City of Dallas v. Clark

• Decision Date: 17 May 1957
• Docket Number: No. 15288,15288
• Citation: City of Dallas v. Clark, 306 S.W.2d 742 (Tex. Ct. App. 1957)
• Parties: CITY OF DALLAS, Appellant, v. Mrs. Rhea H. CLARK et al., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Civil Court of Appeals

Page 742

306 S.W.2d 742

CITY OF DALLAS, Appellant, v.Mrs. Rhea H. CLARK et al., Appellees.

No. 15288.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Dallas.

May 17, 1957.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 18, 1957.

H. P. Kucera, City Atty., Charles C. Wells and Arthur Schroeder, Jr., Asst. City Attys., Dallas, for appellant.

Norman R. Crozier, Jr., William W. Sweet, Jr., Leachman, Gardere, Akin & Porter, Henry D. Akin, Dallas, for appellees.

Leake, Henry, Golden & Burrow, Hawkins Golden and Wm. Burrow, Dallas, for amici curiaeJohn M. Stemmons and others.

CRAMER, Justice.

This action was filed by Greenway Parks Home Owners Association against Rhea H. Clark, Louise Timmerman, independent Executrix of the Estate of James W. Clark, deceased, and the Reserve Loan Life Insurance Company of Texas, alleging that the Home Owners Association was, on July 27, 1955 and still is, the owner of all the area east of the St. Louis, Southwestern Railroad Bounded by University Boulevard on the north, Loma Alta on the east, Drane Drive on the south, and the railroad on the west, containing six or seven acres of land more or less, and that its possession was on July 27, 1955 unlawfully entered upon by named defendants who dispossessed it and now withhold possession from it; that such tract of land has been dedicated to park purposes for the benefit of, and equitable title thereto is in, Greenway Parks Home Owners Association and such Association brings this action not only in its own behalf but as a class action on behalf of all property owners in the Addition.

Rhea H. Clark and Louise Timmerman, Independent Executrix, answered by plea of not guilty, general denial, pled that they have good title to the land and now claim good and perfect title thereto under the tenyear statute of limitation.

The City of Dallas intervened and claimed title to the above described land known as 'A Park' by virtue of a valid statutory dedication of such property for park purposes and the filing of a plat or map of Greenway Parks Addition in the Dallas County Clerk's Office by the then owners, F. N. Drane and J. P. Stephenson, on March 12, 1927 on which map or plat 'A park' was dedicated to and for the public at large, and that any attempt in the method or working of the dedication to retain property rights in 'A Park' was and is void as a matter of law; that on March 18, 1942 the Dallas City Council legally annexed Greenway Parks Addition to the City of Dallas and on that date the City of Dallas became the legal owner and custodian of 'A Park.'That at the time of the dedication of Greenway Parks Addition by Drane and Stephenson and until March 18, 1942, the property in the Addition including the property here involved was not in any municipal corporation or city and no public corporation existed in such location to take title thereto as an organized representative of the public or to take control and administer it for park purposes; that immediately upon the annexation of such property it became and was thereafter under the control, dominion and management of the Park Department of the City of Dallas, which listed it on its rolls as a public park and began its upkeep and maintenance as a park by leveling and grading it, mowing weeds and grass, planting flowers, shrubs and trees, which maintenance has continued; and there have already been established therein park structures, benches, trash receptacles, playground equipment, athletic fields, etc., and the City of Dallas has kept 'A Park' open to the public at all times; that a swimming and wading pool was in process of being established, but continued water shortage prevented completion of same; further alleged the Greenway Parks Home Owners Association, by filing a map or plat dedicating this property to the public as 'A Park' obtained benefits by the sale of lots with reference thereto to their property and that no representative existed to operate the park before the City of Dallas took charge of it and improved it.Also pled that the predecessors in title to Greenway Parks Home Owners Association, by filing the map or plat dedicating the park property have benefited by the sale of their lots and are now estopped to deny such dedication.Also pled in the alternative that neither the Parks Home Owners Association nor Clark et al. have an action against the other or the City because the City has held as against them peaceful, continuous and adverse possession of 'A Park' under a title from and under the State of Texas for more than three years after the cause of action, if any, of the Association or Clark et al. accrued and before the commencement of this suit and their rights, if any, are barred by the three-year statute of limitation; in the alternative by the five and ten-year statutes of limitation, and the City has now acquired a prescriptive title to said land.

Trial was for title and beneral relief.A trial amendment was filed by the City of Dallas asserting it had come to the attention of the City that a deed mentioned in the stipulation referred to a subsidiary contract between the parties which set out the conditions upon which the deed might become effective and that the Home Owners Association intends to exercise its fullest authority to sell or lease the property to strangers to the title for use for commercial purposes: that such instrument shows conclusively that the Home Owners Association has elected to discontinue the maintenande charge against the property owners and to no longer spend money for such maintenance and upkeep of 'A Park.'Therefore the dedication plats dated March 12, 1927 and October 3, 1928 have matured and become effective to establish a public dedication of the property in dispute.

The Home Owners Association answered the City's pleading by not guilty and general denial.After trial to the merits, the court entered judgment in favor of the Home Owners Association and 'against defendantsMrs. Rhea H. Clark, deceased, subject to a vendor's lien in favor of Mrs. Rhea H. Clark as provided for in a deed dated the 21st day of November 1956 from Mrs. R. H. Clark et al., grantors, to Greenway Parks Home Owners Association, grantee, to the property hereinabove described; Greenway Parks Home Owners Association do have and recover of and from the City of Dallas judgment for title and possession to said property * * * without prejudice however to any contingent right, title or interest which the City of Dallas may have under and by virtue of the provisions of that certain instrument dated March 12, 1927', and an instrument dated October 3, 1928; and taxed the costs, etc.

From the judgment after the trial before the court without a jury (no separate findings of fact or conclusions of law being filed), the City of Dallas has duly perfected this appeal, here briefing ten points of error.

Point 1 asserts error in failure to render judgment for the City of Dallas for title to and possession of the property in dispute because under the 1927 plat of dedication it was provided that the parks were set aside subject to the following limitations: '* * * It is expressly stipulated herein that all sidewalks, parks, private parks, parkways, park spaces and walks for entrance to parks are not dedicated to the public but same are in all things reserved in the grantors F. N. Drane and J. P. Stephenson, their heirs, administrators, executors or assigns, and any indulgence of said grantors to the public in regard to the use of same shall never be construed as a prescriptive dedication or grant of any kind or character and same shall be construed as a mere license, revocable at will, excepting that the lot owners in said Addition are to have the irrevocable right to use said sidewalks as a private way of ingress and egress from their said property and to construct an entranceway from the curb line of the street which the lot faces, to their lots, but no such entrance is to be constructed from Greenway Boulevard, and excepting further that the property above mentioned herein reserved to the grantors and not dedicated to the public, shall never be used by grantors or their heirs, administrators, executors or assigns, for any other purpose or purposes than those designated on the plat, excepting the part known as Block B, which may be used by grantor for field office purposes; provided however, that when and in case the owners of the lots in the several installments of Greenway Parks, shall vote to discontinue the maintenance charge against said lots as provided for in the respective deeds of conveyance from grantors of said lots, then said sidewalks, parks, parkways, park spaces, and walks for entrance to parks, shall be and are hereby dedicated to the public for the respective uses and purposes as designated on the plat * * *'; that said instrument clearly indicates: '(1) The intention to dedicate to the City of Dallas because the addition was platted as 'an addition to the City of Dallas'; (2) at the time of the dedication this property was outside the city limits and no municipal corporation existed to take charge of the public places; (3) the reservations are void as against public policy, and if they were valid at the time of dedication these conditions were abrogated at the time of annexation; (4) the dedication retained only the naked legal title in Drane and Stephenson and the property could not be used for anything else except park purposes; (5) the property owners were given the option in the...