Albers v. Saenger

222 S.W.2d 409, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2047
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 6, 1949
DocketNo. 9810
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 222 S.W.2d 409 (Albers v. Saenger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Albers v. Saenger, 222 S.W.2d 409, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2047 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

ARCHER, Chief Justice.

This appeal in the first instance raises the question, as a matter of law, of the effectiveness of the conveyance on December 5, 1932, by E. G. Albers and wife to Willie Saenger of a tract of land in Lee County, Texas, on which the grantors resided as their homestead; and, in the second instance, of the sufficiency of an oral agreement to extend the notes created in the deed, which, except for the oral agreement, would have been barred by the stat[410]*410ute of limitation. The case was tried with the aid of a jury and, upon issues submitted by the trial court, the jury made answers favorable to the cross-plaintiff therein, and, on which verdict, the court rendered judgment for the cross-plaintiff for $4,393.21, and for foreclosure of the vendor’s lien; and from this judgment and orders overruling motions for judgment and for new trial the cross-defendants have perfected an appeal to this court. The Albers instituted a trespass to try title suit to remove the cloud cast on their title to the land described in the deed, and Saenger, in answer thereto and by way of cross-action, sought a foreclosure of his lien, with the results as herein set out.

The appellants assign as error fifteen points, and present them in six groups.

By assignments Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 complaint is made of the action of the court in rendering judgment on the notes, and say that the evidence was insufficient to show a valid renewal of the notes and lien, and not sufficient to support an affirmative answer to special issue No. 4, and that as a matter of law the pleadings and evidence were not such as would constitute a valid extension agreement of the notes sued on, and that there was no valid consideration to extend the time of payment of the notes.

Special issue No. 1 inquired of the jury if an agreement was had between the Al-bers and Saenger to convey the land unconditionally, and the jury answered, “Yes”; by issue No. 2, conditioned on an affirmative answer to No. 1, inquiry was made if there was a subsequent agreement to convey the land and retain a lien to secure the purchase price, and the jury found that there was such an agreement; and by No. 3 the jury was asked if the deeds and notes were executed to carry out the agreements, and to this the jury answered, “Yes”; by special issue No. 4 the jury was asked if the notes and lien were extended on December 4, 1946, for one year by agreement of the parties, and the answer was “Yes”.

On and prior to December 5, 1932, Al-bers owed Saenger about $1,300, and on December S, 1932, the date of the execution of the deeds, Saenger purchased the land from the Albers outright for a consideration of $2,100, which was made up of the prior indebtedness and seven or eight hundred dollars in cash.

In the deed to the Albers from Saenger the consideration was recited as $2,900 cash and the execution of nine notes aggregating $2,100, and payable annually on December 5, 1934 to and including December 5, 1942, and bearing 5% interest, providing for 10% attorney’s fees, with usual maturity clause in case of default in payment.

These deeds were executed the same day and recorded on the same day.

The appellants allege that the deeds were not bona fide but only simulated and for the purpose of creating a mortgage or lien on their homestead for a preexisting debt.

By answer to issue No. S the jury found that it was not a simulated sale.

There is no question but that the land described in the deeds was the homestead of the Albers and that they were actually residing on it. The testimony of Mr. Saen-ger on cross-examination was as follows:

“Q. * * * Now, when you bought the land that you claim from E. G. Albers and wife, what did you pay for the land? A. Twenty-one Hundred.
“Q. In cash or in notes? A. In notes and cash.
“Q. How much cash? A. There was Seven or Eight Hundred.
“Q. You let him have the Seven or Eight Hundred Dollars more money at that time? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And then, when you sold the laud back to Mr. Albers and his wife, did you get some cash, besides the notes? A. No; I taken the notes.
“Q. The recitation, then, that you got $2,900 cash is not true, then, is it? A. No; not that I know of.
“Q. So, I want to get this clear in my mind — that’s the only transaction that you had with Mr. Albers, with reference to Mr. Albers and his wife selling you this land, was with Mr. Albers alone and not his wife and was verbal; is that correct? You just talked to Mr. Albers about it? A. Yes; she come out there quite frequent at that time.
[411]*411“Q. And then, according to your statement, you and Mr. Albers agreed that he and his wife would deed you this land and then, even before any deed was made to you,'you made another agreement that you deed the land back to him; is that right? A. Yes.
“Q. That’s the way you tell it? A. Not at the same time.
“Q. Not at the same time? A. Not at the same day; when he agreed to sell it to me, it was later.
“Q. But, before you signed these papers on December 5th? A. That’s right.
“Q. You had agreed that you would deed it back? A. That’s right.
* * * * * *
“Q. What kind of stake did you have in it, Mr. Saenger, at the time? What did you want to fix these papers for, anyhow? A. Well, he wanted to loan some money and I didn’t want to loan him any; that was it.
“Q. And, Mr. Albers and the lawyer told you that you could fix the papers this way and make a good loan? A. No; I wasn’t intending to make no loan.
“Q. Well, you did let him have another $800? A. Well, I bought the place, and that was in payment.
“Q. Mr. Saenger, how do you figure you had bought the place, when you didn’t have a deed to it? A. Well, I got a deed before I let him have the money or at the same time.”

Albers testified that he would .give Saenger security or give some notes that could be cashed, and that he could give notes on the place but that it was his homestead; but if he gave security on the farm he would have to get $500 more money; and that the deeds were executed the same day and recorded by Albers on the same day. In our opinion the deeds were executed for the purpose of fixing a lien on the land, and were simulated and not bona fide sales, and that this is true as a matter of law.

Section 50 of Art. XVI of the State Constitution, Vernon’s Ann.St., provides, in part, as follows: “The homestead of a family shall be, and is hereby protected from forced sale, for the payment of all debts except for the purchase money thereof, or a part of such purchase money, the taxes due thereon, or for work and material used in constructing improvements thereon * * *. No mortgage, trust deed, of other lien on the homestead shall ever be valid, except for the purchase money therefor, or improvements made thereon, as hereinbefore provided, whether such mortgage, or trust deed, or other lien, shall have been created by the husband alone, or together with his wife; and all pretended sales of the homestead involving any condition of defeasance shall be void.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Henderson v. Belknap (In Re Henderson)
168 B.R. 151 (W.D. Texas, 1993)
Saenger v. Proske
232 S.W.2d 106 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 S.W.2d 409, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/albers-v-saenger-texapp-1949.