AIC MANAGEMENT v. Crews

246 S.W.3d 640, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 362, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 64, 2008 WL 204501
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 2008
Docket05-0270
StatusPublished
Cited by94 cases

This text of 246 S.W.3d 640 (AIC MANAGEMENT v. Crews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AIC MANAGEMENT v. Crews, 246 S.W.3d 640, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 362, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 64, 2008 WL 204501 (Tex. 2008).

Opinions

Justice O’NEILL

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this condemnation proceeding, we must decide whether property descriptions in a series of quitclaim deeds transferred through constable’s sales were insufficient as a matter of law to identify the lands to be conveyed, and whether the trial court, a county civil court at law in Harris County, had jurisdiction to decide the issue. We hold that, pursuant to section 25.1032(c)(1) of the Texas Government Code, the county court had jurisdiction to decide issues of title arising out of the condemnation suit irrespective of the amount in controversy. We further hold that the property descriptions’ adequacy to permit location of the land conveyed cannot be conclusively determined on this record, and therefore summary judgment voiding the conveyances was improper. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Background

The parcel of land at the center of this dispute was originally part of a single, jointly owned, 24.36-acre tract described by metes and bounds and located in “the T.S. Roberts Survey, Abstract No. 659, Harris County, Texas.” In 1984, the tract was partitioned into two smaller tracts. Tract One, the 8.51-acre tract at issue in this case, was conveyed to Emma Crews, Valda Crews, and Eva Fay Gross (collectively “the Crewses”). Tract Two, comprising the remaining 15.85 acres, was conveyed to Andrew C. Brown.1 An exhibit to the partition deed described the Crewses’ [642]*642property by metes and bounds within “the T.S. Roberts Survey, Abstract No. 659, Harris County, Texas.”

In March 1989, the City of Houston sued the Crewses for unpaid ad valorem taxes for the years 1960 to 1989 on what the City described as a six-acre portion of the 8.51-acre tract.2 Harris County was joined as a party to the tax suit, but Aldine Independent School District, the other local taxing authority, was not. The tax-suit petition described the assessed property as follows:

Tract 12 being 6.0 acres out of T.S. Roberts Survey Abstract 659 situated in Harris County, Texas, as shown in file number J659372 of the deed and plat records of Harris County, Texas.

The file number corresponded to the Harris County clerk’s file number for the partition deed. The final judgment in the tax suit does not reference the partition deed, but orders the City and County to recover against the Crewses for taxes and other fees levied on “TR 12 AB 659 T.S. Roberts situated in Harris County,” and further orders the constable to seize and sell the property to satisfy the judgment.

Following the tax judgment, the constable attempted to sell the property at public auction. When there were no bidders, the City acquired the property through a constable’s deed in 1991. The constable’s deed references the tax suit and resulting judgment by cause number, and describes the property being conveyed as follows:

all of the estate, right, title and interest which the said Emma Crews, Valda Crews, and Eva Fay Gross had on the 5th day of February, 1991, or at any time afterwards, in and to the following land and premises, as described in said order of sale, viz:
TR 12 AB 659 T S Roberts * situated in Harris County, Texas

AIC Management purchased the land from the City at a subsequent public sale in 1997. The 1997 constable’s deed also references the tax suit and judgment and describes the property being conveyed to AIC as “all of the state [sic], right, title and interest” in “TR 12 AB 659 T S Roberts* situated in Harris County” that the City had acquired under the 1991 constable’s deed.

About three years after AIC acquired the land, the City decided to expand George Bush Intercontinental Airport and filed a condemnation suit on the entire 24.36-acre tract. In the multi-party condemnation proceedings that followed, both the Crewses and AIC claimed ownership of the 8.51-acre tract. The Crewses moved for summary judgment, contending they still held title under the 1984 partition deed because the property descriptions in both subsequent constable’s deeds were too vague to allow the property to be located on the ground and were thus insufficient to convey title. Aldine intervened to collect delinquent taxes on the property out of the condemnation proceeds, claiming it still held a superior tax lien because it was not made a party to the City’s 1989 tax suit. AIC cross-claimed against Al-dine, contending it had no liability for taxes that accrued prior to its acquisition of the property and that Aldine’s lien was extinguished when it failed to join the 1989 suit.

The trial court granted the Crewses’ motion for summary judgment, voided the constable’s deeds for insufficient property descriptions, and declared the Crewses the property’s sole owners. The court also [643]*643granted summary judgment in Aldine’s favor and dismissed AIC’s cross-claim because AIC had no interest in the property. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that the Crewses held superior title under the 1984 partition deed because the constable’s deeds contained insufficient descriptions to allow location of the property with reasonable certainty and therefore failed to convey title. 2005 WL 267667. We granted AIC’s petition for review to consider the sufficiency of the property descriptions contained in the constable’s deeds and the county court’s jurisdiction to decide the issue.

II. Jurisdiction

AIC contests the jurisdiction of the trial court, a county civil court at law in Harris County, to resolve what it characterizes as a title dispute. We consider this point first.

AIC’s argument concerns the interplay between the amount-in-controversy limitations of the general jurisdictional grant to statutory county courts,3 Tex. Gov’t Code § 25.0003, the exclusive jurisdictional grant to district courts for disputes involving title issues, Tex. PROp.Code § 21.002, and a more specific jurisdictional grant to statutory county courts in Harris County, Tex. Gov’t Code § 25.1032. Generally, the subject-matter jurisdiction of statutory county courts is limited to “cases in which the matter in controversy exceeds $500 but does not exceed $100,000.” Id. § 25.0003(c)(1). Without reference to amounts in controversy, the Texas Property Code requires a county court at law before which an eminent-domain proceeding is pending to transfer the case to the district court upon determining that the controversy involves “an issue of title.” Tex. PROp.Code § 21.002. Finally, section 25.1032 of the Government Code contains, in pertinent part, the following specific jurisdictional grant to Harris County civil courts at law:

(a) A county civil court at law in Harris County has jurisdiction over all civil matters and causes, original and appellate, prescribed by law for county courts
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(c) A county civil court at law has exclusive jurisdiction in Harris County of eminent domain proceedings, both statutory and inverse, regardless of the amount in controversy. In addition to other jurisdiction provided by law, a county civil court at law has jurisdiction to:
(1) decide the issue of title to real or personal property
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
246 S.W.3d 640, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 362, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 64, 2008 WL 204501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aic-management-v-crews-tex-2008.