Wagner v. State

• Decision Date: 06 October 1948
• Docket Number: No. 11854.,11854.
• Citation: 217 S.W.2d 463
• Parties: WAGNER et al. v. STATE et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

217 S.W.2d 463

WAGNER et al. v. STATE et al.

No. 11854.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. San Antonio.

October 6, 1948.

Rehearing Denied November 10, 1948.

Writ Refused February 9, 1949.

Appeal from District Court, Zavalla County; Roger Thurmond, Judge.

Suit by State and others against L. Wagner and others, to have a judgment in a previous suit between parties set aside and held for naught because trial judge was disqualified to render such judgment because he had an interest in the subject matter of the suit. From a judgment for relators, defendants appeal.

Judgment reversed.

C. D. Jessup, of Houston, David R. White, of Uvalde, and Ralph W. Yarborough, of Austin, for appellants.

R. A. Taylor, Jr., of Crystal City, and Black & Stayton, of Austin, for appellees.

MURRAY, Justice.

On October 23, 1946, Hon. K. K. Woodley, District Judge of 38th District Court of Zavala County, Texas, rendered a judgment in Cause No. 3253, styled State ex rel. Crawford et al. v. Wagner et al., denying the relators all relief prayed for. An appeal was attempted from that judgment, but the appeal was dismissed, Tex.Civ.App., 203 S.W.2d 795.

This suit was a quo warranto proceeding, wherein it was sought to have the attempted organization of the Southwest Texas Joint County Junior College District declared a nullity and to have the trustees thereof enjoined from acting as such and from levying or collecting taxes.

The present suit was instituted by the State of Texas and Crawford, Davidson and Rutledge, the same relators as in the prior suit in the same District Court of Zavala County as Cause No. 3355, seeking to have the judgment theretofore rendered in Cause No. 3253 set aside and held for naught, because, it is contended, Judge K. K. Woodley was disqualified to render such judgment, in that he had an interest in the subject matter of the suit. Specifically, it is alleged that Judge Woodley owned property within the boundaries of the purported Junior College District that would be subject to taxation in the event the district was held to be a valid district. After judgment was rendered in Cause No. 3253 holding the district to be a valid district, Judge Woodley's property was assessed for taxes for the support and maintenance of the Junior College and he has paid this tax.

Hon. Roger Thurmond, Judge of the 63d Judicial District, presided at the trial in Cause No. 3355 and ruled that Judge Woodley was disqualified and therefore declared the judgment in Cause No. 3253 to be null and void, held same for naught, and set it aside. This appeal is from that judgment.

The qualification of Judge Woodley to render judgment in Cause No. 3253 is the question to be here decided.

On the principle that no one can be judge of his own cause, it is well settled that a judge is disqualified from acting in a cause where he has an interest in the subject matter of the suit. 48 C.J.S., Judges, § 78, page 1045. Our Constitution provides, Section 11, Art. 5, Vernon's Ann.St., "No judge shall sit in any case wherein he may be interested." A similar provision is contained in our statutes, Art. 15, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stats.

The interest of a judge, in order that he may be disqualified, must, in general, be a direct pecuniary or property interest in the subject matter of the litigation. A remote or problematic interest, or one merely in the legal question involved will not suffice. 48 C.J.S., Judges, § 79, page 1046, 25 Tex.Jur. p. 270, § 30.

Where a judge's pecuniary interests are not specially affected, a judge is not, by reason of being a taxpayer, disqualified from sitting in a case although he may have a merely incidental, remote, contingent or possible pecuniary interest in the subject matter of the suit. 25 Tex.Jur. p. 279, § 38.

In the instant case an attempt had been made to organize a three county junior college district and in the election to create the junior college district the trustees of the district were authorized to levy and collect taxes for the support and maintenance of the junior college. Judge Woodley was the owner of property located within the purported junior college district and this property would have been subject to a tax for the support and maintenance of the junior college, if, as and when the district was legally created.

The State and Relators in Cause No. 3253 instituted that suit in the form of a quo warranto proceeding to question the validity of the formation of the Southwest Texas Joint County Junior College District, and to enjoin the trustees thereof from levying or collecting any tax for the support and maintenance of the junior college. However, if the District was invalid and void, then the trustees would be without authority to levy and collect taxes or do anything else, and, on the other hand, if the District was a valid district, then there would be no reason to enjoin the trustees from levying and collecting taxes, as they would have a legal right to do so. In other words, the entire suit would stand or fall upon the question of the validity of the Junior College District. At the time Cause No. 3253 was tried taxes had been levied, but they had not been assesed against property in the purported Junior College District.

The trial judge found in his findings of fact, among other things, as follows:

"The Hon. K. K. Woodley, Judge of the Thirty-Eighth Judicial District of Texas, at the time he tried and rendered judgment in Cause No. 3253, had no different interest in the questions to be determined in Cause No. 3253, in the District Court of Zavala County, Texas, styled The State of Texas ex rel. R. S. Crawford et al., Relators, v. L. Wagner, et al., Respondents, from the interest of any other person owning property in the Counties of Real, Uvalde and Zavala, subject to taxation by said Junior College District, under the Order of the Board of Trustees of said District, dated June 26, 1946, levying a tax for the year 1946 for the support and maintenance of said Junior College District and for the construction and/or equipment and/or maintenance and/or purchase of school buildings and grounds for such District."

Appellants contend that Judge Woodley having no different interest in the quo warranto suit from the interest of any other person owning property in the Counties of Real, Uvalde and Zavala, subject to taxation by the Junior College District, he was not disqualified to hear and determine the cause. This contention is in keeping with the following cases: McFaddin v. Preston, 54 Tex. 403; Hubbard v....