Turner v. Mullins

• Decision Date: 28 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2-04-160-CV.,2-04-160-CV.
• Citation: 162 S.W.3d 356
• Parties: E.G. "Gene" TURNER and James Burden, Appellant, v. Sidney R. MULLINS and Amaryllis G. Mullins, Appellees.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 356

162 S.W.3d 356

E.G. "Gene" TURNER and James Burden, Appellant, v. Sidney R. MULLINS and Amaryllis G. Mullins, Appellees.

No. 2-04-160-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

March 31, 2005.

Rehearing Overruled April 28, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Law Offices of Steven M. Williams and Joe B. Steimel, Wichita Falls, for Appellant.

Gibson, Hotchkiss, Roach & Davenport, Matthew D. Anderson, and John D. Rosentreter, Wichita Falls, for Appellees.

PANEL F: HOLMAN, GARDNER, and McCOY, JJ.

OPINION

BOB McCOY, Justice.

Island in the stream?

Is that where it belongs?

Is there water in between?

To whom does it belong?¹

I. Introduction

E.G. "Gene" Turner and James Burden ("Turner and Burden") appeal from the trial court's judgment establishing ownership of a tract of land (the "Disputed Land") in Sidney R. and Amaryllis G. Mullins (the "Mullinses"). In three issues, Turner and Burden complain that the trial court erred in finding and rendering judgment (1) that there exists no southern fork of the Red River in the vicinity of the Disputed Land, that the Disputed Land is not located in Cotton County, Oklahoma, and that the Disputed Land has accreted to the Mullinses' land in Wichita County, Texas; (2) that Turner and Burden did not acquire title to the Disputed Land by conveyance and Oklahoma's Simplification of Land Titles Statute; and (3) that Turner and Burden did not acquire title to the Disputed Land by adverse possession.² Because we hold that the Mullinses did not acquire all the Disputed Land by accretion and that the trial court must consider Oklahoma law in determining ownership of at least a portion of the Disputed Land, we will reverse and remand.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

This is an accretion case involving title to a tract of land located in or along the Red River between Burkburnett, Texas and Devol, Oklahoma. The Mullinses own a tract of land in Texas immediately south of the Disputed Land and claim title to the Disputed Land under the doctrine of accretion,³ that is, they claim that the Disputed Land is now attached to the Texas mainland property they own and is therefore their property. Turner and Burden argue that the Disputed Land is an island in the bed of the Red River and claim ownership by virtue of deeds filed in Cotton County, Oklahoma and an Oklahoma statute governing the simplification of land titles. Alternatively, Turner and Burden claim title to the Disputed Land by adverse possession.

The Mullinses filed suit against Turner and Burden on September 25, 2000. The case was tried to the bench on October 14 and 15, 2003. On March 31, 2004 the trial court entered a Final Judgment declaring that (1) the Mullinses are the fee simple owners of the Disputed Land, and (2) Turner and Burden have no right, title, or interest in the Disputed Land. The trial court later issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in support of its judgment.⁴

III. Accretion of the Disputed Land

In their first issue, Turner and Burden contend that the trial court erred when it found (1) that there exists no southern fork of the Red River separating the Disputed Land from the Mullinses' property, (2) that the Disputed Land is not located in Oklahoma, and (3) that the Disputed Land accreted to the Mullinses' land.⁵ Turner and Burden argue that a southern fork of the Red River separates the Disputed Land from the mainland, so the Disputed Land is an island in the bed of the Red River. Further, Turner and Burden assert that the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma lies along the south bank of this southern fork. Accordingly, Turner and Burden argue that because the Disputed Land is an island located north of this southern bank, the Disputed Land is in Oklahoma.

The Mullinses respond that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the trial court's findings. Specifically, the Mullinses contend that the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma, for purposes of title to the land, is the gradient boundary⁶ located along the south bank of the Red River, which here forms the northern boundary of the Disputed Land. Although the Mullinses acknowledge that a small portion of the Disputed Land was once an island in the bed of the Red River, they contend that the Red River has over time "deposited solid material, mud, sand, and sediment along [its] southern bank" so that the Disputed Land is no longer an island but is attached to the Texas mainland. Therefore, the Mullinses assert that because the gradient boundary of the river now lies north of the Disputed Land, the Disputed Land is located in Texas. Accordingly, the Mullinses argue that they have acquired the Disputed Land by accretion.

A. Standard of Review

Findings of fact entered in a case tried to the court have the same force and dignity as a jury's answers to jury questions. Anderson v. City of Seven Points, 806 S.W.2d 791, 794 (Tex.1991). The trial court's findings of fact are reviewable for legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support them by the same standards that are applied in reviewing evidence supporting a jury's answer. Ortiz v. Jones, 917 S.W.2d 770, 772 (Tex.1996); Catalina v. Blasdel, 881 S.W.2d 295, 297 (Tex.1994).

Because the Mullinses bore the burden of proof at trial, we will address Turner and Burden's legal sufficiency complaint as a "no evidence" issue and their factual sufficiency complaint as an "insufficient evidence" issue. See Gooch v. Am. Sling Co., 902 S.W.2d 181, 183-84 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1995, no writ) (applying "no evidence" standard when the party without the burden of proof challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence and "insufficient evidence" standard when the party without the burden of proof challenges the factual sufficiency).

In determining a "no-evidence" issue, we are to consider only the evidence and inferences that tend to support the finding and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Bradford v. Vento, 48 S.W.3d 749, 754 (Tex.2001); Cont'l Coffee Prods. Co. v. Cazarez, 937 S.W.2d 444, 450 (Tex.1996); In re King's Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660, 661 (1951). Anything more than a scintilla of evidence is legally sufficient to support the finding. Cazarez, 937 S.W.2d at 450; Leitch v. Hornsby, 935 S.W.2d 114, 118 (Tex.1996). More than a scintilla of evidence exists if the evidence furnishes some reasonable basis for differing conclusions by reasonable minds about the existence of a vital fact. Rocor Int'l, Inc. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co., 77 S.W.3d 253, 262 (Tex.2002).

An assertion that the evidence is "insufficient" to support a fact finding means that the evidence supporting the finding is so weak or the evidence to the contrary is so overwhelming that the answer should be set aside and a new trial ordered. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.1965). We are required to consider all of the evidence in the case in making this determination. Mar. Overseas Corp. v. Ellis, 971 S.W.2d 402, 406-07 (Tex.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1017, 119 S.Ct. 541, 142 L.Ed.2d 450 (1998).

B. Analysis

The Doctrine of Accretion

Accretion is the process of increasing real estate by the gradual and imperceptible disposition by water of solid material through the operation of natural causes so as to cause that to become dry land that was once before covered by water. Brainard, 12 S.W.3d at 17. On the other hand, erosion is the process of wearing away the land. Id. Generally, as with accretion, erosion occurs gradually and imperceptibly. Id. A riparian owner ordinarily gains title to land by accretion and loses title to land by erosion. Id.

Texas follows the general rule that when the location of the margin or bed of a body of water that constitutes the boundary of a tract of land is gradually and imperceptibly changed by accretion or erosion, the margin or bed of the body of water, as so changed, remains the boundary line of the tract, which is extended or restricted accordingly. Id.; see Hancock v. Moore, 135 Tex. 619, 146 S.W.2d 369, 370 (1941); Manry v. Robison, 122 Tex. 213, 56 S.W.2d 438, 443-44 (1932); Tyler v. Gonzales, 189 S.W.2d 519, 521-22 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1945, writ ref'd w.o.m.); Denny v. Cotton, 3 Tex.Civ.App. 634, 22 S.W. 122, 124 (1893, writ ref'd).⁷ Thus, a riparian owner acquires title to all additions or extensions to the land through accretion and loses title to portions of the land that are worn, washed away, or encroached upon by the water. See Brainard, 12 S.W.3d at 18. The rights of the riparian owner to additions to land by accretion are vested property rights. Id.

Title to an island arising in a river generally follows title to the bed of river in which it was formed. See Maufrais v. State, 142 Tex. 559, 180 S.W.2d 144, 150 (1944); City of Victoria v. Schott, 9 Tex.Civ.App. 332, 29 S.W. 681, 682 (1895, no writ). In navigable streams, the soil, and hence all islands formed upon it, belong to the sovereign. Schott, 29 S.W. at 682. In streams not navigable, the riparian proprietors own to the middle thread of the stream, unless, by necessary construction of their grants, their boundaries are restricted. Id. Upon formation, title to the island vests in the owner of the riverbed. Schott, 29 S.W. at 682; see Maufrais, 180 S.W.2d at 150.

Where ownership of the island and the mainland differ, and the island is later joined with the mainland through accretion, the owner of the mainland is not entitled to the island as an accretion because the island already existed as the property of another; it was not an imperceptible and gradual accretion to the mainland. See Schott, 29 S.W. at 682. It logically follows that where an island is later joined with the mainland through accretion, the owner of the island is entitled to accretions to the island, just as the owner of the mainland is entitled to accretions to the mainland. See id.; C.C. Marvel, Annotation, Applicability of Rules of Accretion and Reliction so as to Confer Upon Owner of...