Baines v. Jemison

• Decision Date: 02 November 1893
• Citation: 23 S.W. 639
• Parties: BAINES v. JEMISON et al.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

23 S.W. 639

BAINES v. JEMISON et al.

Supreme Court of Texas.

November 2, 1893.

Certified question from court of civil appeals, first supreme judicial district.

Action by James H. Baines against Jemison, Groce & Co. and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals to the court of civil appeals, which court submits to the supreme court, for determination, the question on which the correctness of the judgment turns. Affirmed.

N. B. Short and Bryarly, Brewer & Brewer, for appellant. Geo. W. Davis, T. C. Davis, and Davidson & Minor, for appellees.

GAINES, J.

The court of civil appeals for the first supreme judicial district submits for our determination the following question: "The appellant instituted suit in the district court of Shelby county on the 16th day of March, 1887, for the recovery of damages for the alleged wrongful issuance of an attachment, by the procurement of appellees Jemison, Groce & Co., from the district court of Galveston county, and the wrongful and illegal levy of the same in Shelby county, on the 27th of October, 1886, upon appellant's property, by the sheriff of Shelby county, at the instance and request of appellees. The appellees Jemison, Groce & Co., among other pleas, alleged their residence to be in Galveston county, and claimed the privilege of being sued in the county of their domicile. The cause came on for trial on the 14th day of November, 1891, and on that day the jury returned the following verdict: `We, the jury, find for the defendants upon the plea to the jurisdiction.' And thereupon judgment was rendered that the plaintiff take nothing by this suit, and that the defendants recover costs. The court, in its instruction to the jury upon the question of venue, gave in charge the law as it stood at the institution of the suit, and ignored both the act approved March 25, 1887, and the act approved March 29, 1889. The defendant Sims was made a party subsequent to the 16th of March, 1887, the day on which the original petition was filed, but as to when he was made a party the record is silent. His first answer was filed November 11, 1887. The defendants Jemison, Groce & Co. filed their original plea and answer on May 13, 1887. The issue of law submitted for adjudication is, did the court err in giving in charge the law regulating the venue of suits, as it existed when the suit was instituted, rather than the law as it is declared in the act of March 29, 1889?"

We are of opinion that the trial judge did not err in his ruling. Since the venue of a suit...