Bray v. Boyles

241 S.W. 1057, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1351
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 28, 1921
DocketNo. 8056. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 241 S.W. 1057 (Bray v. Boyles) 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
Bray v. Boyles, 241 S.W. 1057, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1351 (Tex. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinions

LANE, J.

This suit was brought by appel-lee, Edward S. Boyles, against John W. Bray and Irma Root Bray, in the district court of Harris county, Tex., on the 23d day of February, 1917. The suit is an ordinary suit of trespass to try title to five-eightieths undivided interest of a certain subdivision of 80 acres of land situated in Harris county.

On the 19th day of September, 1919, Irma Root Bray, hereinafter called Mrs. Bray, answering the plaintiff’s petition alleged that on the 12th day of December, 1912, one A. Stelzig by his warranty deed conveyed to her the land sued for by the plaintiff for a consideration of $750; that of this consideration she paid cash in the sum of $250, and for the remainder she did, on said date, execute and deliver to A. Stelzig her note for $500 bearing 8 per cent, interest per annum and payable, one year after its date; that said property was purchased with her separate funds, and became her separate property; that when said note became due and payable, she was told by her codefendant, J. W. Bray, that he was the owner of the land; that he, the said J. W. Bray, was in possession thereof, holding same against her; that she notified Stelzig of the claim and possession of J. W. Bray, and that she could not get possession of same; that but for the claim and possession of J. W. Bray to and of said land she would have paid the $500 note executed and delivered by her to Stel-zig ; that after said note became due, to wit, in August, 1916, Stelzig filed suit thereon against her and others and prayed for judgment for principal, interest, and attorney’s fees as provided thereby, but he has never taken any further steps in said cause, and has, ever since it was filed, permitted it to remain pending in court; that the defendant has been ready, willing and able at any time that Stelzig should establish his right in said land superior to the rights of the said J. W. Bray to pay off said note, interest and attorney’s fees, but that, instead of so clearing the title to said land, the said Stelzig did, on the 14th day of February, 1917, by his deed of that date, convey said land to the plaintiff herein, Edward S. Boyles, for a recited consideration of $798; that at the time of such conveyance, Boyles knew of the pendency and purpose of the suit filed by Stelzig against her, and she charges that such conveyance was not a bona fide transaction, but was an attempt on the part of Stel-zig to place the title of the land in the plaintiff, Boyles, to enable him to prosecute this suit for the benefit of himself, Stelzig, and for him to get back the title to said land without returning to defendant the $250 paid by her to him, but that, if she is mistaken in this, then she says that, as Boyles knew of the pendency of the suit of Stelzig against her on said $500 note, and knew of all the other facts above stated relative to her purchase of said land, and knew that her only reason for not paying to Stelzig said purchase-money note was that her codefendant, J. W. Bray, was in actual possession of said land, claiming title thereto, superior to that of Stelzig and herself. She pleaded further as follows:

“This defendant shows that she has always been ready, willing, and able, and anxious to pay off and discharge said note, and that her only purpose for not having done so was by reason of the fact that her codefendant, John W. Bray, was in actual possession of said land, and claiming the same hostile to herself and to her vendor, A. Stelzig; that she is now ready, willing, and able to pay off and discharge said note and such interest and attorney’s fees as the court might find under all of the circumstances she should pay, if any, and she now offers to deposit in this court such amount of money as the court thinks she should deposit for the purpose of paying off and discharging any indebtedness on said land if upon a hearing of this cause the court should find that she has any title under her deed from the said A. Stelzig, or if she has a superior title to her co-defendant, John W. Bray, and this defendant shows that, the said Edward S. Boyles having notice of her rights in said land when he ae-i eepted the deed from the said A. Stelzig, of *1058 date February 14, 1917, it would be inequitable and unjust for. him to be permitted to assert a superior right in said land to this defendant, but that in law and equity by the acceptance of said deed the said Boyles should be held to have acquired only such right and interest in reference to said land as the said A. Stelzig held and was entitled to hold as against this defendant, Irma Root Bray, and, to the end that this defendant may be protected, and that her $250 which she has heretofore paid on said land may not be lost to her, she now here offers to do and perform any act or order that this court may see fit to enter by making any deposit that this court may require, or agreeing to perform any decree or judgment that the court may see fit to enter, to the end that the court may look into the equity involved in this suit, and that, upon a final hearing hereof, if under all the facts and circumstances of the case it be found that this defendant should have paid the note when due, or when demanded of her, that she will now pay, after such findings by this court, any sum of money that the court may find she ought to pay by reason of the execution of said note, and, having submitted herself to the equitable powers and jurisdiction of this court, this defendant now here prays that, upon a final hearing, the plaintiff be not permitted to have judgment for the title of the land sued for, but that, if it be ascertained that she has any rights in said land by virtue of said deed, then this defendant prays that the court ascertain what such rights are, and make any decree that is meet and proper to the end that this defendant may pay off and discharge any indebtedness that she has created and bound herself to pay, to the end that the title to said land, such title as the said A. Stelzig had at the time he conveyed to this defendant, should be vested in her.”

Defendant John W. Bray answered by general denial and by specially pleading the 10-year statute of limitation in bar of the right of the plaintiff, Boyles, to recover the land sued for.

On the 22d day of September, 1919, the plaintiff, Edward S. Boyles, filed his first supplemental petition in reply to the answer of J. W. Bray, and therein denied generally the allegations of said answer. He alleged further that on the 8th day of February, 1913, a suit was brought by one R. O. Peters, an owner of an undivided interest in the 80 acres, of which the land purchased by Irma Root Bray from Stelzig was a part, against Mrs. Bray and her husband, John W. Bray, and others, and that on the 13th day of September, 1915, a final judgment was duly rendered in said suit, whereby it was decreed, among other things, that Irma Root Bray was the owner of a certain 3.18 acres of said 80 acres, which said 3.18 acres were in said decree set aside to and adjudged to be the separate property of the said Mrs. Bray, same being described by metes and bounds as follows: (Here said 3.18 acres are described by metes and bounds) — that by said judgment it was decreed that John W. Bray owned no interest in said 80 acres whatever; that the 3.18 acres set aside to Mrs. Bray is the tract in controversy in this suit; that by said judgment in the R. C. Peters case it was adjudged and decreed that all title and interest claimed by J. W. Bray to the land in controversy be divested out of him and vested in Irma Root Bray.

1-Ie then alleged that John W.

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Bluebook (online)
241 S.W. 1057, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bray-v-boyles-texapp-1921.