The award included $164,347.77 for financial losses, $81,516.38 for mental anguish, and $4,135.85 in attorney fees.
Because the people delivering the legal papers had not followed Texas court rules, in its appeal before the First Court of Appeals, Lavender Apartments LLC argued that errors were clear from the court records.
The document stated that the papers had been delivered by handing them to “LEGALCORP SOLUTIONS, LLC. / CHARLES BREEDY in person the REGISTERED AGENT of said Corporation”. “The strict-compliance requirements in the default judgment context preclude courts from making even the most obvious and rational inferences,” the appellate panel noted, citing established Houston circuit precedent. They also could not determine whether the phrase “REGISTERED AGENT of said Corporation” referred to Breedy, LegalCorp or Lavender Apartments.
The dispute began when tenant Kimberly Aguilera filed a lawsuit against Lavender Apartments LLC in Harris County. She sought financial compensation for several legal claims related to her tenancy. Official court records show that the Harris County district clerk issued a legal notice addressed to the apartment owner’s registered agent, LegalCorp Solutions, LLC. The company was located at an address on Greenway Plaza in Houston. However, Lavender Apartments LLC did not file a response or appear in court to defend itself against the lawsuit. After the company failed to appear, Aguilera asked the court to issue a default judgment. Lavender Apartments LLC did not take part in the original hearing that led to the judgment. It also did not file the usual requests to challenge the decision after the ruling. Instead, within six months of the trial judge signing the order, the apartment company filed a notice of restricted appeal to challenge the judgment. The company pointed to problems in the constable’s official report confirming delivery of the legal notice. Lawyers for the apartment company argued that the forward slash in the statement made it unclear who had actually received the documents. The court records also contained no information explaining who Charles Breedy was or proving that he had legal authority to accept court papers for LegalCorp Solutions or Lavender Apartments. The First Court of Appeals rejected Aguilera’s arguments. The judges explained that Texas law does not allow courts to make assumptions when deciding whether a default judgment is valid. In his opinion, Justice Andrew Johnson referred to Texas Supreme Court decisions, including Spanton v. Bellah and Shamrock Enterprises v. Top Notch Movers. These decisions establish that a default judgment entered when a defendant does not respond cannot stand unless all legal requirements for delivering the lawsuit have been followed. Chief Justice Terry Adams and Justice Veronica Guerra joined the decision. Justice Johnson explained that appeals courts reviewing restricted appeals cannot simply assume that legal papers were properly issued or delivered. The judges found that the court records did not establish whether Breedy had the authority to accept legal documents for the registered agent.