Universal Credit Co. v. Ratliff

• Decision Date: 19 January 1933
• Docket Number: No. 1311.,1311.
• Citation: 57 S.W.2d 238
• Parties: UNIVERSAL CREDIT CO. v. RATLIFF.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

57 S.W.2d 238

UNIVERSAL CREDIT CO. v. RATLIFF.

No. 1311.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Waco.

January 19, 1933.

Appeal from District Court, Somervell County; O. B. McPherson, Judge.

Action by Giles Ratliff, administrator of the estate of D. R. Ratliff, deceased, against the Universal Credit Company. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Henry P. Edwards, of Dallas, for appellant.

Oxford & McMillan, of Stephenville, for appellee.

GALLAGHER, Chief Justice.

This appeal is prosecuted by Universal Credit Company, a corporation, from a judgment of the district court awarding a recovery against it in favor of Giles Ratliff in his capacity as administrator of the estate of D. R. Ratliff, deceased, of actual and exemplary damages for conversion of a Ford truck belonging to said estate. D. R. Ratliff, on August 1, 1931, purchased the truck involved in this case for the sum of $821.50. He paid $257.50 of the purchase price in cash, and agreed to pay the remainder in twelve monthly installments of $47 each, commencing September 1, 1931. He secured the payment of deferred installments by executing a so-called sales contract, which provided that title should not pass to him until all sums due thereunder were paid in cash; that maturity might be accelerated by the seller in various contingencies not necessary to recite; that in event of such acceleration, the seller might, without process or demand, enter any premises where said truck might be found, remove the same, and hold possession thereof without responsibility or liability. Broad powers of sale were also conferred on the seller by the terms of said instrument, and it was expressly stipulated therein that the rights of the seller thereunder should pass to his assignee. D. R. Ratliff paid the installments due on the 1st days of September and October, respectively. He died some time during the month of October. Appellee was duly appointed administrator of his estate, qualified as such January 11, 1932, and promptly returned an inventory of the property belonging thereto on the same day. Said truck was included therein. Appellee took actual possession of said truck. Shortly thereafter a representative of appellant called on appellee and demanded that he store said truck, and informed him that if he did not store it, he, the representative, would do so himself. Said representative then went to the residence of appellee, and, in his absence, seized said truck and started to remove the same. Appellee arrived before he had gotten the truck off the premises, and earnestly protested against such seizure and removal, but without avail. Said representative stored the truck in a garage at Glen Rose. Appellant thereafter, as assignee of said contract of purchase, presented to said administrator its claim for the balance due thereon, and for establishment of its lien on said truck. He rejected the same on the ground that appellant had converted the truck and had damaged the estate in a sum in excess of the amount due, as shown by said claim.

Appellee, in his capacity as administrator, then filed this suit against appellant, and alleged that the acts of appellant's representative in the premises constituted a conversion of said truck and sought to recover actual and exemplary damages therefor. Appellant alleged that it had taken peaceable possession of said truck, and stored the same to preserve its value pending administration on the estate of the deceased. It pleaded the terms of said contract of purchase in justification of its acts, and denied such conversion. It also pleaded its debt in reconvention, and sought recovery for the amount thereof, with foreclosure of lien.

The case was tried to a jury. Appellant, at the close of the testimony, requested an instructed verdict, which was refused. The case was then submitted on special issues. The jury found in response thereto, in substance, that:

(1) The reasonable market value of said truck was $500.

(2) The value of the use of said truck to appellee as administrator for the purpose of marketing farm products belonging to said estate was $100.

(3) Appellant's representative, in taking said truck from the possession of appellee, acted willfully and maliciously.

(4) Exemplary damages in the sum of $200 should be awarded.

The court deducted from the aggregate sums awarded appellee by the findings of the jury the amount of appellant's claim against the estate for unpaid purchase money for said truck, and rendered judgment in favor of appellee as such administrator, and for the benefit of said estate against appellant for the remainder in the sum of $259.50, together with costs of suit.

Opinion.

Appellant complains of the refusal of its request for a peremptory instruction. It contends in that connection that its action in seizing said truck and removing and storing the same was expressly authorized by the terms of the contract of purchase, as hereinbefore recited. Appellee insists that all authority to enforce the collection of the unpaid purchase money by summary action without resort to legal proceedings was revoked by the death of the purchaser, the appointment and qualification of appellee as administrator of his estate, and his possession of said truck under such appointment. Appellee further insists that the circumstances attending the seizure and removal of said truck raised an issue of whether such action constituted a "peaceable," as distinguished from an aggressive and hostile, taking. Appellee, as before shown, was in actual possession of the truck in his capacity as administrator of the estate of his father, to which estate said truck belonged. Appellant, as the holder of said contract of purchase, was, under the express terms of the statute, merely a creditor of said estate, with a chattel mortgage lien on the truck to secure its debt. Revised Statutes, art. 5489; Harling v. Creech, 88 Tex. 300, 301, 302, 31 S. W. 357; Milburn Mfg. Co. v. Peak, 89 Tex. 209, 211, 34 S. W. 102; Kuntz v. Spence (Tex. Civ. App.) 48 S.W.(2d) 413, 417, par. 3 (writ granted on other grounds). The collection of secured debts and the enforcement of liens on the incumbered property to satisfy the same are expressly provided for in our probate procedure. 14 Tex. Jur. p. 41, § 296, and authorities cited in notes thereto. As said, in substance, by our Supreme Court at an early day, the act of Providence which removed the debtor beyond the jurisdiction of earthly courts released his property from the active operation of mortgages and other liens, and transferred his estate, with its claims and liabilities, to a jurisdiction specially organized for the settlement thereof. McMiller v. Butler's Adm'x, 20 Tex. 402, 403, 405. Administrations upon the estates of deceased persons are controlled and regulated by the provisions of our statutes on that subject. Such provisions are very comprehensive. The rights of creditors as declared therein and the procedure prescribed for the enforcement of such rights are materially different from the procedure prescribed for the enforcement thereof in ordinary judicial proceedings. Article 3314 of our Revised Statutes, so far as applicable, provides, in substance, that when a person dies intestate, all his estate shall vest immediately in his heirs at law, but, with the exception of exempt property, shall be liable and subject in their hands to the payment of the debts of the intestate, and that upon the issuance of letters of administration, the administrator shall have the right to the possession of the estate as it existed at the death of the intestate, and shall hold such estate in trust, to be disposed of in accordance with law. Appellee, therefore, in taking possession of said truck, rightfully exercised authority specifically conferred upon him by the terms of said article. Morrell v. Hamlett (Tex. Civ. App.) 24 S.W.(2d) 531, 534, pars. 1 and 2. Our probate statutes not only provide that the administrator of an estate shall be entitled to the possession of all the property belonging thereto, but further provide for the sale of such property by him for the purpose of paying debts and charges, and the order in which the proceeds of such sales shall be applied. See especially, in this connection, Revised Statutes, articles 3533 to 3536, inclusive; 14 Tex. Jur., pp. 523 et seq., §§ 684 to 687, inclusive, and authorities cited in notes. Such statutory proceedings are wholly inconsistent with the contractual stipulations entered into by the decedent in his lifetime for the summary seizure and sale of the truck and the application of the proceeds of such sale, and the stipulations relied on by appellant were revoked and superseded by the administration on his estate. Whitmire v. May, 96 Tex. 317, 72 S. W. 375, 376; Low v. Felton, 84 Tex. 378, 385, 19 S. W. 693; 14 Tex. Jur. 525 et seq., § 685, and authorities cited in notes 12 and 13. Since the seizure of the truck by appellant was unauthorized, consideration of the circumstances attending such seizure is not necessary in disposing of appellant's contention that the court erred in refusing...