Methodist Episcopal Church South v. Clifton

• Decision Date: 27 January 1904
• Parties: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH et al. v. CLIFTON et al.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

78 S.W. 732

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH et al. v. CLIFTON et al.^*

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

January 27, 1904.

Appeal from District Court, McLennan County; Sam R. Scott, Judge.

Action by W. R. Clifton and others against the Methodist Episcopal Church South and others. From a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, defendants appeal. Reversed.

Boynton & Boynton, for appellants. Clark & Bolinger and Geo. W. Barcus, for appellees.

STREETMAN, J.

W. R. Clifton, D. R. Gurley, Mrs. S. A. Bell, as independent executrix of the estate of J. D. Bell, deceased, Eugene Williams, and Bart Moore brought this suit against the Methodist Episcopal Church South, a voluntary association, whose membership is too numerous to be herein sued; Granbury College, a voluntary association, of which John Hanley, John D. Baker, and D. L. Nutt are trustees, its members and trustees being too numerous to be herein sued; Clarendon College, Weatherford College, Polytechnic College, and Southwestern University, duly incorporated corporations; and M. S. Hotchkiss, J. R. Nelson, B. R. Bolton, W. D. Jackson, and T. P. Sparks, as members of said church.

Plaintiffs alleged that certain individuals named in the petition were members and local agents representing said corporations and associations in various counties named, and were representative members of said church and said Granbury College, as voluntary associations, and hold title to the property therein described as members and trustees of said voluntary associations.

Plaintiffs alleged that in November, 1888 said church, acting by Northwest Texas Conference, composed of the persons named in the petition and others, duly authorized by said church, appointed plaintiffs trustees of the Waco Female College, and authorized plaintiffs, with others, as general agents of defendants, to build a new college building in or near Waco, Tex., for the Waco Female College. That by virtue of said authority, plaintiffs undertook the work of erecting said building, and in conducting the same (being authorized so to do by said church and its codefendants), on or about April 1, 1899, contracted indebtedness aggregating $17,500; this indebtedness being represented by promissory notes signed by plaintiffs, payable to various banks and persons, and bearing interest at 10 per cent. per annum. That the money, labor, and materials received for said notes were devoted to the erection of the new college building. That said building was accepted by said defendants as the property of said church, and said defendants, with full knowledge of all the facts, including said indebtedness, ratified and confirmed all the acts of the plaintiffs in the erection of said new building and the contracting of said indebtedness. That, in all matter relating to said debt, plaintiffs were sureties and defendants were principals. That said indebtedness was from time to time extended by giving renewal notes, remaining the debt of defendants, until about January 1, 1900, at and before which time judgments were obtained on notes given therefor by the plaintiffs, and said creditors now look alone to plaintiffs. That thereby said church and its codefendants, as members of the church and holding its assets, became bound to pay plaintiffs $17,500, with 10 per cent. per annum interest from April 1, 1899, that being the amount so assumed and paid by plaintiffs to said creditors.

Plaintiffs further allege that said church and its codefendants for more than 15 years have been engaged in religious and educational work, accumulating money and property for such purposes, and said corporations and associations have acquired the following real estate: (Then follows a description of certain lots and tracts in McLennan county, and the campus properties of the various educational institutions made defendants.) Said real estate is alleged to be of the reasonable market value of $200,000.

Plaintiffs further alleged that all of said property has been acquired for the use and benefit of said church, and is held by the codefendants of said church solely for its use and benefit, the equitable and beneficial title being vested in said church as a voluntary association. That said total property of said church aggregates more than $1,000,000, and that plaintiffs have from time to time made donations to said church of money, time, and labor, and in said new college enterprise, as agents of said church by appointment of Northwest Texas Conference, secured a campus and building of the reasonable value of $105,000, charged with a debt of $30,000, in addition to the debt herein sued upon, and said defendants failed and refused to assist in discharging same, and allowed said property to be lost to said church under execution sale, and without fault upon the part of plaintiffs. That said church holds no property in its own name, and all the property of the church is held by corporations or boards of trustees for its use. That, for a valuable consideration, all members of said church have agreed that all obligations contracted by its agents in good faith for its use and benefit shall be discharged by the church, and thereby all the property of said church is charged with an equitable lien for the payment of the debt sued on, and that there is no adequate remedy at law.

Plaintiffs pray for judgment against said church, and said corporations, associations, and individuals as members of said church, and that said judgment be charged as a lien on said described real estate, and for foreclosure and order of sale and execution against the church, to be levied on any property held for its use and benefit, or owned by said church, and for general and special relief.

The petition of appellees might be construed as an effort to obtain a simple judgment against the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the judgment rendered, in some respects, can hardly be distinguished from an ordinary judgment at law for debt; but appellees in their brief state that they sued in equity to charge upon the property of appellant the indebtedness incurred by them as agents of the church in its educational extension work. The answer of appellant was, in our opinion, sufficient to raise the questions discussed in this opinion.

Special issues were submitted to the jury, and upon their answers thereto a judgment was rendered. After setting out the special issues and the answers of the jury, the judgment recites that it appears that W. R. Clifton, Bart Moore, D. R. Gurley, J. D. Bell, and Eugene Williams were, previous to 1890, appointed by the Methodist Episcopal Church South its agents, with power and authority to erect a new building for one of its educational institutions, then known as the Waco Female College, and that, in performing the work of erecting such building, said agents borrowed and advanced during said year the sum of $17,300, and continuously since have paid or been held personally responsible for interest thereon, aggregating the further sum of $20,489.72; that, after borrowing the amount, the same was expended in erecting and completing said building; that in 1892 said church, through the Northwest Texas Conference, was notified that said agents had created an indebtedness, of which the amount so borrowed and expended by said agents was a part, and, after such notice, ratified the acts of said agents in creating said indebtedness, and claimed said building to be the property of said church, and thereby became responsible to plaintiffs for said amount and interest; and it being expressly adjudicated, as against all parties to the suit, that said church is a voluntary association, and that a sufficient number of its members have been made parties and have answered for its protection, and that the titles to the properties described herein in the plaintiffs' petition are held in trust by the respective trustees, in whom said titles are vested, for the use and benefit of said church, and that said church owns the equitable titles thereto, and said titles and said properties are subject to execution for the payment of said indebtedness, said properties being described as follows: (Then follows a particular description of two parcels of land in Waco, Tex., one of which the judgment says is the "New Austin Street Methodist Church property," and the other "the church and parsonage, being the 5th Street Methodist Church property.")

Then the judgment continues as follows: "And it further appearing to the court that the plaintiffs are entitled to their debt and interest, as damages, aggregating thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine and 72/100 ($37,789.72) dollars, together with issuance of execution therefor, to be levied upon the property of said church within the jurisdiction of the N. W. Texas Conference of said church, excepting therefrom the following described property, to wit: [Here follows description of real estate belonging to Granbury, Weatherford, Polytechnic, and Clarendon Colleges and Southwestern University.] Now, therefore, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the plaintiffs, W. R. Clifton, Bart Moore, D. R. Gurley, Eugene Williams, Mrs. S. A. Bell, legal representative of the estate of J. D. Bell, deceased, do have and recover of and from the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Board of Trustees of Waco Female College, a duly incorporated corporation, and of J. R. Nelson, R. O. Rounsavall, L. B. Black, Sam P. Wright, W. D. Jackson, H. A. Borland, G. W. Wyatt, John Hanley, John D. Baker, D. L. Nutt, M. S. Hotchkiss, B. R. Bolton, W. D. Jackson, T. P. Sparks, J. D. Stocking, C. A. Burton, T....