Vernon v. Perrien

• Decision Date: 19 December 2012
• Docket Number: No. 08–11–00079–CV.,08–11–00079–CV.
• Citation: 390 S.W.3d 47
• Parties: Jerry VERNON, Appellant. v. William PERRIEN and Roxanne Perrien, Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

390 S.W.3d 47

Jerry VERNON, Appellant.

v.William PERRIEN and Roxanne Perrien, Appellees.

No. 08–11–00079–CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

El Paso.

Oct. 24, 2012.

Rehearing Overruled Dec. 19, 2012.

James D. Lucas, El Paso, TX, for Appellant.

J. Morgan Broaddus III, Gordon Davis Johnson & Shane, P.C., El Paso, TX, for Appellees.

Before McCLURE, C.J., CHEW, C.J. (Senior) Sitting by Assignment, SALAS–MENDOZA, Judge.

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Chief Justice.

Jerry Vernon appeals from a judgment in favor of William and Roxanne Perrien. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

On May 5, 1992, Rene Vernon executed a warranty deed transferring title to certain real property to Raymond W. Shaw. The property is described as Tract Three–B–Thirty–Four (3–B34), W.F. Hagan Survey, No. 146, in El Paso County (the “Property”). On the same date, Ms. Vernon sent a letter to Judy Paul at 333 Holguin in Vinton, Texas, stating:

This letter is to inform you that tha [sic] property in which you reside, 333 Holguin, has been sold to Raymond W. Shaw. All future rents and negotiations should be presented to Mr. Shaw in care of Mrs. Vera Shaw, P.O. Box 6384, Lubbock, Texas, 79493.

On August 27, 1992, the 205th District Court of El Paso County, Texas, signed a judgment in cause number 92–7704 which was styled Judy Paul v. Rene M. Vernon and Vera Shaw. That judgment provided that Raymond W. Shaw was the rightful owner of the fee simple title to real property located in El Paso County. The property is described as Tract 3–B–34, W.F. Hagan Survey, No. 146, in El Paso County (the “Property”). On May 8, 2000, William Perrien and Roxanne Perrien purchased the Property from Raymond W. Shaw by a contract for deed. They did not conduct a title search. The purchase price for the Property was $25,000 and the Perriens made a $5,000 down payment. The land was worth $16,587 at the time of the sale and an old mobile home located on the property was valued at approximately $10,000. The Perriens paid the remainder they owed Shaw in 2006 and received a deed which they recorded.

The Perriens made significant improvements to the Property and paid back taxes from 1999 and 2000. They spent approximately $5,000 improving the mobile home but it was destroyed in 2006 by severe rains and flooding. The Perriens borrowed $80,000 and built a 3,800 square foot home themselves with the help of friends and family. In 2009, the land and home had a tax valuation of $16,588 and $69,209, respectively, but other evidence showed that the Property had a market value of approximately $125,000. The present dispute arose in 2007 when the Perriens decided to sell their home and move to California to care for Mrs. Perrien's parents. They agreed to sell the Property for $110,000 to Frederico Gonzalez but a title search revealed that Raymond Shaw had transferred a 90 percent interest in the Property to Mexada Corporation by a tenants in common warranty deed. The warranty deed was executed on June 8, 1992, approximately one month after Ms. Vernon transferred title to Shaw and more than two months before the trial court entered the 1992 judgment, but the deed was not recorded until August 1993. Mexada is a Nevada Corporation. According to records on file with Nevada's secretary of state, Jerry Vernon is the secretary and Rene Vernon is the president and director of Mexada. Rene is Jerry Vernon's daughter. Despite claiming ownership of a 90 percent interest in the property, Mexada and Vernon never occupied the real property, never paid any real property taxes or insurance, and never paid for any maintenance, repairs, improvements or utilities on the Property. On February 4, 2008, the Perriens filed a suit to quiet title against Mexada and they sought a declaratory judgment of their rights with respect to the Property. The Perriens sought attorney's fees under the Declaratory Judgments Act. They also alleged slander of title and asserted that Mexada is estopped from claiming ownership of the Property by virtue of the 1992 judgment under the principles of collateral estoppel and res judicata. The Perriens sought both compensatory and exemplary damages. Alternatively, the pleadings included a suit for partition.

On March 3, 2008, Ms. Vernon filed an answer on behalf of Mexada reflecting that she is the secretary of Mexada and Jerry Vernon is the president. On August 14, 2008, Mexada executed a quitclaim deed of its interest in the Property to Jerry Vernon. Vernon signed the quitclaim deed on behalf of Mexada as its president.¹ The Perriens amended their petition to add Vernon as a defendant. The amended petition included the claims found in the original petition but additionally alleged that the quitclaim deed had clouded title to the Property and it alleged that Mexada and Vernon were estopped under the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel from claiming ownership of the Property. The amended petition also added a cause of action for civil conspiracy. Following a non-jury trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the Perriens. The court entered a declaratory judgment that the Perriens are the rightful owners of 100 percent of the fee simple title to the Property. The court also ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the Perriens are the sole and rightful owners of 100 percent of the fee simple title to the Property as purchasers of the Property from Raymond W. Shaw and he was the rightful owner of 100 percent of the fee simple title to the Property by virtue of the 1992 judgment. The court ordered that both the June 8, 1992 deed and the quitclaim deed are discharged and removed as a cloud on the Perriens' title to the Property. The court awarded the Perriens compensatory damages in the amount of $12,000, exemplary damages in the amount of $12,000, and attorney's fees in the amount of $10,000. The trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law. Vernon filed notice of appeal but Mexada has not appealed.

SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION

In his first issue, Vernon complains that the judgment is void because the court adjudicated the land ownership dispute between the parties as a declaratory judgment when Texas law requires that disputes about ownership be litigated in a trespass-to-try-title action. Vernon contends that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and requests that the entire judgment be vacated and set aside. The Perriens have not directly addressed this issue in their brief.

The Perriens' first amended petition included a request for declaratory relief and also stated a quiet title claim. They did not expressly allege a trespass to quiet title claim. Vernon correctly states that a trespass to try title action is the exclusive method to adjudicate rival claims of title to real property. SeeTex.Prop.Code Ann. § 22.001 (West 2000)(“A trespass to try title action is the method of determining title to lands, tenements, or other real property.”); Martin v. Amerman, 133 S.W.3d 262, 267 (Tex.2004); ²Ramsey v. Grizzle, 313 S.W.3d 498, 503 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2010, no pet.). The prevailing party's remedy is title to, and possession of, the real property interest at issue. Teon Management, LLC v. Turquoise Bay Corporation, 357 S.W.3d 719, 723 (Tex.App.-Eastland 2012, no pet. h.). To maintain an action of trespass to try title, the person bringing the suit must have title to the land sought to be recovered. Ramsey, 313 S.W.3d at 505.Id. A plaintiff's right to recover depends on the strength of his or her own title, not the weaknesses of the title of his or her adversary. Id. In a trespass-to-try-title action, the plaintiff is required to prove its title by proving (1) a regular chain of title of conveyances from the sovereign to the plaintiff; (2) a superior title to that of the defendant out of a common source; (3) title by limitations; or (4) prior possession which has not been abandoned. Teon Management, 357 S.W.3d at 728.

The Declaratory Judgments Act does not alter a trial court's jurisdiction. See Texas Parks and Wildlife Department v. Sawyer Trust, 354 S.W.3d 384, 388 (Tex.2011). Rather, it is “merely a procedural device for deciding cases already within a court's jurisdiction.” Id., quoting Texas Association of Business v. Texas Air Control Board, 852 S.W.2d 440, 444 (Tex.1993). Even though a litigant couches its requested relief in terms of declaratory relief, the underlying nature of the suit is not altered. Sawyer Trust, 354 S.W.3d at 388. The DJA specifies the types of issues that can be resolved by a declaratory judgment proceeding. Section 37.004, titled “Subject Matter of Relief”, provides that a person interested under a deed may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the instrument and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations thereunder. Tex.Civ.Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 37.004(a) (West 2008).

In their first amended petition, the Perriens' specifically sought an adjudication of their rights as the owners of the Property, and requested that the June 8, 1992 deed and the quitclaim deed recorded on October 15, 2008 be declared null and void, that the Perriens be declared the legal and equitable owners of the Property, and that the cloud on their title be removed. By requesting declarations that the June 8, 1992 deed and the quitclaim deed are void and that the Perriens are the rightful owners of the Property, the Perriens effectively alleged a trespass to try title claim. See Parker v. Hunegnaw, 364 S.W.3d 398, 402 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2012, no pet.). We conclude that the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction of the Perriens' claims, including the trespass to try title and suit to quiet title. The inclusion of the requests for declaratory relief did not deprive the trial court of subject matter jurisdiction. See Teon Management, 357 S.W.3d at 726 (holding that the trial court does not lose jurisdiction if a title dispute is erroneously filed as a...