Motor Truck Sales Co. v. Hauck

• Decision Date: 17 February 1965
• Docket Number: No. 14349,14349
• Citation: 388 S.W.2d 214
• Parties: MOTOR TRUCK SALES COMPANY, Appellant, v. W. B. HAUCK, Sheriff, et al., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 214

388 S.W.2d 214

MOTOR TRUCK SALES COMPANY, Appellant, v. W. B. HAUCK, Sheriff, et al., Appellees.

No. 14349.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

Feb. 17, 1965.

Rehearing Denied March 17, 1965.

Matthews, Nowlin, Macfarlane & Barrett, William H. Nowlin, San Antonio, for appellant.

Donald Peters, Houston, for appellees.

MURRAY, Chief Justice.

This suit was instituted in the District Court of Bexar County by Motor Truck Sales Company against W. B. Hauck, Sheriff of Bexar County, Bambeck Trust Estates, Lawyers Surety Corporation, and L. L. Barnes, doing business as Bottlers Service Company, to recover the sum of $1,687.44, for the alleged wrongful sequestration of one 1960 G.M.C. truck-tractor, Serial No. BA 5505-M1041G. The plea of privilege of Bambeck Trust Estates was granted and the cause as to it was severed and transferred to the District Court of Harris County, Texas. The cause as to the other defendants was heard before the court, and judgment was rendered in favor of Motor Truck Sales Company against L. L. Barnes, doing business as Bottlers Service Company, in the sum of $1,687.44, together with interest and attorney's fees; and further judgment was rendered that Motor Truck Sales Company take nothing as to W. B. Hauck, Sheriff, and Lawyers Surety Corporation, from which judgment Motor Truck Sales Company has prosecuted this appeal.

The facts are not disputed and are as follows: On December 31, 1962, General Truck Sales of Houston, Texas, delivered the G.M.C. truck-tractor here involved to L. L. Barnes under a conditional sales contract. A certificate of title was issued to Barnes, reciting a lien in the sum of $4,608.00 in favor of Bambeck Trust Estates. Thereafter on November 27, 1963, Bottlers Service Company delivered said G.M.C. truck-tractor to Motor Truck Sales Company, appellant herein, for the purpose of having certain reairs made. An order was signed by a duly authorized agent of Bottlers Service Company, but not by mortgagee, for this repair work, which order contained an express mechanic's lien to secure the amount of repairs. Appellant made the repairs to the G.M.C. truck-tractor, but has never been paid for this work, amounting to $1,687.44. On December 30, 1963, while Motor Truck Sales Company was holding in its possession the G.M.C. truck-tractor to secure its bill for making the repairs thereon, under its contractual and statutory lien, W. B. Hauck, Sheriff of Bexar County seized the vehicle and took it from the possession of appellant, under and by virtue of a writ of sequestration issued out of a lawsuit which was instituted on December 21, 1963, in the 164th District Court of Harris County, Texas, in which Bambeck Trust Estates was plaintiff, and L. L. Barnes, doing business as Bottlers Service Company, was defendant. Appellant was not a party to this suit and was a stranger to the writ of sequestration. It is appellant's contention that the seizing of this G.M.C. truck from its possession by virtue of this writ of sequestration was wrongful, and this suit was instituted for the purpose of recovering the damages which it suffered thereby.

At the trial, the certificate of title held by Barnes was introduced. It showed on its face that there was a lien against said truck in the sum of $4,680.00 in favor of Bambeck Trust Estates, and no other liens were shown in the certificate. The conditional sales contract was introduced in evidence which showed, among...