Carlton v. Hoff

292 S.W. 642
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 28, 1927
DocketNo. 257.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 292 S.W. 642 (Carlton v. Hoff) 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
Carlton v. Hoff, 292 S.W. 642 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

HICKMAN, J.

The suit on which this appeal is predicated was instituted by the appellants E. H. Carlton and S. C. Carlton in the District court of Comanche county, Tex., against Ray T. Hoff and Porter J. Davis, on the 12th day of February, A. D. 1926, to set aside the judgment rendered in said court on 'the 12th day of May, A. D. 1921, in favor of appellees against appellants and others, and to enjoin further proceedings under two writs of garnishment issued upon said original judgment. There are many assignments of error in appellants’ brief, but the following statement of the proceedings upon which the judgment of the trial court was based will be sufficient for an understanding of the points decided in this opinion:

On March 23, 1921, the appellees Hoff and Davis filed their suit in the district court of Comanche county, Tex., against the Carlton Van Doan Company, a partnership composed of E. H. Carlton. C. S. Carlton, Ben O. Eastman, and-W. S. Van Doan, and against the individuals E. H. Carlton, W. S. Van Doan, Ben O. Eastman, and S. C. Carlton, and against Powhatan Petroleum Company, a joint-stock company, and against the Threl-keld Bonn Work Company, a partnership composed of C. C. Threlkeld, Fred Driscoll, J. W. Bonn, G. E. Work, C. E. McCormick, and H. F. McCormick.

The cause of action alleged in the original petition was for a money judgment for work performed by appellees in drilling oil wells on a lease alleged to have been owned by the Carlton Van Doan Company and the Powhatan Petroleum Company, and for the foreclosure of a statutory lien upon the leasehold estate of said defendants and upon certain oil wells and equipment thereon situated.

On the 12th day of May, 1921, judgment was rendered in favor of Hoff and Davis, dismissing their suit against the individuals W. S. Van Loan, Ben O. Eastman, C. C. Threl-keld, F.red Driscoll, J. W. Lonn, G. E. Work, and H. F. McCormick, and awarding them a judgment against the Carlton Van Doan Company, S. C. Carlton, E. H. Carlton, and Powhatan Petroleum Company, jointly and severally, for the sum of $3,169.80, with interest and costs. Said judgment also decreed a foreclosure of the lien against the leasehold estate, wells, and equipment described in plaintiffs’ petition.

On August 11, 1921, an order of sale was issued on said judgment, by virtue of which the property described in the judgment was sold by the sheriff of Comanche county. This order of sale will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

On January 26, 1926, Hoff and Davis filed applications for writs of garnishment to be served upon certain garnishees, calling upon said garnishees to answer, among other things, what, if anything, they were indebted to the defendant E. H. Carlton. Writs of *644 garnishment were issued in accordance with the prayer of the application.

On the 12th day ol‘ February, 1926, E. H. Oarlton and S. O. Carlton, who will be hereinafter referred to as “the Carltons,” presented to Hon. Joe H. Eidson, judge of the district court of Comanche county, a petition attaching the original judgment upon several’ grounds, which will be more fully explained in this opinion, and praying for a temporary writ of injunction against the issuance of any further executions or garnishments on said original judgment and against any further proceedings in the garnishments theretofore issued. The prayer for injunction was granted, and the writ issued in accordance therewith.

Upon the trial of the cause upon its merits on the 4th day of June, 1926, judgment was entered by the trial court dissolving the temporary injunction theretofore issued by it, establishing the validity of the original judgment, and denying the appellants any relief.

The record comes to this court without any findings of fact or conclusions of law by the trial judge, and no request therefor shown.

Among the grounds relied upon by appellants to establish the invalidity of the original judgment was the want of proper service of citation and the proper return, thereof against them in the original suit. It ■will be noted that appellants do not join all the parties to the original judgment in their suit to set same aside. It will (>e further noted that more than four years had elapsed after the rendition of the original judgment before' the filing of appellants’ suit to set is aside. Under these facts appellants’ attach upon the original judgment, in so far as same sought to set it aside on account of improper service and return, was a collateral attack. Relief as against such irregularities can be had only upon direct attack. Dunn v. Taylor, 42 Tex. Civ. App. 241, 94 S. W. 347. We therefore overrule all of appellants’ assignments of error attacking the original judgment on account of improper service and return of citation against them.

Appellants, by proper assignments, claim^that the original judgment was absolutely void as to them, because their liability was contingent, conditional, and alternative. They urge, in support of this contention, that since the judgment shows upon its face that appellees dismissed their suit in the original cause against certain members of the partnerships, the judgment against such partnerships was absolutely void; and, since the judgment directed execution to issue against them only in the event that the proceeds of the sale of the partnership property described in the judgment were insufficient to satisfy the judgment, and since no valid order of sale could issue against the partnerships, because of the void judgment against them, that the contingency upon the happening of which process could issue against them being a void one, the judgment against them was therefore void upon its face. We cannot adopt this view. Upon the authority of Frank v. Tatum, 87 Tex. 204, 25 S. W. 409, and Glasscock v. Price, 92 Tex. 271, 47 S. W. 965, it is our opinion that the appellees never obtained a valid judgment against the partnerships. But this fact would not render void the judgment against appellants. The judgment not only decreed a foreclosure of the lien against the partnership property, but awarded a joint and several recovery against the appellants for the entire amount of the debt. The property of the partnership was in fact sold, and the proceeds of the sale were applied to the judgment against appellants. We cannot understand how the judgment against appellants could be effected by this invalid sale. These assignments are therefore overruled.

Appellants further allege the.^invalidity of the original judgment against them on the ground that the original suit of appellees was brought against the partnership and its members to compel payment of a partnership debt, and the only liability claimed against appellants was based upon their partnership liability, and not upon any individual liability, and that therefore the judgment entered ; against them as retained members of the partnership was void. In support of this proposition, appellants rely principally upon the case of Texas Land & Cattle Co. et al. v. Moline (Tex. Civ. App.) 258 S. W. 216. While the similarity between that ease and the one under consideration is apparent, yet we have come to the conclusion that in this case the liability of appellant's was not based solely upon their partnership liability. The petition in the original suit, after stating that it was complaining of the Carlton Van Loan Company, a partnership composed of certain individuals there named, went further, and stated:

“And complaining of the individuals E. H.

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Bluebook (online)
292 S.W. 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlton-v-hoff-texapp-1927.