Anderson v. Breeding

250 S.W.2d 467, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1322, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1620
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 17, 1952
DocketNo. 12346
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 250 S.W.2d 467 (Anderson v. Breeding) 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
Anderson v. Breeding, 250 S.W.2d 467, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1322, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1620 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment of the 113th District Court of Harris County, sustaining the motion of the appellees therefor, who were the defendants below, and rendering a summary judgment against the appellant here, who was the plaintiff below, and ordering that he take nothing ■by reason of this suit against appellees.

The appellant thus, in material substance, recites the nature of his suit, as well as the ground .upon which the court’s summary judgment against him was rendered. Plis suit was three-pronged in character, to-wit:

(1) “ * * * to recover damages for wrongful conspiracy to defraud plaintiff of earned compensation for services performed by him resulting in the sale of certain oil and gas properties owned by the estate of Rogers Lacy, deceased; * * * ”

(2) “to recover damages for breach of a written contract to compensate Plaintiff for his personal services;” and

(3) “to recover damages for the wrongful conversion and breach of trust in regard to confidential data, information, and reports compiled and accumulated by Plaintiff and delivered to Defendant, The Texas Company, for limited purposes.”

In turn, the grounds of the motion for a summary judgment so sustained, were these:

(1) Plaintiff was not licensed as a Real Estate Dealer, under Art. 6573a, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, 1948; nor

(2) was he licensed as a Securities Dealer, under Art. 600a, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes,, 1948.

The first of the cited statutes has to do with the licensing of “Real Estate Dealers”, whereas the second one relates to the licensing of “Security Dealers.”

Insofar as Texas decisions are concerned, appellant relies mainly upon this Court’s holding in Culver v. Cockburn, Tex.Civ.App., 127 S.W.2d 328, error dism.; whereas, the appellees, contending that Culver v. Cockburn has no application to this controversy, insist that both the “Real Estate Act,” and the “Securities Act,” so cited, not only precluded any recovery by the appellant, but that the decided cases in Texas did likewise, citing in that connection, among others, these Texas holdings: Cosner v. Hancock, Tex.Civ.App., 149 S.W.2d 239, error dism.; Dickson v. Kelley, Tex.Civ.App., 193 S.W.2d 256; Fowler v. Hults, 1942, 138 Tex. 636, 161 S.W.2d 478; Furman v. Keith, Tex.Civ.App., 226 S.W.2d 218, error ref.; Gregory v. Roedenbeck, 141 Tex. 543, 174 S.W.2d 585; Highwaymen’s Case (Everet v. Williams, Ex. (1725), 9 L.Q.Rev. 197 (1893); Kadane v. Clark, 135 Tex. 496, 143 S.W.2d 197, reversed, Tex.Civ.App., 134 S.W.2d 448; Lack v. Borsum, D.C., 44 F.Supp. 47; Sibley v. Coffield, Tex.Civ.App., 193 S.W.2d 239, error ref. N.R.E.; Stephens County v. Mid-Kansas Oil & Gas Co., 113 Tex. 160, 254 S.W. 290, 29 A.L.R. 566; Stroble v. Tearl, 148 Tex. 146, 221 S.W.2d 556.

The parties stipulated in the record that appellant was not licensed as a real estate dealer, salesman, or agent, under the Real Estate Dealers License Act — cited Article 6573a — nor was he licensed as a securities dealer, salesman, or agent, under the Securities Act, cited Article 600a.

[469]*469While the parties thus filed below the stipulated agreement as to the stated facts, they diverged somewhat therefrom in applying such facts to their legal arguments, in their -briefs; for instance, the appellees, in their brief, make this statement: “Far from being ‘an isolated transaction’ as is inferred in appellant’s brief, the record shows that appellant had been dealing in the sale of real estate and oil and gas leases for over ten years.” Such statement is error,' since both the pleadings and the record show that such activities during the 10 year period upon appellant’s part had been in the purchase of leases and mineral interests and lands for the account of The Texas Company only, and never on his own account. Further, the appellees appear to flatly deny the appellant’s, allegations and evidence as to how the salé was finally made — that is, as to whether the leases affected had been the property of the Rogers Lacy estate, and as to whether the deed thereto had been executed by Lawson Lacy, as executrix of the estate of Rogers Lacy, deceased.

In view of Sec. 3, (a) and (c)>, of Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6573a, and Sec. 3, Exempt Transactions, (a) and (c), Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, Article 600a, under the pleadings and the testimony, at least offered by the appellant, upon these features, it is held that the most that could be concluded from them is that issues-of-fact thereon were raised by the pleadings and evidence. Lawson Lacy did execute the deed as such executrix, and there was also testimony to the effect that, while parts of the lands characterized in the dealings between the appellant and the appellees stood on the records in the names of other members of the Lacy families, such lands belonged to the Rogers Lacy estate, in fact.

In view of the limitations of the court’s judgment to its single holding that the summary judgment ordered was required because the appellant had so declared himself to be neither a licensed Real Estate Dealer,, nor a licensed Securities Dealer, it is deemed beyond the requirements to further go into the ramifications of the record brought here, upon the other features of the controversy.

This Court, is constrained to hold that the trial court’s judgment so grounded was in error, and that questions-of-fact as to at least one genuine issue, material to a recoverable cause of action against at least one, or more, of the appellees, was raised; if so, under our statute, — that' is, Rule 166A, and the summary judgment law, upon which it is -based, — a reversal is required. Rule 166A, T.R.C.P., and McDonald on Texas Civil Practice, Vol. 4, page 1379, par. 17.26, and footnote-cited authorities.

The appellant, at length, set out in his trial pleadings, the entire course of the transactions and the allegedly recoverable damages upon which he sued, as a result thereof, under his three grounds of action, as quoted from his pleadings, supra; pursuant thereto, he sued all the appellees here, outlining their relationships toward thé transactions, and severally declaring against them, his claimed right of action for damages inuring to him from the violation of their several obligations thereunder; he averred that for eight months, at least, in pursuance o-f the written contract between himself and the appellee S. W. Breeding, upon which he declared, that Breeding and the other appellees, Marshall H. Stone, Howard S. Cole, W. C. Rneale, The Texas Company, a corporation, Hydrocarbon Production Company, a corporation, and Columbian Carbon Company, a corporation, had wrongfully appropriated his services, to their own enrichment, thereby damaging and depriving him of his rightfully-earned commission under the contract between himself and Breeding.

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Related

Breeding v. Anderson
254 S.W.2d 377 (Texas Supreme Court, 1953)

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Bluebook (online)
250 S.W.2d 467, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1322, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-breeding-texapp-1952.