Sparks v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 02 April 1905
• Citation: 87 S.W. 740
• Parties: SPARKS et al. v. TAYLOR.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

87 S.W. 740

SPARKS et al. v. TAYLOR.^*

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

April 12, 1905. On Rehearing, May 31, 1905.

Appeal from District Court, Sherman County; Ira Webster, Judge.

Action by Florence L. Taylor against John Sparks and others. From a decree in favor of plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Turner & Boyce and Davis & Garrett, for appellants. M. W. Stanton and Hallam & Neill, for appellee.

FLY, J.

This is a suit instituted by appellee against John Sparks, James W. Taylor, T. S. Meador, and S. D. Meador to recover seven sections of land. Thirty pages of the transcript are devoted to the petition, but when its voluminous allegations are condensed they amount to a charge that appellee had been married to James W. Taylor; that she, at his instigation, had mortgaged her separate property in Ohio to raise money to be invested in lands in Texas, the conveyances to which were to be taken in her name; that he had bought 30 sections of land with her money, and had paid her money to the vendors; that she had agreed to pay Taylor one-half the profits realized from the land trade; that the conveyances to the land had been taken in the name of Taylor, and that he had fraudulently sold all the land except the seven sections sued for, and had used the proceeds for his own benefit. She further alleged that Taylor had fraudulently attempted to sell the seven sections to Sparks and to the Meadors in order to deprive her of it, and that Sparks was cognizant of, and a party to, the fraud. It was also alleged that the Meadors were fully apprised of the fraudulent design of Taylor and Sparks. Sparks and Taylor answered by general and special exceptions and general denials and pleas of not guilty. In addition to a plea of not guilty, the Meadors pleaded purchase of the land in good faith from Rudolph, an agent of J. W. Taylor, and that the deed to Sparks was executed by Taylor with the understanding that Sparks should convey it to them, and that the purchase money was paid by them to Sparks, who sent a deed to the land to the Lowdon National Bank of El Paso, Tex., but that the same had never been delivered to the said Meadors. They prayed for judgment against Sparks in case it was held that they were not entitled to the land. In a supplemental answer it was alleged that the deed had been delivered to the Meadors and the same had been recorded. The cause was tried by jury, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for appellee for the land and in favor of the Meadors against Taylor for $5,659.27, with interest. All of the defendants have appealed.

The evidence showed that James W. Taylor went to Toledo, Ohio, where appellee, his wife, was staying, and induced her to mortgage her separate estate to raise $5,000, which he agreed to invest for her in 30 sections of land in Sherman county, Tex. The money was raised and placed at his disposal. Four thousand dollars was paid on the land by J. W. Taylor, the other $1,000 being appropriated by him, he having paid $1,000 of his own money on the land. It had been agreed between Taylor and wife that the deed to the land should be taken in her name, and a portion of the land should be sold to pay off the remaining part of the purchase money. Taylor sold all the land except seven sections, a part of the proceeds being used to pay the balance of the purchase money, and the balance being appropriated by Taylor to his own use and benefit. Appellee has not received anything from the land. On March 1, 1902, appellee filed a suit for divorce against J. W. Taylor, and applied for and obtained an injunction to restrain him from selling seven sections of land. Before the injunction could be served Taylor executed a deed to Sparks, who resided in Nevada, to the land. Sparks knew nothing of the deed being executed until some time afterward. Sparks paid nothing for the land, and was not an innocent purchaser. The only consideration claimed by Sparks to have been paid to Taylor was that Taylor had owed him a debt of some 18 years' standing; Taylor having been through proceedings in bankruptcy in the meantime, and discharged from all of his pecuniary obligations. In the latter part of February, 1902, before Taylor had executed the deed to Sparks, Rudolph, an agent of Taylor, entered into a contract of sale of the land to Meador Bros., in pursuance of which a draft for the purchase money had been given to Rudolph by Meador Bros., and was sent by him, with a deed to be signed by Taylor, to the Lowdon National Bank at El Paso, Tex. The draft was to be given to Taylor when the deed was signed. On April 18, 1902, John Sparks, at Reno, Nev., executed a deed to Meador Bros., conveying to them the seven sections of land in controversy. That deed was sent to the Lowdon National Bank at El Paso, Tex. The money collected on the draft given by Meador Bros. to Taylor was paid to Sparks some time after May 9, 1902. Before that time Meador Bros., had full notice of the suit filed by appellee, and knew that she was claiming the land as her separate property; but no effort was made to stop payment of the money to Sparks, although payment could, by the exercise of diligence, have been stopped by the Meadors. They claimed to have deposited the check with the Lowden National Bank. The circumstances surrounding the holding of the check by the bank, and the transfer of the land to Sparks were sufficient to put Meador Bros. upon inquiry even before they were fully acquainted with all the facts.

The first assignment of error of the Meadors is that the court erred in not instructing a verdict for them, and is fully met by the conclusions of fact. It is claimed by Meador Bros. that the visit of S. D. Meador to Sherman county, where he learned all about appellee's claim to the land, was made about May 15, 1902; but S. D. Meador said it was a few days after April 28th, and was between the 1st and 10th of May. The money was paid to Sparks after May 9th. He went back to his home in Montague county before he made any effort to stop payment of the money. The purchase by Meador Bros. from Sparks was not made, if at all, until after April 28, 1902. The 30 sections of land was purchased for appellee, and she paid $5,000 on it that she had obtained through a loan on her separate property. James W. Taylor paid $1,000 on the land, but he reimbursed himself for it out of appellee's money. He did not pay a dollar of his own money on the land, but, on the other hand, sold 23 sections of the land, and appropriated a large part of the proceeds. Meador Bros. were in possession of facts that precluded them from being innocent purchasers of the land from Sparks. The court did not err in his charge to the jury, and properly refused the special charge asked by the Meadors. The issue of their good faith in purchasing the land was fairly submitted to the jury, and decided against them on sufficient testimony.

At the time that J. W. Taylor got the money from appellee to be used in the purchase of the land he had not purchased the land, but merely held an option on it. He reimbursed himself for the money he had paid for the option out of appellee's separate property. The facts in this case do not bring it within the scope of the decision in Torrey v. Cameron, 73 Tex. 583, 11 S. W. 840, in which the land had been purchased by the husband, and he had paid $1,000 on it, and had drawn drafts for $1,650, which he requested his wife to pay. It is clear that the money was loaned by the wife to the husband, and therefore that the "relation of debtor...