Gulf States Utilities Co. v. Tonahill, 7098

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas. Court of Civil Appeals of Texas
• Writing for the Court: STEPHENSON
• Citation: 445 S.W.2d 593
• Parties: GULF STATES UTILITIES COMPANY, Appellant, v. Joe H. TONAHILL, Appellee. . Beaumont
• Docket Number: No. 7098,7098
• Decision Date: 25 September 1969

Page 593

445 S.W.2d 593 GULF STATES UTILITIES COMPANY, Appellant,
v.
Joe H. TONAHILL, Appellee. No. 7098. Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.
Beaumont. Sept. 25, 1969.
Rehearing Denied Oct. 16, 1969.

Orgain, Bell & Tucker, Beaumont, for appellant.

Bill A. Martin, Newton, Monte D. Lawlis, Jasper, for appellee.

STEPHENSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court granting a temporary injunction. Plaintiff, Tonahill, is the owner of the land across which defendant, Gulf States Utilities Company, instituted condemnation proceedings to secure an easement for its power lines. Other defendants are the County Judge and the Special Commissioners appointed to hear this matter. A temporary restraining order was first granted just prior to the hearing set by the Special Commissioners, and then later the temporary injunction was granted restraining defendants from proceeding with this condemnation action . This matter was heard by the court, and no findings of fact or conclusions of law were requested or made. The parties will be referred to here as they were in the trial court.

Defendant, Gulf States, first contends the District Court had no authority under the law of this State to enjoin the County Court from hearing this condemnation case. This court recently wrote on this question in Jefferson County Drainage District No. 6 v. Gulf Oil Corp., 437 S.W.2d 415 (Beaumont, Tex.Civ.App., 1969, no writ). As it was well stated in the opinion written by Justice Keith, that condemnation is a matter for the County Court, and a District Court cannot enjoin the County Court from trying any case of which the County Court has jurisdiction.

The jurisdiction of the County Court was invoked with the filing of the petition with the County Judge, followed by his appointment of the Special Commissioners and their notice to plaintiff of a hearing before them. Gulf Coast Irr. Co. v. Gary, 118 Tex. 469, 14 S.W.2d 266, 270, 17 S.W.2d 774 (1929); State v. Nelson, 160 Tex. 515, 334 S.W.2d 788, 790 (1960).

Page 595

There is no question of priority of jurisdiction involved here. Also, no title question being raised, the County Court was the only court that had jurisdiction of the entire subject matter and the parties. If the condemnation proceeding was not void, then the District Court was without authority to grant the temporary injunction complained of. Gary, supra.

We next consider the contention of plaintiff that the proceeding was void because the description of the easement sought to be condemned was vague, ambiguous and uncertain. We proceed to review the evidence in this record as it relates to this matter.

In a judgment dated February 8, 1960, in Cause No. 4751, in the District Court of Newton County Texas, styled R. C. Rea, et al vs. Kirby Lumber Corporation, the title to a 208 acre tract in the A. M. Bevil League, Abstract 84, in Newton County, Texas, vested an undivided 1/2 interest in Kirby, an undivided 1/4 interest in Glenn Barber and John H. Seale, and an undivided 1/4 interest in others. An agreed partition was had by which Kirby Lumber Company conveyed to Barber and Seale et al a segregated 91.78 acres in the Central portion of said 208 acres. On June 7, 1960, Barber and Seale conveyed to Joe H. Tonahill their interest in the 91.78 acres by field notes. Also the other owners conveyed their interest to Tonahill. This 91.78 acres is described in the petition for condemnation by Gulf States Utilities Company vs. Joe Tonahill, No. 1522, in the County Court of Newton County, Texas. The two rights-of-way and easements sought to be condemned are out of the parts of said 91.78 acres owned by defendant, Joe H. Tonahill, after he had conveyed 44.01 acres to Sabine River Authority of Texas. In Gulf States' petition, Tract No. One is 49.17 acres, being the east portion of the 91.78 acres, and Tract No. Two is 42.61 acres, being the west portion of the 91.78 acre tract, with field note descriptions of each tract. There are two distinct easement strips and rights-of-way, each 170 feet in width, extending 85 feet on either side of the following

'THENCE N. 38 13 27 E., 273.52 feet

'TRACT ONE

'ENTERING on the South line of this tract, the same being the North line of a tract owned by Kirby...