Meador Bros. v. Hines

• Decision Date: 14 March 1914
• Parties: MEADOR BROS. et al. v. HINES.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

165 S.W. 915

MEADOR BROS. et al. v. HINES.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Amarillo.

March 14, 1914.

Rehearing Denied April 11, 1914.

Appeal from District Court, Potter County; Jas. N. Browning, Judge.

Consolidated actions by Florence L. Hines against Meador Bros. and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, the named defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.

See, also, 146 S. W. 289.

Davis & Davis, of Gainesville, R. E. Thomason, of El Paso, and Gustavus & Jackson, of Amarillo, for appellants. M. W. Stanton, of El Paso, Fiset, McClendon & Shelley, of Austin, and Lumpkin & Harrington, of Amarillo, for appellee.

HUFF, C. J.

On the 3d day of May, 1902, appellee, Florence L. Hines, then Florence L. Taylor, brought an action of trespass to try title for the seven sections of land in question, against J. W. Taylor, her then husband, and John Sparks. Taylor and Sparks thereafter interpleaded the appellant Meador Bros., who in answer to the appellee's petition, alleged that they had purchased the land from J. W. Taylor and John Sparks, in good faith for value, and without notice that Florence L. Hines, the then wife of Taylor, had or claimed an equity in the land. Appellee, in addition to the ordinary allegations of trespass to try title, set out at great length her equity in the land, and charged a fraudulent conspiracy on the part of Sparks and Taylor and others to defraud her of her rights. The case was brought on change of venue from Sherman county to Potter county, and tried at the March term thereof, 1913. The court submitted the case to the jury upon special issues, to which the jury returned answers in favor of the appellee, and judgment was rendered in accordance therewith, and from which appellants prosecute appeal.

This case has been before the Courts of Civil Appeals heretofore and the Supreme Court and is reported in 87 S. W. 740; 99 Tex. 411, 90 S. W. 485, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 381; 146 S. W. 289. The issues in the case will be found in those reports, and set out more in detail.

The jury in answer to the issues submitted to them returned a verdict, finding as facts substantially the following: That on or about the 15th day of September 1900, Mrs. Hines, then Taylor, was to raise $5,000 by mortgage upon her separate property in Toledo, Ohio, and that the money should be used by Taylor as a payment on his contract with J. F. Crosby and wife for the purchase of 30 sections of land in Sherman county, Tex. The seven sections of land in controversy were included in the 30 sections above named. Taylor and his wife, the appellee herein, entered into an agreement at the time of raising the $5,000 on plaintiff's property in Toledo, Ohio, to the effect that such money should be used by Taylor in first repaying himself the $1,000 he had paid for the option on the Crosby land, and the balance to be used as payments on said purchase of the 30 sections of land, and the title should be so taken as to require the signature of appellee, Mrs. Hines, and that it be in her name. That $4,000 of the money obtained upon the mortgage was applied direct to the payment of the land, and $1,000 was paid Taylor to reimburse him for the sum paid by him on the option from Crosby, and that Taylor used no other money in purchasing the land. The jury also found that appellee was to own the land and J. W. Taylor was to have only an undivided half interest in the profits, if any, to be derived from the sale of the land, after paying off the $5,000 secured by the Toledo, Ohio, property belonging to Mrs. Taylor. We think there is evidence in the record which will support the findings of the jury, and we would not feel justified in disturbing the verdict on that ground.

The parties agreed to the following facts, which are set out in the judgment of the court:

"(1) It is agreed that the 30 sections of land described in plaintiff's fourth amended original petition, and which include the seven sections of land which are involved in this suit, were, on the 10th day of July, A. D., 1876, together with other lands, patented by the state of Texas to J. F. Crosby, as assignee of the Texas New Orleans Railway Company, and that the same remained the property of said J. F. Crosby, or the said J. F. Crosby and his wife, until conveyance was afterwards made by Crosby and wife, as hereinafter agreed upon.

"(2) That thereafter, on the 16th day of June, 1900, while the said J. F. Crosby and wife, Josephine Crosby, were still the owners of said 30 section of land, they entered into a written contract with the said defendant J. W. Taylor by which they agreed to sell and convey the lands for the sum of 50 cents per acre or $9,600 in the aggregate; said Taylor paying at that time in cash the sum of $1,000, the balance to be paid within 60 days thereafter, but the time was afterwards extended by mutual agreement. That the said Taylor fully paid the balance due for said 30 sections of land prior to November 20, 1900, with the exception of $500, which was agreed to be reserved to cover whatever taxes might be due on the land, and that on November 20, 1900, said Crosby and wife executed to the said Taylor a general warranty deed, conveying said 30 sections of land; the deed to be introduced in evidence.

"(3) That said agreement of June 16, 1900, provided that a failure to pay the balance due of the original purchase money in the time provided for in said agreement should forfeit the $1,000 paid at the execution of said contract to the said Crosby and wife; the exact provisions will be shown by the evidence.

"(4) That J. W. Taylor, defendant herein, and the plaintiff, were legally married on June 28, 1900.

"(5) That on September 15, 1900, said defendant Taylor and plaintiff executed a mortgage upon plaintiff's separate real estate situated in Toledo, Ohio, and also executed two notes secured by said mortgage, one for the sum of $1,500, and the other for the sum of $3,500, and realized the sum of $5,000 therefrom, and same was turned over to said J. W. Taylor."

The law controlling the issues as above set out was discussed by the Supreme Court when this case was before that tribunal. Sparks v. Taylor, 99 Tex. 411, 90 S. W. 485, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 381. We feel that it is unnecessary, and that we are unable, to add anything further to what was said by the Supreme Court in this case. We, therefore, overrule the various assignments of the appellant calling in question the findings of the jury as to the equity of Mrs. Hines and the judgment of the court thereon.

The next question presented is whether Meador Bros. are purchasers in good faith for value and without notice of appellee's equity, as found by the jury. The parties, with reference to this branch of the case, entered into the following agreement, which is incorporated in the judgment:

"(6) That the said J. W. Taylor was in the year 1898 upon his voluntary petition, adjudged a bankrupt by the United States district court at El Paso, filed his schedule of assets and liabilities in said proceeding in accordance with the bankrupt law and rules, and that in said schedule he scheduled no assets, but scheduled liabilities aggregating about $40,000, and that John Sparks did not appear in his schedules as one of his creditors. The defendant reserves the right to object to this as material and a part of it as hearsay."

"(9) On the 15th day of February, 1902, the said Taylor through his duly authorized agent, C. F. Rudolph, entered into a contract in writing with the defendants T. S. and S. D. Meador, by which he agreed to execute to the said Meador Bros. a deed, with the usual covenants of warranty conveying said sections of land in controversy, for the price of $1.50 per acre, less 29 acres deducted on account of the right of way to said Rock Island Railroad over two of said sections, $100 of said purchase money being paid in cash by Meador Bros. to said Rudolph upon execution of said contract; and by said contract said Taylor was to furnish an abstract showing a good and perfect title, free from defects, to be approved by the attorneys selected by Meador Bros., and, upon said abstract being furnished and approved by said Meador Bros. bound themselves to send to the Lowden National Bank at El Paso, Tex., the sum of $5,659.27, in exchange, to be paid to said Taylor upon his depositing in said bank a warranty deed to said Meador Bros., in compliance with said contract, said sum being the amount of unpaid purchase money going to said Taylor; the remainder of said purchase money, less the sum of $49.14 taxes upon said land, assumed by the said Meador Bros. and less $22, expense of surveying, and the sum of $968.09, according to said agreement, to be paid direct to the said Rudolph, as commissions due him from said Taylor upon said sale. The terms of the instrument to be corrected by reference to the instrument itself."

"(11) That on February 22, 1902, said Rudolph, having completed the abstract of title to said seven sections sent to Meador Bros., at St. Jo, Tex., together with a prepared deed to said Meador Bros. to be signed by said Taylor for the approval of said Meador Bros. and their attorneys, and with said deed and abstract inclosed the following letter: `Stratford, Texas, February 25th, 1902. Lowden National Bank, El Paso, Texas— Gentlemen: Inclosed is a warranty deed to be executed by J. W. Taylor, conveying seven sections of land in Sherman county, to T. S. and S. D. Meador. Also inclosed is a bank draft, $5,659.27, in your favor which you are to transfer to the account or order of the said J. W. Taylor on his execution of said deed. The deed you will then transmit at once either to Meador Brothers, St. Jo, Texas, or to me at Stratford, Texas, for record, as the Meador Brothers may indicate below on this page as being their wish. The deed is purposely drawn by previous agreement of all parties to make the consideration read one dollar and fifty cents per acre. Very respectfully, C. F. Rudolph,...