Anderson v. Southwestern Presbyterian Home & School for Orphans

248 S.W.2d 775, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2109
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 17, 1952
Docket3011
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 248 S.W.2d 775 (Anderson v. Southwestern Presbyterian Home & School for Orphans) 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. Southwestern Presbyterian Home & School for Orphans, 248 S.W.2d 775, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2109 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a plea of privilege case. The Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans, acting through its president, brought this suit against Mrs. O. O. Anderson, a resident citizen of Tar-rant County, and alleged substantially that on the 25th day of October, 1948, Helen Sue Crenshaw, a girl now thirteen years of age, was admitted to said institution and that by reason thereof it acquired the legal custody of such child and has since such date had such custody and is entitled to retain it; that Mrs. O. O. Anderson has threatened to take and remove such child from its legal custody and from the premises of the plaintiff; that defendant Mrs. Anderson is a woman of bad reputation who would, if permitted to have custody of such child, have a very detrimental and harmful influence upon the child and would destroy the beneficial .results of the care and training that the plaintiff has bestowed upon such child. Plaintiff prayed for a temporary restraining order against defendant and upon such hearing that temporary injunction be granted against defendant restraining her from taking custody of such child. Defendant seasonably filed her plea of privilege to be sued in Tarrant County, the county of her residence, and subject to such plea the defendant, without waiving her plea of privilege, moved that suit for injunction be abated for the reason that she was a married woman and she was not joined by her husband and without waiving her plea she moved that suit be dismissed for want of jurisdiction, and without waiving her plea of privilege filed a cross-action in which she set out that she was the mother of the child; that she had never at any time surrendered her legal right to the child, and that plaintiff is holding the child in its possession and refuses to deliver it to her; that since the placing of the child in the plaintiff’s home conditions surrounding her environment and financial status have materially changed to the extent that she is now able to provide said child with a Christianlike home and can properly rear her daughter; and she asked that writ of habeas corpus issue in her behalf, commanding the plaintiff to produce the child in court in order that the question of her custody be determined by the court. She prayed for appropriate relief. Plaintiff seasonably filed controverting affidavit in which it denied the allegations in the defendant’s plea to exclusive venue. Plaintiff in the controverting affidavit adopted its entire petition and made it a part of its controverting plea and in addition thereto alleged that plaintiff was a resident of Hill County, Texas, in which the suit was brought, and that plaintiff was the legal custodian of the minor, and since the minor resides in plaintiff’s institution that the district court of Hill County has venue in this cause, and that the district court holds the constitutional, supervisory control of infants in its jurisdiction and has the power and authority to issue orders necessary and proper for their welfare.

The trial court overruled defendant’s plea of privilege, to which defendant duly excepted and gave notice of appeal. The court by separate order granted the temporary writ of injunction against the defendant enjoining her from taking or removing the minor Helen Sue Crenshaw from the care and custody of plaintiff and from visiting her at plaintiff’s home and further decreed that the care, custody and control of such minor be surrendered to-the plaintiff herein pending further orders of the court. This order required the plaintiff to file bond in the sum of $300 payable to defendant, with two or more *777 good and sufficient sureties before the issuance of such restraining order, and the court further appointed Mrs. Adanee Hall, investigator, for the purpose of making and conducting an investigation of the home and environment and circumstances of defendant and directed Mrs. Hall to report to the court prior to November 1, 1951 the results of her investigation. Defendant seasonably excepted to this judgment and gave notice of appeal.

Appellant assails the judgment substantially on the ground that the court erred in overruling her plea of privilege and asked that the cause be transferred to the proper district court of Tarrant County and that since her plea of privilege, should have been sustained that all orders entered by the trial court subsequent to the order overruling defendant’s plea of privilege should be declared to be void and of no effect and that the writ of injunction granted should be dissolved. It is our view that defendant’s plea of privilege should have been sustained and the injunction dissolved and the other orders entered be set aside and held for naught. We think that each of these contentions must be sustained for reasons hereinafter briefly noted.

Plaintiff’s original petition alleges in effect that it has the legal custody, control and possession of said child and it seeks to enjoin the appellant from removing and taking the minor from the custody and possession of appellee and from in any manner molesting said child and it asks for no other relief. The prayer is: “Plaintiff prays that the said defendant and all other persons be temporarily restrained and enjoined pending hearing hereon and that she and/or they be temporarily enjoined upon such hearing from removing and taking said child from the custody and possession of the plaintiff and from any manner molesting said child.” We think the venue of this suit is controlled by Art. 4656, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. Stats.': “Writs of injunction granted -to stay proceedings in a suit, or execution on a judgment, shall be returnable to and tried in the court where such suit is pending, or such judgment was rendered; writs of injunction for other causes, if the party against whom it is granted be an inhabitant of the State, shall be returnable to and tried in the district or county court of the county in which such party has his domicile, according as the amount or matter in controversy comes within the jurisdiction of either of said courts. If there be more than one party against whom a writ is granted, it may be returned and tried in the proper court of the county where either may have his domicile.” The foregoing article was a part of the Acts of 1846 and there has been no substantial change made in it by any of the succeeding legislatures. This court in Box v. Oliver, Tex.Civ.App., 43 S.W.2d 979, in a per curiam opinion, construed this statute and held in effect that where injunctive relief is the sole purpose óf a suit, the provisions of the article are. mandatory and the court is without authority to make an order restraining an inhabitant of another county or to make the writ returnable to the district court of the county other than the county where the defendant resides. It is elementary that in plea of privilege cases we look to the plaintiff’s original petition to determine the nature of the suit. As we have heretofore stated, the petition alleged that plaintiff had the legal custody and control of the minor, and further alleged that the defendant resided in Tarrant County and asked that the temporary writ of injunction, be issued against the defendant and that she be enjoined from interfering with their legal custody and control. It did not allege that defendant was in Hill County interfering with or molesting the plaintiff in its custody and control of the minor.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 S.W.2d 775, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-southwestern-presbyterian-home-school-for-orphans-texapp-1952.