Stockwell v. Parr

• Decision Date: 10 December 1958
• Docket Number: No. 13443,13443
• Citation: 319 S.W.2d 779
• Parties: J. P. STOCKWELL et al., Appellants, v. George B. PARR et al., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 779

319 S.W.2d 779

J. P. STOCKWELL et al., Appellants, v. George B. PARR et al., Appellees.

No. 13443.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

Dec. 10, 1958.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 31, 1958.

Sidney P. Chandler, Corpus Christi, Sam H. Burris, Alice, Walter P. Purcell, San Diego, for appellants.

Gerald Weatherly, Laredo, Werner A. Gohmert, Alice, Gordon Gibson, Laredo, for appellees.

BARROW, Justice.

This is an injunction proceeding, filed October 13, 1958, by J. P. Stockwell and Rafael Garcia, and by the State of Texas, acting by and through her District Attorney, Sam H. Burris, and County Attorney, Walter P. Purcell, by way of cross-action against George B. Parr and Amando Garcia, Jr., and against Daniel Tobin, Jr., Tomas H. Molina and Juan Leal, individually and as members of the Commissioners' Court of Duval County, Texas; said cross-action being brought in and ancillary to the consolidated causes Nos. 6351 and 6352, styled Amando Garcia, Jr. v. Daniel Tobin, Jr. et al., and George B. Parr v. Daniel Tobin, Jr., et al. Said cross-action sought a temporary injunction to restrain George B. Parr and Amando Garcia, Jr., from in any manner attempting to assume the duties of Sheriff and County Clerk, respectively, of Duval County, Texas, and to restrain Daniel Tobin, Jr., Tomas H. Molina and Juan Leal from attempting in any manner to seat or give to said Parr and Amando Garcia, Jr., said offices, pending a trial of the main suit, and to restrain them from paying out to Parr and Amando Garcia, Jr., any public funds of Duval County, Texas, pending the trial of the main consolidated suits and the determinaion therein of the right of title to the offices of Sheriff and County Clerk of Duval County, Texas.

The trial judge on October 13, 1958, granted an application for a temporary restraining order, and set the hearing on application for temporary injunction for October 16, 1958, at which time a hearing was had, and the trial court rendered judgment denying in all things a temporary injunction, except that Duval County, Texas, was enjoined from paying out any salary to either George B. Parr, as Sheriff of said County, or Amando Garcia, Jr., as County Clerk thereof. From that judgment J. P. Stockwell and Rafael Garcia have prosecuted this appeal. Stockwell and Rafael Garcia will hereafter be referred to as appellants, and Parr, Amando Garcia, Jr., and Tobin, Molina and Leal, both individually and as Commissioners, will be referred to as appellees.

Appellees Tobin, Molina and Leal, on behalf of themselves as individuals and on behalf of Duval County, Texas have filed an original motion in this Court asking that they be dismissed as parties to this appeal. It appears from the record that they appeared in the District Court, both in person and by attorney, and filed pleadings in opposition to the injunction sought, and are proper parties to this appeal. The motion is therefore overruled.

A statement of the history of this controversy is deemed necessary:

Originally, Amando Garcia, Jr., brought suit against Daniel Tobin, Jr., County Judge of Duval County, and the then four County Commissioners of that County, seeking, among other things, a writ of mandamus requiring the defendants to issue to him a certificate showing that he was elected to the office of County Clerk of Duval County at the General Election in November, 1956, at which election he received practically all the votes. On January 1, 1957, Refael Garcia qualified as County Clerk of Duval County, under an appointment by the Commissioners' Court of that County, which had declared the office vacant, and thereafter this became a suit between Amando Garcia, Jr., and Rafael Garcia for the office of County Clerk of Duval County.

Likewise, George B. Parr originally brought a suit against Daniel Tobin, Jr., and the County Commissioners, seeking, among other things, a writ of mandamus requiring the defendants to issue to him a certificate showing that he was elected to the office of Sheriff of Duval County at the General Election in November, 1956, at which he received a substantial majority of the votes. On January 1, 1957, J. P. Stockwell qualified as Sheriff of Duval County under an appointment by the Commissioners' Court of Duval County, which had declared the office vacant, and thereafter that cause became a suit between George B. Parr and J. P. Stockwell for the office of Sheriff of Duval County. These two cases were consolidated by the trial court with a third suit filed by Felipe Valerio, Jr., against Daniel Tobin, Jr., and others. The Valerio case is not involved in this appeal and will not be further mentioned.

'Ultimately, Amando Garcia, Jr., and George B. Parr filed motions for summary judgment, and the defendants also filed a motion for summary judgment. The trial court denied the motions of Amando Garcia, Jr., and George B. Parr, but granted the motion of defendants, and rendered judgment that George B. Parr and Amando Garcia, Jr., take nothing, from which judgment they prosecuted an appeal.

'The ground upon which defendants were awarded a summary judgment in the trial court was that Amando Garcia, Jr., and George B. Parr were ineligible to hold the offices of County Clerk and Sheriff, respectively, under the provisions of Article III, Section 20, of our State Constitution, Vernon's Ann.St. That section reads as follows:

'No person who at any time may have been a collector of taxes, or who may have been otherwise entrusted with public money, shall be eligible to the Legislature, or to any office of profit or trust under the State government, until he shall have obtained a discharge for the amount of such collections, or for all public moneys with which he may have been entrusted.'

'The Court of Civil Appeals (Garcia v. Tobin, 307 S.W.2d 836), opinion by Chief Justice Murray, reversed and remanded the case for trial in the District Court on the ground that the constitutional provision presupposes that there has been a prior judicial determination or admission of the entrustment of public money and a failure to obtain a discharge therefor.

'Both parties filed applications for writ of error, which were granted by the Supreme Court. That Court, as we understand the opinion, held that such previous conviction or admission was not a necessary finding, and in that connection said :

'Assuming that the Commissioners' Court exceeded its authority in refusing to issue certificates of election to the plaintiffs, that is not determinative of this case. As the case developed, it was a suit by Amando Garcia, Jr., and George B. Parr against Rafael Garcia and J. P. Stockwell for the title to the offices of County Clerk and Sheriff, respectively, and in order to prevail in that suit it was incumbent upon them to show themselves to be duly elected, qualified and eligible to hold the offices which they sought. If it is shown on the trial that they have failed to be discharged of money entrusted to them, they will not have shown themselves eligible and entitled to the offices. We do not agree with the ground upon which the Court of Civil Appeals based its decision.'

'The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals, reversing and remanding the case to the District Court, but ordered that upon a trial of the merits the court be guided by the opinion of the Supreme Court. Thereafter the Supreme Court duly issued its mandate that the trial proceed in the District Court in accordance with the opinion of the Supreme Court.

Thereafter, on October 13, 1958, the appellees, Daniel Tobin, Jr., Tomas H. Molina and Juan Leal, notwithstanding the opinion and mandate of the Supreme Court, and notwithstanding the case had at that time been set for trial in the District Court, entered an order purporting to be the order of the Commissioners' Court of Duval County, declaring that in and by the General Election of 1956 appellees Amando Garcia, Jr., and George B. Parr were duly qualified and eligible candidates for the offices of County Clerk and Sheriff, respectively, of Duval County, and in said election were duly elected and eligible and qualified for the offices of County Clerk and Sheriff, respectively, of Duval County, and were entitled to immediate possession of said offices and their salaries,...