Associates Investment Co. v. Lenz

288 S.W.2d 849
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 1, 1956
DocketNo. 12841
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 288 S.W.2d 849 (Associates Investment Co. v. Lenz) 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
Associates Investment Co. v. Lenz, 288 S.W.2d 849 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

HAMBLEN, Chief Justice.

This suit was instituted in the District Court of Jackson County by appellants to cancel and set aside the order of sale, sheriff’s deed and all subsequent conveyances based upon a tax foreclosure suit filed in Jackson County on October 5, 1950. Such tax suit was filed by the County Attorney in the name of the State of Texas for taxes alleged to have been delinquent for the years 1922 to 193S, inclusive, and for the years 1940 to 1950, inclusive, on one-half of the minerals in Section 35 of the Theodore F. Koch Subdivision of land in said county.

Plaintiffs in the trial court were Mineral Holding Trust of St. Paul, Minn., the record title owner at the time of the institution [851]*851and rendition of the judgment in the tax suit, and C. A. Green and R. B.' Wherry, who hold under a lease and a mineral deed from Mineral Holding Trust dated respectively September 29th' and September 30th of 1953.

Defendants in the trial court were Guy F. Stovall, the purchaser under the sheriff’s deed sought to be set aside, F. E. App-ling, Alcoa Mining Company, which holds under two mineral leases from Stovall and Appling, dated February 1,1952, and Crown Central Petroleum Company and Aluminum Company of America, which hold under assignments from Alcoa Mining Company.

Trial was before the court without a jury, at the conclusion of which the court entered judgment denying plaintiffs any relief. Subsequent to the appeal to this Court, appellants entered into a compromise settlement of the differences between them and the appellees Stovall and Appling. Appellants now before this Court are those parties who were plaintiffs in the trial court. Appellees before this Court are Alcoa Mining Company, Crown Central Petroleum Corporation, and Aluminum Company of America.

As grounds entitling them to the relief sought, appellants filed a petition in the nature of a bill of review in which they alleged many irregularities in the proceedings in the tax suit of such nature as to render the same void and a complete nullity entitling them to a cancellation of the sheriff’s deed as against all persons holding thereunder. Among such allegations were non-assessment of the property for taxes, illegal assessment of the property for taxes, noncompliance with the Rules of Civil Procedure governing citation by publication, inadequate description of the property, nondelinquency of a portion of the taxes sued for, excessiveness of the judgment for taxes, and inadequacy of the consideration for the sheriff’s deed.

Appellees filed a general denial and a plea that they were bona fide purchasers without notice of the irregularities alleged by appellants. Countering this latter plea, appellants alleged notice both actual andi constructive on the part of appellees.

The trial court made numerous findings of fact,' including the following: The County Attorney .made no personal invésti-gation of the tax records to determine whether personal service could be had ons the defendant; Mineral Holding Trust was the record owner of the property at all material times; taxes for the year 1940 were paid before the institution of the tax suit; the tax collector’s list and renditions for the years 1937, 1938, and 1939 disclosed an address of the Mineral Holding Trust; the property had never been placed on the delinquent tax roll and had never been assessed prior to the time the attorney for defendant Stovall requested the tax assessor to figure up the delinquent taxes; the consideration paid at the sheriff’s sale was $400; the reasonable market value of the property at that time was $5,000; the defendant Stovall had actual knowledge of the address of Mineral Holding Trust; and by reason of business relationship, defendant Appling was charged with such knowledge.

We have stated only such findings of fact made by the trial court as we consider necessary to a proper discussion of the issues raised on this appeal. We find all of the stated findings of fact to be amply supported by the record before us. In so far as the individual defendants Stovall and Appling are concerned, our examination discloses a record replete with evidence of fraudulent practices by them of such nature as to shock the conscience of this Court. The manifest error of the trial court, in denying appellants all relief against those two defendants, and in refusing to divest them of any interest, by way of possibility of reverter, or other, as they might possess, has been rendered moot by the settlement of the differences between them and appellants. The only justiciable issue to be determined on this appeal is the propriety of the trial court’s judgment in so far as it denies to appellants any relief against the corporate defendants, who are the only appellees before this Court. Before stating our con-[852]*852elusions, we feel that it is appropriate to define the issue as we see it. ■

The findings o.f fact upon which the trial court’s conclusions and judgment rest, are based upon evidence in the record in this appeal, which is largely aliunde the record in the proceedings in the tax suit and judgment sought to be set aside. A substantial portion of the briefs submitted to us deals with the. question of whether or not this present suit is a direct, as opposed to a collateral attack upon the tax suit judgment. Appellants’ argument is that this is a direct attack upon that judgment, and that consequently evidence aliunde the record in that proceeding is determinative of the rights of the parties to this appeal. Their points of error are largely so premised. With due apologies to able and distinguished counsel who so vigorously urge the controlling importance of this proposition, we state it to be our opinion that in view of the issue joined by the plea of bona fide purchaser interposed by appellees the question of -whether this suit is a direct as opposed to a collateral attack is entirely immaterial.

The innocent, purchaser doctrine states that the innocent purchase in good faith and for value of the legal title, cuts off all outstanding equities.. In 43B Tex. Jur., page 4, Sec. 701, a bona fide purchaser is defined as one “who acquires the apparent legal title to property in good faith for a valuable consideration and without-nofice of a claim or interest of a,third person under the. common source of title.” Aside from the requirement that the apparent legal title pass, the three elements essential to a bona fide purchase are: (1) good faith, (2) a valuable consideration, and (3) absence of notice.

A bill of review is an equitable proceeding. It is a direct attack upon a judgment wherein relief from the effect of the judgment is sought upon equitable grounds. The legal requirements which must be met to entitle one to such relief are well established and need not be stated here, for the reason that it is our understanding that such equities must be asserted before the intervention of the rights of a person- who occupies the status of bona fi.de purchaser as above defined. If before the equitable rights of a plaintiff are asserted in a bill .of review, the apparent legal title has passed into one who fulfills the stated requirements of a bona fide purchaser, all equities resting in such plaintiff are cut off and are of no avail against such bona fide purchaser. Therefore it appears tó'this Court that the determination of the issues on this appeal depend solely upon the' question of whether or not appellees occú'py the status of bona fide purchasers, and are' entitled to the protection of the innocent purchaser doctrine. The discussion which follows is based upon such conclusion.

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

Related

Mineral Holding Trust v. Stovall
288 S.W.2d 849 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
288 S.W.2d 849, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/associates-investment-co-v-lenz-texapp-1956.