Bashara v. Saratoga Independent School Dist.

• Decision Date: 24 June 1942
• Docket Number: No. 2423-7913.,2423-7913.
• Citation: 163 S.W.2d 631
• Parties: BASHARA v. SARATOGA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

163 S.W.2d 631

BASHARA v. SARATOGA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST.

No. 2423-7913.

Commission of Appeals of Texas, Section A.

June 24, 1942.

Rehearing Denied July 22, 1942.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Ninth Supreme Judicial District.

Suit by the Saratoga Independent School District against Sam F. Bashara for taxes, interest, penalties and costs for the years 1934 to 1938, on certain land within plaintiff's corporate limits. Judgment for plaintiff was affirmed by Court of Civil Appeals, 153 S.W.2d 1006, and defendant brings error.

Judgments of the district court and of the Court of Civil Appeals reversed and judgment rendered for defendant without prejudice to plaintiff's right to reassess defendant's interest in the lands in question.

James F. Parker, of Kountze, for plaintiff in error.

H. A. Maynard, of Liberty, for defendant in error.

BREWSTER, Commissioner.

This is an appeal from a judgment recovered by respondent, Saratoga Independent School District, against petitioner, Sam F. Bashara, for taxes alleged to be due on 136.66 acres of land in Hardin County, Texas, for the years 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938, with interest, penalties and costs, and for foreclosure and order of sale. Upon appeal by Bashara to the Court of Civil Appeals, at Beaumont, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. 153 S.W.2d 1006.

Bashara's appeal is before us on two points of error, but it is necessary to consider only the first, which is that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in holding him personally liable for all taxes due respondent on the land, including a portion which he had never owned.

In its petition respondent described the land, in part, by reference to "a deed from Annie M. Baker, Exr. to Sam F. Bashara, dated July 24, 1930, and recorded in Volume 117, page 410 deed records Hardin County, Texas." In that deed Mrs. Baker, individually and as independent executrix of the estate of J. W. Baker, deceased, conveyed 100 acres of the 136.66 acres against which taxes are claimed to be due, but expressly reserved and excepted from the effect of the conveyance "2/3 of a 1/8 royalty interest in all oil, gas, or other minerals" which might thereafter be produced from the land conveyed. In his answer Bashara specially pleaded this royalty reservation by Mrs. Baker and asserted that he was not chargeable with any taxes due thereon because, to that extent, he was not the owner of the property taxed.

The delinquent tax records of respondent showed that the entire estate in the 136.66 acres was assessed on the unrendered rolls as the property of Bashara for $68.35 on a total valuation of $6,835 for each of the five years in suit, while for the year 1939 Mrs. Baker's royalty interest was deducted from the valuation at a figure of $230 leaving the valuation of Bashara's interest at $5,920. Mrs. Baker paid taxes on her reserved royalty for the year 1939 but not for the years in suit.

The deed from Mrs. Baker to Bashara created two interests in the 100 acres of land covered thereby, one in Mrs. Baker, the other in Bashara. Mrs. Baker's interest was as much subject to taxation as was Bashara's. Sheffield v. Hogg, 124 Tex. 290, 77 S.W.2d 1021; State v. Downman, Tex.Civ. App., 134 S.W. 787, error refused; Downman v. State, 231 U.S. 353, 34 S.Ct. 62, 58 L.Ed. 264; 26 R.C.L., p. 361, § 319. The deed creating the two interests was recorded July 25, 1930, the day after its execution and approximately four years before the entire estate in the 100 acres, the interest of Mrs. Baker as well as that of Bashara, was...