Braxton v. Haney

• Decision Date: 11 April 1935
• Docket Number: No. 1574.,1574.
• Citation: 82 S.W.2d 984
• Parties: BRAXTON v. HANEY et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 984

82 S.W.2d 984

BRAXTON v. HANEY et al.

No. 1574.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Waco.

April 11, 1935.

Rehearing Denied May 16, 1935.

Appeal from District Court, McLennan County; Giles P. Lester, Judge.

Action by Annie M. Braxton against T. E. Haney and others. From a judgment granting plaintiff partial relief only, plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed in part and reversed in part, and judgment rendered for plaintiff.

Sleeper, Boynton & Kendall, of Waco, for appellant.

W. L. Eason and S. J. T. Smith, both of Waco, for appellees.

ALEXANDER, Justice.

This action was brought by Miss Annie M. Braxton on May 21, 1932, against T. E. Haney and H. W. Grim and wife, Charlotte Grim, in trespass to try title to recover a house and lot in the city of Waco, and in the alternative for debt and to foreclose a vendor's lien on the property. The trial court, upon the answers of the jury to certain special issues, rendered judgment for plaintiff against T. E. Haney for the debt sued for, but denied all other relief. The plaintiff appealed.

The record shows that on July 21, 1919, W. J. Coffelt conveyed the property in question to T. E. Haney for a total consideration of $4,100, recited in the deed as follows: $1,400 cash and two notes, one for $1,500, secured by first lien and payable to Miss Annie M. Braxton, she having advanced that amount of the money necessary for the purchase of the property, and the other note for $1,200, payable to the vendor, W. J. Coffelt. This deed was filed for record November 7, 1919. On November 6, 1919, T. E. Haney conveyed the property to H. W. Grim for a total consideration of $4,100 as follows: $2,600 cash, and the assumption of the $1,500 note held by Miss Braxton. This deed was filed November 7, 1919. The $1,200 note previously retained by Coffelt was paid by Haney and a release thereof recorded in December, 1919. On July 7, 1924, before the Braxton note became barred by limitation, T. E. Haney and Miss Braxton, by written agreement, and without the joinder of Grim, extended the time of payment of said note so as to make same mature December 21, 1926. This instrument was filed for record July 16, 1924. Thereafter, on November 21, 1929, Miss Braxton, T. E. Haney, and H. W. Grim entered into a written agreement whereby said $1,500 note was extended so as to mature November 21, 1930.

Grim and wife, as a defense to plaintiff's suit, alleged that about one year prior to the conveyance from Coffelt to Haney they deposited with Haney approximately $5,000 to be used by him in purchasing a home for them in the city of Waco, and that they instructed him to pay cash for the property and to take title thereto in their own name; that a short time prior to the conveyance from Coffelt to Haney the said Haney showed them the property, and, after inspection, they agreed to buy same for $4,100 cash, leaving to Haney the matter of having title examined and proper conveyance made to them; that Haney then informed one Brockenbrough, who was the agent of Miss Braxton, that he had in his possession the money belonging to Grim necessary to purchase the property and had been instructed by Grim to pay cash therefor, but that he preferred to pay only part cash and to execute the note to Miss Braxton for the balance of the purchase price and to take title in his own name instead of in Grim's name. They further alleged that Haney, wholly without their knowledge or consent, had the property conveyed to himself, and executed a vendor's lien note to Miss Braxton, and afterwards conveyed the property to Grim by deed, in which they were caused to assume the payment of said note. They alleged that they accepted the property and moved into it in July, 1919, and have occupied it continuously since said date as their homestead, believing that it had been conveyed to them directly by Coffelt free of lien, and that they did not discover that Haney had taken title to the property in his own name and had afterwards conveyed the same to them and caused them to assume the payment of said vendor's lien note until this suit was filed. They alleged that Haney violated his contract with them, and that Brockenbrough, agent of Miss Braxton, knew that Haney was so violating his contract, and that by reason thereof Haney became the agent of Miss Braxton, and thereby the said Haney and Brockenbrough perpetrated a fraud on them. Miss Braxton, by supplemental petition, denied the allegations contained in the answer filed by Grim and wife, and pleaded estoppel, limitation, laches, ratification, and various other defenses thereto.

The jury found, in substance, that prior to July 21, 1919, Haney had in his possession $5,000 belonging to the Grims; that Brockenbrough, who was the agent of Miss Braxton, was informed by Haney that the Grims had deposited $5,000 with him with which to purchase a place for the Grims; that the Grims had instructed Haney to pay all cash for the property to be purchased for them (there was no finding, however, that Brockenbrough knew this); that Haney told Brockenbrough that he did not want to pay all cash for the property, but wanted to take the deed in his own name and execute the note in question for $1,500, that H. W. Grim did not consent for Haney to take the deed in his (Haney's) name, and execute the note in question; that H. W. Grim could not, by the exercise of ordinary care, have discovered that Haney had taken the deed to the property in question in his own name and executed the note in question until about the time of the service of citation in this suit; that, at the time Grim executed the extension agreement in 1929, he had no actual knowledge that Haney had taken the deed to the property in his own name and executed the note in question; nor that Haney had deeded the property to Grim; that, at the time of the execution of such extension agreement in 1929, Haney represented to Grim that he (Grim) had assumed...