Lubbering v. Ellison

• Decision Date: 18 January 1961
• Docket Number: No. 13702,13702
• Citation: 342 S.W.2d 796
• Parties: Caroline LUBBERING, Administratrix, Appellant, v. N. O. ELLISON, Jr., Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 796

342 S.W.2d 796

Caroline LUBBERING, Administratrix, Appellant, v. N. O. ELLISON, Jr., Appellee.

No. 13702.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

Jan. 18, 1961.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 15, 1961.

Bruce Waitz, Leslie Bretz, San Antonio, for appellant.

Jack F. Ridgeway, San Antonio, for appellee.

BARROW, Justice.

This is a suit by appellant, Caroline Lubbering as administratrix of the estate of Emelia C. Ellison, deceased, against appellee N. O. Ellison, Jr. In her original petition, appellant alleged that on or about the 29th day of December, 1952, Emelia C. Ellison, deceased, verbally agreed to loan appellee, N. O. Ellison, Jr., the sum of $9,000; that he agreed to repay said loan on demand, and that the loan was evidenced by a certain check drawn on the Bexar County National Bank of San Antonio in said amount of $9,000, dated December, 1952.

Appellant filed her first amended petition on February 19, 1960, seeking recovery on the above alleged cause of action, and for the first time alleged, in the alternative, that on or about August 24, 1953, appellee arranged for the purchase of certain real estate and took title in the name of Emelia C. Ellison, now deceased; that said deceased, at the request of appellee, by check dated on said date, made the down payment in the sum of $5,283.41, and executed a note in the sum of $14,000 for the balance of the purchase price. That on or about January 5, 1954, also at the request of appellee and as a further loan to him, the deceased paid on said note the sum of $4,000, evidenced by her check of that date.

The court sustained appellee's special exception to appellant's alternative plea seeking recovery on the checks in the sums of $5,283.41 and $4,000, on the ground that recovery thereon was barred by the Statute of Limitation of two years at the time of the filing of the amended petition. The case, based alone on the December 29, 1952, check in the sum of $9,000, was tried to a jury, which found in answer to special issues, (1) that Mrs. Emelia C. Ellison did not make a loan to N. O. Ellison, Jr., on the 29th day of December, 1952, in the sum of $9,000; (2) that N. O. Ellison, Sr., did not make a gift to his wife, Emelia C. Ellison, of all his interest in the proceeds of the sale of their ranch property to the extent of $11,053.51, which she deposited in her bank account; and (3) that the $9,000 check in question was a return of sums deposited for safekeeping with Mrs. Emelia C. Ellison by N. O. Ellison, Jr. Judgment was accordingly rendered that appellant take nothing.

By her first point appellant contends that the court erred in sustaining appellee's plea of limitation to the alternative plea, 'because said alternative plea is not wholly based upon nor grew out of a distinct to different transaction or occurence, * * *.' We overrule the point.

Appellant does not contend that more than two years had not elapsed from the accrual of a cause of action on the matters alleged therein to the date of filing the alternative plea. Appellant's contention is that the alternative plea merely sets up new facts or grounds of liability on the sums cause of action alleged in the original petition, and that the filing of the original petition tolled the statute of limitation as to such new facts or grounds. This contention cannot be sustained.

Article 5539b, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stats., provides:

'Whenever any pleading is filed by any party to a suit embracing any cause of action, cross-action, counterclaim, or defense, and at the time of filing such pleading such cause of action, cross-action, counter-claim, or defense is not subject to a plea of limitation, no subsequent amendment or supplement changing any of the facts or grounds of liability or of defense shall be subject to a plea of limitation, provided such amendment or supplement is not wholly based upon and grows out of a new, distinct or different transaction and occurrence. * * *' (Emphasis added.)

In Phoenix Lumber Co. v. Houston Water Co., 94 Tex. 456, 61 S.W. 707, 709, the Supreme Court laid down the rule to be as follows in determining the question involved:

'It is not sufficient that the causes of action be similar in their nature, but they must be essentially identical. Four tests are laid down by which to determine the identity of causes of action: (1) Would a recovery had upon the original bar a recovery under the amended petition? (2) Would the same evidence wupport both of the pleading? (3) Is the measure of damages the same in each case? (4) Are the allegations of each subject to the same defenses?'

This rule was followed and applied in Hopper v. Hargrove, Tex.Civ.App., 154 S.W.2d 978, error refused.

The record clearly shows that the original suit was for the recovery of a loan made on or about December 29, 1952, evidenced by a check for $9,000, of the same date, whereas the action on the so-called alternative plea was for money paid on the purchase of a parcel of land on August 24, 1953, in the sum of $5,283.41, and a payment of $4,000 on the note executed in connection with said land purchase. The check for $5,283.41 was made payable to the seller of the land, and the $4,000 check was payable to the holder of the note. These were separate and distinct transactions. It is obvious that a recovery of the $9,000 debt, evidenced by the check dated the 29th day of December, 1952, would not be a recovery of the $9,283.41 debt upon the 1953 land transaction, evidenced by two checks payable to different persons. It is also obvious that the same evidence would not support both causes pleaded, nor would the measure of damages be the same in each case, nor would the allegations in each case be subject to the same defenses.

By her second point appellant contends that the court erred in overruling her objection to Special Issue No. 2 of the Charge of the Court. Her contention is that the issue should not have been submitted because 'there is no dispute but what N. O. Ellison, Sr., made a gift to his wife, Emelia C. Ellison, of all of his interest in and to the proceeds of the sale of their ranch property to the extent of $11,053.51.' Appellant apparently introduced evidence to show a gift of such funds which were deposited in the bank account of Emelia C. Ellison, in order to show that the $9,000 alleged to have been lent to N. O. Ellison, Jr., were her separate funds and estate rather than the community property of herself and her husband. This point presents no reversible error, even if error, for the reason that the jury having answered Special Issue No. 1, that the $9,000 check did not represent a loan to appellee, such finding precluded...