MacDonald v. Trammell
| Decision Date | 04 April 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. A-8749,A-8749 |
| Citation | 356 S.W.2d 143,163 Tex. 352 |
| Parties | George G. MacDONALD, Petitioner, v. Mary S. TRAMMELL, Respondent. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Small, Small & Craig, Austin, for petitioner.
Carter, Stiernberg, Skaggs & Koppel, Harlingen, L. Hamilton Lowe, Austin, for respondent.
Petitioner, MacDonald, a real estate broker, brought this suit against Mrs. Mary S. Trammell, a resident of Cameron County, respondent herein, and Ras Redwine, a resident of Travis County, for damages. The suit is based upon these allegations: That William L. Trammell, now deceased, orally contracted with MacDonald to pay him a commission for the sale of certain real property; that Mrs. Trammell, his widow, entered into a conspiracy with Redwine, the purchaser, to induce her husband to breach that contract; that as a result of that conspiracy Trammell was fraudulently induced to breach the contract.
Mrs. Trammell's plea of privilege to be sued in the county of her residence was sustained by the trial court and that order has been affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals, (351 S.W.2d 89), on the ground that no cause of action lies against one who induces the breach of an agreement which may not be enforced under the provisions of § 28, Art. 6573a, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes.
We granted the application on the basis of a conflict between this decision and that rendered by the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals in Yarber v. Iglehart, 264 S.W.2d 474 (1953), no writ history, and in Davis v. Freeman, 347 S.W.2d 650, no writ history (1961).
We are of the opinion that no cause of action can be successfully asserted against Mrs. Trammell for inducing her husband not to pay the commission nor for conspiring with another to bring about that result. Assuming, but not deciding, that the resident defendant, Redwine, could be held liable in damages for tortiously interfering with the performance of an unenforceable contract, it does not follow that there exists a joint cause of action against Redwine and Mrs. Trammell nor one for fraud on her part so as to fix venue as to Mrs. Trammell in Travis County by reason of Exceptions 4 or 7 of the general venue rule, Art. 1995, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes.
In the first place Mrs. Trammell had as much of a financial interest at stake in this matter as did her husband. The property involved was a part of their community estate and the alleged debt was a community obligation. Although the husband is vested with the management and control of the community estate, it would be rather anomalous to hold that she would subject herself in damages for advising and consulting with her husband in respect to their common interests. Secondly, we are of the opinion that to so hold would be against sound public policy. The case of Lee v. Silver, 262 App.Div. 149, 28 N.Y.S.2d 333, affirmed 287 N.Y. 575, 38 N.E.2d 233, cited by respondent is rather illuminating on this problem. In that case the mother was sued in damages for having wrongfully and maliciously induced her daughter to repudiate and breach a contract of employment. In holding that it would be against public policy to make a parent liable for advising a child the court said:
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Haralson v. E.F. Hutton Group, Inc.
...435 S.W.2d 854, 856-57 (Tex.1968); MacDonald v. Trammell, 351 S.W.2d 89, 92 (Tex.Civ.App.--Austin 1961), writ dism'd w.o.j., 163 Tex. 352, 356 S.W.2d 143 (1962). We understand the district court to have dismissed Hutton's conspiracy claim because Hutton produced insufficient evidence of col......
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Walker v. United States, 77-47-Civ-Oc.
...1001, 1006 (Tex.Civ.App.1949). That right, under Texas law, is a right mutually available to either spouse, McDonald v. Trammell, 163 Tex. 352, 356 S.W.2d 143, 145 (1962). There is, therefore, no question that plaintiff Julian Walker's wife, Geraldine Walker, could raise a claim under Texas......
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Bernard Johnson, Inc. v. Continental Constructors, Inc.
...alleged, vests in the plaintiff a right and imposes upon the defendant a corresponding duty which he has breached. MacDonald v. Trammell, 163 Tex. 352, 356 S.W.2d 143 (1962); Phoenix Lumber Co. v. Houston Water Co., 94 Tex. 456, 61 S.W. 707 (1901); Tex.R.Civ.P. 45, 47; 1 McDonald, Civil Pra......
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Dempsey-Tegeler & Co. v. Flowers
...against the non-resident defendant. Gough v. Fincher, 228 S.W.2d 541 (Tex.Civ.App.--Waco, 1950, no writ). Cf. MacDonald v. Trammell, 163 Tex. 352, 356 S.W.2d 143 (1962). Regardless of what might be said about the existence of a cause of action against the individual resident defendants, pla......