Kean & Crofford Co. v. City of Dallas

• Decision Date: 21 October 1922
• Docket Number: (No. 8871.)
• Parties: KEAN & CROFFORD CO. v. CITY OF DALLAS.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

244 S.W. 655

KEAN & CROFFORD CO. v. CITY OF DALLAS.

(No. 8871.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Dallas.

October 21, 1922.

Appeal from District Court, Dallas County; Royall R. Watkins, Special Judge.

Petition by the Kean & Crofford Company for an injunction direct to the City of Dallas. From a judgment dissolving a restraining order and sustaining a general demurrer to petition, petitioner appeals. Affirmed.

Read, Laurance & Bates, of Dallas, for appellant.

J. J. Collins, Allen Charlton, Carl B. Callaway, Leake & Henry, E. B. Perkins, and Burgess, Burgess, Sadler-Christman & Brundidge, all of Dallas, for appellee.

HAMILTON, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment dissolving a restraining order issued at the instance of appellant against appellee, its agents, officers, and employés, and sustaining a general demurrer to the petition for injunction, which action resulted in the dismissal of the suit.

The first proposition with which this court is called upon to deal is that of whether or not the petition in the case is sufficient to sustain a decree of injunction. The view we hold upon this feature renders it unnecessary for us to proceed beyond this question to the consideration of any other point presented.

The allegations of the petition are as follows:

"On to wit, May 15, 1922, and prior thereto and at the present time, the plaintiff was and is the owner in fee simple of a lot in the city of Dallas, Tex., located at the southwest corner of Peak street and Gaston avenue, fronting about 65 feet on Peak street and running back along Gaston avenue for a depth of about 140 feet. Prior to May 15, 1922, the plaintiff applied to the mayor and board of commissioners of the city of Dallas for a permit to erect a three-story building on said lot, declaring that the first story of said building was to be used for store houses for the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise and that the second and third stories were to be made into rooms and apartments for living purposes. On May 15, 1922, the mayor and board of commissioners of the city of Dallas refused plaintiff's permit for the erection of said building.

"Said lot, if used strictly for residence purposes, is not worth more than $7,500, but improved and used for the purposes designed by the plaintiff, it is worth $25,000, and the plaintiff has already leased a part of the space on the ground floor of its proposed building to be used for the sale of groceries for the term of five years for a rental of $7,500, and plaintiff will be able to lease the balance of said building on very profitable terms.

"If plaintiff is not permitted to begin the erection of said building at once, it will lose the valuable lease already executed, and will be seriously damaged in being deprived of the rents, revenues, and profits which it expects to derive from said building.

"The action of...