Churchwell v. Sweeney

• Citation: 68 S.W. 185
• Parties: CHURCHWELL et ux. v. SWEENEY et al.
• Decision Date: 23 April 1902
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

68 S.W. 185

CHURCHWELL et ux. v. SWEENEY et al.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

April 23, 1902.

Error from district court, Johnson county; W. Poindexter, Judge.

Suit by Joe Churchwell and wife against E. Sweeney and others. From a decree for defendants, plaintiffs bring error. Affirmed.

Cleveland & Haynes, for plaintiffs in error. Henry, Brown & Patton, for defendants in error.

JAMES, C. J.

This is a suit to enjoin an execution sale of a lot in Cleburne, levied on to satisfy an execution against E. Sweeney. The lot was claimed as homestead. We copy the judge's conclusions, there being no statement of facts:

"I find from the evidence that on the 3d day of April, 1899, the plaintiffs purchased a lot in Allen's addition, the same being a suburb of the city of Cleburne, Texas; that said plaintiffs paid therefor the sum of one hundred and ninety dollars; that the purchase money so paid was the money procured as insurance upon the household goods and kitchen furniture of plaintiffs, which had been destroyed by fire, and the money so obtained was exempt to plaintiff, under the exemption law of the state of Texas. I further find that the defendant E. Sweeney had obtained a judgment against plaintiff for the sum of seventy dollars, and on the ____ day of August, 1900, caused an execution to be levied upon said lot, and was seeking to subject the same to forced sale. The writ of injunction was sued out and issued in favor of plaintiff on the 4th day of September, 1900, seeking to restrain the defendant E. Sweeney and the sheriff of Johnson county from selling said property; the plaintiffs claiming that same was their homestead. I find from the evidence that at the time plaintiffs purchased said lot they had no other property or real estate, and were living in a rented house; that, at the time of the purchase of said lot by plaintiff, they intended to make same a homestead; that they had the same intention at the time of the levy of the execution upon same and at the time of the trial; that about fifteen days after the purchase of said lot the plaintiff Joe Churchwell hauled about fifteen or twenty wagon loads of dirt, and placed same upon said lot, for the purpose of leveling the same for a more suitable building place; that thereafter the plaintiff obtained work away from home, and did nothing further toward improving said lot; that, while said plaintiff was away from home at work, his wife and children remained in Cleburne, Texas, making the same...