Baldwin v. Davis Hill Oil Co.

• Citation: 245 S.W.2d 353
• Decision Date: 13 September 1951
• Docket Number: No. 4700,4700
• Parties: BALDWIN et al. v. DAVIS HILL OIL CO. et al.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas. Court of Civil Appeals of Texas

Page 353

245 S.W.2d 353

BALDWIN et al. v. DAVIS HILL OIL CO. et al.

No. 4700.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Beaumont.

Sept. 13, 1951.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 10, 1951.

Second Motion for Rehearing Denied Jan. 10, 1952.

Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Bradley, Houston, for appellants.

Cleaves & Cleaves, and Murfee & Crystal, all of Houston, for appellees.

WALKER, Justice.

The action is in trespass to try title, by appellants against appellees and another, who disclaimed, to recover the title to and possession of two tracts of land in Liberty County. One tract, alleged by plaintiffs to cover 1380 acres, is situated in Leagues 6 and 9 of the 11 Leagues granted to Jose Maria Dolores Martinez on November 28, 1833; this tract extends across the western end of League 9 and into League 6, which adjoins League 9 and the south, for a distance of 1150 varas below the north line of League 6. The other tract, alleged by plaintiffs to cover 199 acres, is situated in League 9 to the east of the 1380 acre tract; its north line is the north line of League 9. Plaintiffs also sued all of the appellees except the Davis Hill Oil Company to recover the value of timber cut and removed from land by said appellees.

Appellees' pleadings need not be described.

Appellants will be referred to as plaintiffs, and appellees, as defendants.

The cause came on for trial before the court sitting with a jury. Both plaintiffs and defendants filed motions for an instructed verdict. Defendants' motion was granted and plaintiffs' was overruled; and the trial court rendered judgment that plaintiffs take nothing from defendants. From this judgment plaintiffs have appealed, assigning as error that none of the various grounds of the defendants' motion was valid.

For proof of title plaintiffs attempted to show that they held a superior title under a common source of title and the common source for which they contended was one Tom Moore. Plaintiffs' title under Moore is founded upon a deed dated May 10, 1905 from Moore to Tom M. Drew. Defendants also hold a chain of title under Moore which is founded upon a quit claim deed dated February 25, 1910 from F. B. Henderson, guardian of the estate of Tom Moore, to W. R. Wallace. Tom Moore was confined in the North Texas Hospital for the Insane, and his estate was under guardianship by Henderson, on the date of his deed to Drew. Defendants claimed title otherwise than under this deed but it is not necessary to discuss these other claims of title.

(1) A question is made as to the effect of Moore's guardianship, upon the validity of his deed to Drew. Defendants say that Moore's deed was void, or if not void, was in effect disaffirmed and set aside by the guardian's subsequent deed to Wallace. Plaintiffs say that Moore was sane when the deed was made; that, as a consequence, he had power to make a conveyance of land; and that his deed to Drew was valid and the guardian's subsequent deed to Wallace conveyed nothing.

Moore was found to be of 'unsound mind,' and was by the County Court of McLennan County, on June 16, 1892, adjudged a 'lunatic' and ordered committed to the asylum at Terrell. This institution was then known as the North Texas Hospital for the Insane. The order does not state the cause of the mental condition. According to the record maintained at the Hospital, Moore had had one attack of 'mania, acute,' which lasted 'five months,' and the 'alleged cause' of this attack was 'abuse of narcotics.'

This record showed that Moore was admitted mitted to the hospital on January 21, 1892. He remained at the hospital until his death, on December 19, 1929. The superintendent of the hospital actually discharged Moore from confinement on December 2, 1916, and the County Court of McLennan County, on December 22, 1916, adjudged that Moore was restored to sound mind. Technically, Moore had the status of a patient, confined to the Hospital and subject to the control of the Hospital's officers, until he was discharged from confinement; but after his discharge, he was an employee of the institution. As a matter of fact, according to the testimony of Goodman, Moore began to work as a clerk in the office of the Storekeeper and Accountant of the Hospital at a time which must have been in 1900 and Moore continued to work in this office for the remainder of his life.

Two witnesses testified concerning Moore's condition and activites. Some references are made by the parties to a certificate contained in the 'Statement of Facts' in Drew v. Baldwin; but this item, and, indeed, this 'Statement of Facts,' add nothing to the testimony of the two witnesses mentioned and need not therefore be discussed. One of the two witnesses, namely, Dr. Powell, had served at the Hospital as a physician from some date in January, 1900 until a date in 1911; at that time he became the superintendent of the Hospital, and he held that office until a date subsequent to Moore's death. He became acquainted with Moore 'shortly after' he became a physician in January, 1900. Goodman, the other witness, began to work at the Hospital on October 15, 1894 as a druggist. He held this place for six years and then was appointed Storekeeper and Accountant of the Hospital; and he held this office until July 7, 1907. On that date he left the Hospital and entered private employment. Goodman became acquainted with Moore two or three years after he began to work as a druggist and he brought Moore into the Storekeeper's office to assist him there. Both Dr. Powell and Goodman were intimately acquainted with Moore, and both were qualified to know what Moore's mental condition was during the period of their acquaintance and thus, at the time of Moore's deed to Drew. Both men were friends of Moore and Dr. Powell was Moore's devisee.

According to the testimony of these men, Moore was perfectly sane on May 10, 1905, the date of Moore's deed to Drew, and had no abnormal weakness in, or limitation upon, his power of will except an addition to drink; and it is apparent from the testimony of these men that Moore had been sane, although subject to this addiction, for a very long time prior to the date of Moore's deed to Drew, evidently at least from the time in 1900 when Moore began to work in the Storekeeper's office as a clerk. It is also apparent from the testimony of these men that Moore never relapsed into a condition of insanity and that any addiction he may ever have had to the use of narcotics was cured. However, prior to 1911, Moore did have an appetite for drink, which he either could not or would not control, and he would drink to excess, and into drunkenness, if he had an opportunity. This failing was known to Powell and Goodman, and doubtless to others at the hospital, and efforts, which were usually effective but sometimes were not, were made to deny Moore access to liquor. This state of affairs continued until a date in 1911 when Dr. Powell has a conversation with Moore which resulted in Moore's abstention from the use of liquor, or at least, from the excessive use of it. Dr. Powell testified: 'I would say it was shortly after I first became superintendent. I called him into my office and told him I wanted him to have the privileges of others, but I wanted (him) to make it easy for me by not drinking. I told him when you go to town not to get to drinking. I thought he was going to rebel. And the rest of the time he was here, I never suspected that he had ever taken a drink at all.'

Moore did not feel confident of his ability to re-enter active life outside of the Hospital, and neither did Dr. Powell. In substance, it seems that both men feared that if Moore left the Hospital his fondness for drink and the stresses and strains of life to which he would be subjected would cause him to revert to the habits which had lead to his being committed to the Hospital. Dr. Powell still felt this apprehension in 1916, but was of the opinion that he could not then have kept Moore in the Hospital against his will. Moore never manifested any desire to be discharged until the discharge was granted him in 1916, and he was impelled to request this by his kinsman Hill, who wanted this done in order to collect some money for Moore. Despite the discharge from confinement and the adjudication by the County Court of McLennan County Moore remained at the Hospital of his own choice, in the status of an employee. He was paid a salary of $25 a month, in addition to his meals and his room.

At least after the agreement of 1911 between Powell and Moore, which has been mentioned, the latter had the privilege of leaving the grounds of the Hospital at his will and unaccompanied. Dr. Powell said that he had no recollection of Moore's having such a privilege before this agreement was made. Goodman said, however, that Moore went out by himself and that the only restriction placed upon Moore was the requirement that he return to the Hospital not later than a certain time.

There is little competent evidence that Moore concerned himself about any property of his, and the indications are that property matters were brought to his attention by other persons. Moore was classed as an indigent patient and thus evidently had no income, or at least none of any consequence. However, there was evidence from Goodman that Moore knew that he owned property, and knew that he had a guardian. Dr. Powell had heard Moore refer to a Henderson, a relative of Moore's, but he had not observed anything which indicated that Moore knew of a guardian.

Henderson's application for guardianship of Moore's estate was granted by the County Court of McLennan County at the November term, 1902. Henderson's application alleged that Moore was 'a person of unsound mind-now confined in the insane asylum at Terrell,' and the order of appointment, in effect, recites the same facts. Moore had a son named D. D. Moore, but this son waived his right of appointment in favor of Henderson.

Various proceedings had in this...