Williams v. Tooke
| Decision Date | 18 March 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 9273.,9273. |
| Citation | 108 F.2d 758 |
| Parties | WILLIAMS et al. v. TOOKE et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
D. B. Chapin, of San Antonio, Tex., for appellants.
Grover Sellers and George S. Terry, both of Dallas, Tex., and Geo. M. Conner, T. R. James, and Joe Ewing Estes, all of Fort Worth, Tex., for appellees.
Before FOSTER, HUTCHESON, and McCORD, Circuit Judges.
This appeal is from a judgment dismissing a suit for want of jurisdiction. The suit is by Susie Williams and some 18 others against Allen Tooke and some 40 others. Many of the parties on both sides are citizens of Texas. Jurisdiction depends upon whether a substantial Federal question is properly presented for decision. The complaint is very lengthy, occupying, with exhibits, 153 pages of the printed transcript. However, the case as disclosed by the allegations of the complaint, may be somewhat briefly stated, as follows:
On March 14, 1917, B. F. Phillips conveyed to Porter Williams 102.26 acres of land out of the W. C. Wakeland Survey, situated in Gregg County, Texas. Williams paid $785 in cash out of his separate funds, and executed in further payment three promissory notes, payable in 1, 2 and 3 years, aggregating $800.00. The conveyance retained a vendor's lien securing the notes and provided for acceleration on default in payment of interest or principal.
Porter Williams died intestate on December 11, 1917. On November 6, 1918, Phillips filed suit in the District Court of Gregg County, Texas, against Susie Williams, his widow, and their eight minor children, as sole surviving heirs of Porter Williams, to foreclose his vendor's lien against the land. Susie Williams appeared by attorney and filed answer. A guardian ad litem was appointed by the court to represent the minors and filed answer for them. Judgment was entered in favor of Phillips. Execution issued. The land was sold by the sheriff to John T. Buckley, and on March 4, 1919, a deed was executed by the sheriff and delivered to him. Buckley immediately entered into possession of the land. On February 10, 1926, Allen Tooke acquired the land through mesne conveyances. Thereafter Tooke executed oil leases to various other parties named as defendants, the land was developed and large quantities of oil have been produced from it.
On November 14, 1933, about 15 years after the judgment of foreclosure, Susie Williams and her children filed suit in the 71st Judicial District Court for Gregg County against practically all the defendants in this case to cancel the judgment of foreclosure above referred to, on the grounds, among others, that the court was without jurisdiction because the petition failed to allege Porter Williams had died intestate and administration of his estate was unnecessary. The case was decided against plaintiffs and on appeal the judgment was affirmed by a Court of Civil Appeals, 116 S.W.2d 1114. An application to the Supreme Court of Texas for a writ of error was denied.
The complaint alleges numerous errors committed by the Texas courts dealing with the case and that...
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