Bass v. McCord

• Decision Date: 16 June 1915
• Docket Number: (No. 5502.)
• Citation: 178 S.W. 998
• Parties: BASS et al. v. McCORD et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

178 S.W. 998

BASS et al. v. McCORD et al.

(No. 5502.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Austin.

June 16, 1915.

Appeal from District Court, Hill County; Horton B. Porter, Judge.

Suit by Anna F. Bass and others against A. P. McCord and others. Judgment for defendants dismissing the petition, and plaintiffs appeal. Reversed and remanded.

Sleeper, Boynton & Kendall, of Waco, for appellants. Etheridge, McCormick & Bromberg, of Dallas, Wear & Frazier, of Hillsboro, T. S. Henderson, of Cameron, and Crane & Crane, of Dallas, for appellees.

RICE, J.

In 1896 Wilbur F. and Frank M. Crawford were partners, conducting a banking business in Cameron, under the name of the Milam County Bank, as well as a general business under the firm name of Crawford & Crawford. On the 16th of March of said year they executed to A. P. McCord and T. S. Henderson a deed of assignment, conveying their property for the benefit of their accepting creditors. The assignees qualified and took immediate control and possession of said property and began the administration of said estate; and this suit was brought October 3, 1913, by appellants, who are the surviving wives and children of the said Crawfords, against said assignees, the Milam County Oil Mill, R. L. Batte, and the Cameron Cotton Oil Company to recover an alleged surplus of the value of $120,000, and certain property remaining in the hands of said assignees, as well as for other property held by the other defendants, or to impress the same with a lien for their benefit, as well as against T. S. Henderson for a one-half undivided interest in 519 acres of land out of the Jones league in Milam county, claimed to be the property of said assigned estate, alleging that both Wilbur F. and Frank M. Crawford died intestate in 1902, leaving appellants, their surviving wives and children, as their sole heirs; that the property conveyed by said deed of assignment was community property; that in 1897 said assignees fraudulently conveyed a considerable portion of said property to one Lawrence, with the understanding that he should reconvey the same to said McCord, which he subsequently did in 1898, and said McCord thereafter conveyed certain portions thereof for an inadequate consideration to the other defendants who had knowledge of such fraud; that thereafter on the 10th of July, 1900, W. A. Nabours and other accepting creditors brought suit in the district court of Milam county for the removal of said assignees and for cancellation of said deeds to Lawrence and from Lawrence to McCord, and praying that the property so conveyed thereby be declared the property of said estate, subject to the payment of its debts under said deed of assignment, which suit was finally determined in favor of plaintiffs therein. It is further alleged that a final order was made in said suit on May 23, 1912, wherein it was declared that upon the payment of all accepting creditors said estate should be finally closed and said assignees discharged. It is alleged that said suit inured to the benefit of said estate as well as such accepting creditors, and that appellants were not entitled to maintain any action against the defendants for the recovery of such surplus, or any portion, of said estate until after the entry of such final order. Appellees answered by general demurrer and numerous special exceptions, among others pleading the statute of limitation of 2, 4, and 10 years, laches and stale demand. The court having sustained all of said demurrers and appellants declining to amend, their petition was dismissed, from which judgment they have prosecuted this appeal.

It is deemed unnecessary to make a more extended statement of the matters involved, as a full history of the litigation may be had by consulting the following cases: Nabours v. McCord, 36 Tex. Civ. App. 504, 75 S. W. 827; Id., 82 S. W. 153, 193, 661; McCord v. Nabours, 97 Tex. 271, 78 S. W. 223; Nabours v. McCord, 97 Tex. 527, 80 S. W. 595; Id., 100 Tex. 456, 100 S. W. 1152; Id., 103 S. W. 469; McCord v. Nabours, 101 Tex. 494, 109 S. W. 913, 111 S. W. 144; Sprinkel v. McCord, 129 S. W. 379; McCord v. Sprinkel, 105 Tex. 150, 141 S. W. 945, 145 S. W. 903.

We have concluded that the demurrers were not well taken, and the court erred in sustaining them.

The questions of...