Babb v. Patterson

242 S.W. 538, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1047
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 3, 1922·No. No. 8687.·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

VAUGHAN, J.

This was a suit for partnership settlement between appellant and J. H. Patterson, appellee. Appellant, who was plaintiff below, filed his original petition on March 25, 1920, alleging that, during the month of August, 1919, appellant and appellee Patterson entered into a contract for the purpose of buying and selling real estate; that thereafter they entered into an agreement whereby they agreed to purchase from D. P. Prince a farm of 405 acres of land in Navarro county, Tex., and later sold the land to J. El. Farmer; that, as a result of their sale and partnership, appellant and appellee Patterson jointly owned the personal property described in said petition.

Appellees Ernest Prince and J. E. Farmer were made parties defendant as debtors to said partnership.

Appellant further alleged that all of the property, notes, etc., sued for were in the possession of appellee Patterson, who denied that appellant was entitled to any interest therein. Appellee Patterson answered, denying any general partnership, claiming that he and appellant acted as agents in buying certain real estate and in selling the same, and that, as to these matters, a settlement was made.

Appellee further alleged that he himself purchased the 405 acres of land from D. P. Prince, together with all of the farm implements, mules, wagons, and other personal property thereon situated and used in connection therewith for the sum of $81,000, and that said purchase was a straight purchase by and for himself, with the purchase of which appellant had nothing to do; and that said transaction was in no way connected with whatever business they had together of selling and buying land for other persons on a commission basis; that the only interest appellant had in said transaction was a sale which was afterwards made by appellee to J. E. Farmer, of the 405 acres of land; that whatever appellant had to do therewith was in assisting in the sale of said property to J. E. Farmer; and that appellant was in no way interested in the profits which were realized from the sale of this property; and that the only interest which he had therein was in the 5 per cent, commission of the purchase price for which said land was sold by Babb & Patterson, as the property of appellee Patterson to said Farmer.’

The trial resulted in judgment in favor of appellant against appellee Patterson for the sum of $50, with 6 per cent, interest and costs of suit, and in favor of said appellant against appellee J. E. Farmer for $50 with 6 per cent, interest and costs of suit; from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

The case was submitted to the jury upon 22 special issues of fact, of which it is only necessary to discuss No. 1 and the answer thereto, as by same the controlling issue in the case was submitted.

Appellant’s cause of action was based upon his claim to one-half of the profits arising from and growing out of the transaction involving the purchase and sale of the Prince property, appellant contending that same was a partnership transaction between himself and appellee Patterson and therefore he was entitled to one-half of all profits derived from the purchase and resale of same. Appellee Patterson contested with appellant his alleged cause of action, as per the abridged statement of his pleadings above set out.

Special issue No. 1, submitted by the court in the general charge, was as follows: “Did J. H. Patterson take an option on the 405 acres of land called the Prince land, and buy the personal property and crops thereon situated for the joint benefit of the firm of Babb & Patterson, and take the title thereto in the name of J. H. Patterson for the benefit of said firm?” To which the jury answered, “No.”

[1] Appellant contends that the trial court failed to affirmatively submit, as a special issue, the controlling issue in the case, and that therefore special issue No. 2, to wit, “Was the Prince transaction, including the personal property, a partnership transaction between Patterson and Babb?” and special issue No. 3, to wit, “Was the personal property bought from Prince owned in partnership by Babb & Patterson?” requested by him, should have been submitted to the *540 jury* This contention cannot be sustained, as special issue No. 1 submitted by the court, supra, accurately and clearly submitted to the jury all of the issues of fact included in said special issues Nos. 2 and 3 in a way which gave to appellant the full benefit of his contention as made before the court and jury.

If the option on the 405 acres of land was acquired for the joint benefit of the firm of Babb & Patterson, and the personal property and crops thereon situated purchased by appellee for the joint benefit of said firm, said transactions would have been between Patterson and Babb, and the personal property would have been owned by said copart-nership.

[2] The objection to the language submitting said special issue to the jury is, in our opinion, hypercritical. Appellant contends that the answer of the jury to said special issue No. 1 is without evidence to support it. This contention cannot be sustained, as the following facts established by the evidence were not only sufficient to require the court to submit said issue, but ample to sustain the answer made by the jury thereto, to wit: D. P. Prince, on the 15th day of September, 1919, executed a written transfer to appel-lee Patterson, by which said Prince conveyed by bill of sale to said appellee 9 mules; 4 cows, 2 calves, 21 hogs, 15 pigs, a binder, and all farming implements situated on the 405 acres of land, together with the cotton and corn crops thereon growing, and the oats and wheat situated on said land, for $8,400, $2,976.50 cash and appellee’s note for $5,423.50, payable to Prince. On the same day Patterson executed and delivered to Prince his note for $5,423.50 due January 15, 1920, and, to secure the payment of said note, on the same day executed a mortgage to Prince upon all of said personal property sold by Prince to Patterson.

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Babb v. Patterson, 242 S.W. 538, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1047 (Tex. Ct. App. 1922).

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