Harding v. Jesse Dennett, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 May 1929
• Docket Number: (No. 8209.)
• Citation: Harding v. Jesse Dennett, Inc., 17 S.W.2d 862 (Tex. App. 1929)
• Parties: HARDING et al. v. JESSE DENNETT, Inc., et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

17 S.W.2d 862

HARDING et al. v. JESSE DENNETT, Inc., et al.

(No. 8209.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. San Antonio.

May 1, 1929.

Rehearing Denied May 29, 1929.

Appeal from District Court, Willacy County; A. M. Kent, Judge.

Action by Jesse Dennett, Incorporated, and others, against W. A. Harding and others. Judgment for plaintiffs, and certain defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Davis E. Decker, of Raymondville, for appellants.

Faulk & Abney, of Brownsville, and R. F. Robinson, of Raymondville, for appellees.

COBBS, J.

Appellee sued J. E. Schlottman for debt and for foreclosure of a chattel mortgage lien on a Dodge automobile. Thereafter a writ of sequestration was issued and the automobile was levied upon by the sheriff of Willacy county. A replevin bond was executed by J. E. Schlottman, and appellants herein, W. A. Harding and S. L. Gill, signed the bond as sureties. The bond was approved and the car surrendered.

The cause was heard by the court, and defendant Schlottman having failed to appear, judgment by default was rendered against him in favor of Jesse Dennett, Inc., for its debt, interest, and attorney's fees; the amount of the debt being $969.32, with 10 per cent. interest from date of judgment until paid, and attorneys' fees in the sum of $96.93. And the chattel mortgage lien on the Dodge automobile was ordered foreclosed.

The judgment recited the sequestration of the Dodge car by the sheriff and the execution of a replevin bond in the sum of $1,500, by J. E. Schlottman with W. A. Harding and S. L. Gill as sureties; and found the reasonable market value of the automobile to be $900 at the time the bond was given. The court further found that since that time, due to ordinary use, wear, and tear, the reasonable market value of said car has been reduced to $450. Judgment was rendered by the court that Jesse Dennett, Inc., recover of J. E. Schlottman and his sureties, W. A. Harding and S. L. Gill, jointly and severally, the sum of $900 with interest at the rate of 6 per cent.; with the provision that if the defendant Schlottman or his sureties "deliver into the hands of the Sheriff of Willacy County, Texas, said mortgaged property, within ten days from date hereof, then the judgment herein rendered against said sureties shall be reduced by the sum of $450.00 herein found to be the present value of said mortgaged property and the balance, viz., the sum of $450.00, shall be collected as against said sureties, as in ordinary cases under execution." The sureties have appealed.

In answer to the first proposition assigned: The court may render judgment on a replevin bond against all the obligors on the bond for the value of the property replevied at the time of the execution of the replevin bond. The court having found the value of the property and the extent of the injury, a judgment was properly entered against the obligors upon such findings, jointly and severally, for all damages and injury to the mortgaged property after the date of the replevin and up to the time of trial, and the second proposition is overruled.

The third proposition is overruled, for whether pleading or...