Boerner v. Cicero Smith Lumber Co.

293 S.W. 632, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 144
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 2, 1927
DocketNo. 2768. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 293 S.W. 632 (Boerner v. Cicero Smith Lumber Co.) 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
Boerner v. Cicero Smith Lumber Co., 293 S.W. 632, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 144 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

JACKSON, J.

This suit was filed in the district court of Lubbock county, Tex., on October 29, 1923, by the plaintiff, Cdcero Smith Lumber Company, a corporation, against the defendants F. W. Boerner and his wife, Ora Boerner, to recover the purchase price of certain building material sold •by it,to F. W. Boerner, and to establish a trust arising in its behalf on account of the fraud perpetrated on it in the purchase of the material.

The plaintiff, by its amended original petition filed November 8, 1923, alleges that on or about March 15, 1921, F. W. Boerner gave his note for the sum of $1,336.95, payable to the plaintiff one year after date, bearing interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, and containing the usual attorney’s fee clause, which note was secured by a second mortgage on personal property thereafter appropriated to the payment of the first mortgage; that the note was given in payment for building material of the value of $1,336.95, theretofore sold and delivered by the plaintiff in good faith to F. W. Boer-ner, who promised and represented that he Would pay thérefor; that such promise and representation were false and fraudulent, and made with the intention of obtaining the material without paying for it; that plaintiff relied upon, and was deceived by, such false promises, which were repeated from time to time, and but for which it would not have delivered the material or accepted the note and mortgage, or treated with Boer-ner as a debtor; that the possession of the material was obtained by such false promises to pay with the intention not to do so without the knowledge of plaintiff of such fraudulent intent, and the title to the material remained in it, and the defendants became trustees thereof for its benefit; that the material was used in permanent improvements placed on 4 blocks of land, which was city property, and the material became a part of the real estate, which, together with the material, was impressed with a trust in favor of plaintiff for the amount of its debt;' that the land without the improvements was sóld to the state of Texas for cash, and the proceeds of the sale deposited in certain banks; that a part of the proceeds was used in the purchase of lot No. 20 in block No. 153 of the original town of Lubbock, and lot No. 18 and the east one-half of lot No. 17, in block No. 31, in the Overton addition to the city of Lubbock; that said lots were conveyed to Ora Boerner as her separate property, but not purchased with her separate estate, and, if they were, she took title with notice of plaintiff’s claim, and the deeds to her were made in fraud of plaintiff’s rights; that a part of the improvements on said four blocks of land constructed out of the material sold by plaintiff to defendants were, after the sale of said land to the state, removed and placed on said lot No. 20; that plaintiff still holds the note, which is past due and unpaid, but learned only a week before the filing of its amended petition of the falsity of the promises and representations of the said Boerner to get possession of the material, since which time it does not claim the note or recognize, its acceptance in payment of its debt, but says the defendants are indebted to it because the material was acquired by false representations and promises, and it is entitled to have the lots conveyed to Ora Boer-ner as her separate property, and the funds *634 received from the sale of the four blocks impressed with a trust for the value of the material, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from January 1, 1922, and to have its equitable lien foreclosed for the payment of its money.

Plaintiff pleads in the alternative that, if mistaken in the foregoing allegations or the relief sought, in any event the defendants obtained the material for which the note was finally given, under false promises and representations as above alleged, -and they are liable in tort for damages to the extent of the value of the material at the time -it was obtained, with interest from March 21, 1921, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum.

Plaintiff sued out a writ of garnishment in an effort to impound the moneys received from the sale of the four blocks of land, but without success.

The defendants answered by plea in abatement, general demurrer, numerous special exceptions, general denial, and pleaded that the four blocks of land were their homestead until the fall of 1923, when it was sold to the state of Texas, and the proceeds received therefor were exempt; that a part of such proceeds was invested in lot No. 20 in block No. 153 of Lubbock, Tex., and in lot No. 18 and the east one-half of lot No. 17 in block No. 31 of the Overton addition to the town of Lubbock, Tex., which were conveyed to Ora Boerner as her separate property in payment of money she had theretofore loaned her husband from her separate funds, and said lots are her separate property; that the material was purchased by F. W. Boerner in the latter part of 1919, when he was solvent, for the purpose of making improvements on his homestead, and with the intention of paying for said material, but, on account of business disaster, he was unable to meet his debts as they matured, and plaintiff accepted the note for the debt, secured by the second mortgage, knowing of his financial condition, and thereby waiving any and all fraud, and is estopped from claiming that the material was obtained by false promises and representations; that the plaintiff knew the facts and circumstances upon which the fraud is alleged more than two years before the institution of the suit, and its cause of action is barred by the statute of two-year limitation.

F. W. Boerner pleaded that he was adjudged a bankrupt on November -3, 1923, by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and the debt sued on was thereby discharged.

Ora Boerner pleaded coverture, non est factum as to the note; that she did not contract the debt; that the material was npt sold or delivered to her, or for the use of her separate property; that she never authorized the debt, or in any way obligated herself to pay it; and that said lots 20, 18, and the east one-half of 17 are her separate property.

By supplemental petition the plaintiff pleaded, in reply to defendants’ answer, a general denial; that the four blocks of land were not the homestead of the defendants, but were city property, and of the value of $20,000 above the improvements at the time of the designation, and therefore not exempt ; that its cause of action was not barred by limitation, for the reason that it made the sale of the material in good faith, believing and relying on the representation of F. W. Boerner that he would pay therefor, and did not know that he did not intend to pay therefor, and did not discover such fraudulent intention until a week or two before the institution of the suit, and was not barred by limitation, and not discharged by the bankruptcy proceedings.

In response to special issues submitted, by the court, the jury found in effect that the material was purchased by F. W.- Boerner from the plaintiff upon the promise that he would pay therefor; that he obtained the material without any intention of paying foi it, and that the plaintiff did not discover the intention of said defendant not to pay for the- material two years before the institution of the suit.

On this verdict the court entered judgment that the plaintiff recover of the defendant F. W. Boerner the sum of $1,876, with interest from August 30, 1926, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, and costs of suit; that lot No.

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Bluebook (online)
293 S.W. 632, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boerner-v-cicero-smith-lumber-co-texapp-1927.