Dodging the judgment

EL PASO — An appeals court in Texas says the trial court shouldn’t have awarded $1 million to a man who, after winning a 1998 judgment against a couple in another matter, argued the pair had schemed to avoid paying the judgment in violation of state law, in part by staging a “sham” divorce. The lower court shouldn’t have denied admissions from the couple just because they were filed 29 minutes late, and there are genuine factual disputes that mean the man is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law.