Question:
If a husband files a lawsuit regarding jointly managed community property without naming his wife as a party, can the outcome of that lawsuit bind the wife’s legal interests?
Answer:
No, the outcome cannot bind her. In Cooper v. Texas Gulf Industries, Inc., 513 S.W.2d 200 (Tex. 1974), the Texas Supreme Court held that the rights of a wife in jointly managed community property are independent and cannot be foreclosed by a lawsuit to which she was not a party. The Court made it plain: an unsuccessful suit by the husband alone does not carry the force of res judicata against the wife. She must be named and served in order for her interests to be bound. In this way, Texas law protects the equal standing of each spouse in jointly held property, refusing to let one spouse’s litigation gamble erase the other’s stake without due process.