Antner v. State

114 S.W.2d 640, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 960
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 4, 1938
DocketNo. 13759.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 114 S.W.2d 640 (Antner v. State) 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
Antner v. State, 114 S.W.2d 640, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 960 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

Some time prior to June 14, 1937, .the state of Texas, acting by and through the Liquor Control Board, instituted an action in a district court of Tarrant county against Morris Antner and others, for a temporary injunction to restrain them from operating and maintaining a common nuisance, as defined by the Texas Liquor Control Act, Vernon’s P.C. art. 666 — 1 et seq., at a named place in the city of Fort Worth. Prayer was for the temporary writ, and that upon final hearing, the place of business be declared a common nuisance, that it be abated, and that the injunction be made permanent on final trial.

The temporary writ was issued as prayed for, and prior to a hearing on its merits, the state filed a motion against defendants for contempt, alleging many violations of the. order. The hearing on the merits was set and tried on June 14, 1937. Antner and the other parties who had been previously restrained answered, and upon a hearing before a jury, verdict was rendered and judgment entered by the court.

The temporary writ of injunction was, made permanent and specifically enjoined defendants from selling by the drink, and from keeping, or allowing to be kept for sale, barter, or gift, and from possessing on the premises, spirituous intoxicating liquors produced in whole or in part by the process of distillation for beverage purposes. The court further, in effect, found the defendants’ place of business, as operated, constituted a common nuisance in law, and ordered that the place be closed for a period of one year, or until such time as the defendants should give a bond in the penal sum of $5,000, conditioned as provided by -law.

Motion for new trial was overruled by the court. Exception to the ruling was taken and notice of appeal given and perfected by the execution of a supersedeas bond, the amount of which was fixed by the court at $2,500. The appeal thus perfected is pending in this court and has not been reached on the docket for disposition.

The immediate matter before us is a petition by the state for a temporary writ of injunction against defendants, to restrain them against further violation of the liquor laws, and further acts in disregard of the permanent injunction by the trial court, now on appeal. It is contended by the state that the injunctive relief prayed for is necessary to preserve and enforce the jurisdiction of this court, until the case on appeal can be disposed of.

*642 In view of the nature of the relief sought and obtained by the state in the trial court, we do not believe it is necessary or proper for this court to grant the application, for the protection of our jurisdiction, nor to preserve the status of the property involved, pending the appeal.

Article 1823, Rev.Civ.St., provides with reference to Courts of Civil Appeals : “Said courts and the judges thereof may issue writs of mandamus and all other writs necessary; to- enforce' the jurisdiction of said courts.”

This statute has been construed by the courts to mean that injunctive relief may be granted to preserve the status of the property or subject matter in controversy until the appeal is decided. Leonard v. Small, Tex.Civ.App., 28 S.W.2d 826. In that case the taking of lands by condemnation proceedings was involved; the commissioners appointed by the county judge had awarded damages at $31,000, and on appeal to the county court the jury award was $81,000; condemnor sought to set aside the judgment rendered and to exercise its option not to condemn; the motion was denied and an appeal was taken; the landowner asked the appellate court for a writ of mandamus to .-require the county to take the lands at the price fixed by the jury, and the writ was denied because the issue on appeal was whether or not the con-demnor had the right to decline to take the lands at the price named by the jury.

In Gibbons v. Ross, Tex.Civ.App., 167 S.W. 17, a writ was issued by the court pending an appeal, because, as there shown, the controversy below was over the possession of land, and the party who won the right of possession below, from which judgment the appeal was pending, sought to take possession and by that act enforce the execution of the appealed judgment; the court required the parties to leave the lands in status quo until it could be determined who was entitled to its possession. Such a condition does not exist in the instant case.

Our Courts of Civil Appeals are not in complete harmony on the question of whether or not injunctions restraining parties from doing specified things may be superseded and the order suspended during appeal. In Ford v. State, Tex.Civ.App., 209 S.W. 490, it was held- that one who violated the liquor law could be enjoined therefrom, and that the restraining order could not be superseded on appeal, while in Ross v. State ex rel. Shook, 97 S.W.2d 505; the San Antonio Court of Civil Appeals, in passing upon a similar question, where a person had been enjoined from operating an endurance contest, said that the injunction granted by the trial court could be suspended by appeal and supersedeas bond, and that the defendant was not in contempt of court in disregarding the injunction; the last-mentioned.court-declined to follow the rule announced in' the Ford Case. We find, however, that no question has been 'raised in this record as to the right of defendants to supersede the judgment of the trial court, by giving the bond for $2,500 set for that purpose.

We think the remedies provided by law afford the state ample protection and a means by which it can maintain the status of the parties and subject matter of this controversy pending the appeal. The suit filed below and determined by the court was one of a two-fold nature: (a) To determine that the defendants’ place of business, as operated by them, was a statutory nuisance, and (b) to abate that nuisance by enjoining defendants from operating it in such way as to make it such. This court is not one of original jurisdiction to issue special writs such as prayed for herein, but has only appellate powers, and can issue the restraining orders and such other writs as are provided by the statute above quoted and as construed by the courts, under conditions therein provided.

It is fundamentally true that before a complaining party can procure injunctive relief, -he must first resort to all available legal remedies afforded by law. In Herring v. Houston Nat’l Exch. Bank, 113 Tex. 337, 255 S.W. 1097, 1103, the Supreme Court had under consideration a motion for contempt, growing out of an alleged violation of an, injunction theretofore issued 'and there announced the well-settled rule to be: “Since a writ of injunction or prohibition will lie only in cases of manifest necessity and after fruitless efforts for relief in the inferior tribunal, one formerly issued will not be construed to embrace a case where such legal remedies exist. To do so would be a contravention of the well-established rule applicable to these extraordinary writs.”

Until the laws applicable to the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors have been found inadequate to protect the public against abusive practices of those who en *643

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Bluebook (online)
114 S.W.2d 640, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 960, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/antner-v-state-texapp-1938.