Carstens v. Landrum

5 S.W.2d 208, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 325
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 22, 1928
DocketNo. 2128.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 5 S.W.2d 208 (Carstens v. Landrum) 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
Carstens v. Landrum, 5 S.W.2d 208, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 325 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

This suit was brought by Charles G. Carstens against J. M. Landrum and wife, upon note executed by the defendants in favor of the plaintiff for $2,000, dated April 12, 1918, and to foreclose a deed of trust of the same date securing the note executed by defendants to W. A. Wurzbach, trustee, upon 200 acres of land in Atascosa county.

Carstens died, and the suit was prosecuted to judgment by the independent executors of his estate.

The deed of trust contains the following:

“And parties of the first part hereby declare that the property hereinbefore mentioned and conveyed to said trustee forms no part of any. property by them owned, used, or claimed as exempted from forced sale under the laws of the state of Texas, and disclaim and renounce all and every claim thereto under any such law or laws, and hereby designate the following described property, to wit: [Here follows description of three lots referred to in the record as the Corpus Christi road property] situated about three and one-half miles from the city of San Antonio, Bexar county, Tex., and being the same property conveyed to J. M. Landrum by deed from Walter L. Neal, dated April 12, 1918.
“And parties of first part hereby declare that they actually now reside upon the above-described property, and that they have abandoned the 200 acres hereinbefore described as a homestead, having leased the same out, and never intend to again use the same as their homestead, and that said above-described property, that is, said lots Nos. 1, 2, and 3, is now *209 actually used, occupied, and intended to be used in the future as and for their homestead, as their homestead, and as constituting all the property owned, used or claimed by them as exempt under said laws.”

The defendants pleaded that the 200 acres was their homestead, and prayed cancellation of the deed of trust.

The plaintiffs pleaded estoppel to assert the homestead claim because of the written declaration in the deed of trust and oral declarations of defendants to Chas. G. Carstens respecting their homestead being upon the Corpus Christi road property and their abandonment of the Atascosa county land as such.

Upon special issues the jury found:

(1) At the time of the execution of the deed of trust the 200-acre tract was the homestead of J. M. Landrum and family.

(2) At the time of the execution of the deed of trust a portion of the 200-aere tract was being actually used or actually occupied by J. M. Landrum or by J. M. Landrum and his minor son, with the intention and purpose on the part of J. M. Landrum that said 200-acre tract was the homestead of himself and family.

(2½) Such use or such occupancy was open, visible, and apparent.

(3) The 200 acres had not been permanently abandoned by Landrum and wife as the home of themselves and family' previous to the execution of the deed of trust.

(4) At the time of the execution of the deed of trust, the property on the Corpus Christi road was not the homestead of Landrum and wife.

(4½) The family of J. M. Landrum was not living in the house on the Corpus Christi road at the time the deed of trust was executed.

(5) Landrum and wife, before the execution of the deed of trust, and as an inducement to procure the $2,000 loan, did not represent and state as a fact to W. A. Wurzbach in substance and effect that they then lived on the Corpus Christi road and had abandoned the 200 acres in Atascosa county as their homestead.

(6) Wurzbach did not believe and rely up-’ on such statement, if any.

“Question No. 7: If said statement had not been made (that is, if the same was made), would Charles G. Carstens or said Wurzbach have refused to make said loan?” Answer: “No.”

(8) Wurzbach was not acting as the agent of Chas. G. Carstens.

“Question No. 9: If, in answer to question No. S, you have found said Wurzbach was acting as the agent of Chas. G. Carstens, then was said agent acting within the scope of his authority with reference to the matters inquired about in questions Nos. 5, 6, and 7?” Answer: “No.”

Upon the findings made, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff for the amount due upon the note against J. M. Landrum. The deed of trust was declared to be void and canceled, and the 200 acres of land released from the lien sought to be fixed thereon by the same.

From this judgment the executors of the decedent appeal.

It is first assigned as error that the finding upon the issue of abandonment as a homestead of the 200-acre tract in Atascosa county, and the finding upon the issue of the acquisition of a new homestead upon the Corpus Christi road property at the time of the execution of the deed of trust, is against the preponderance of the evidence to that degree which shows manifest injustice has been done, for which reason a new trial should have been granted by the court below.

J. M. Landrum testified: He acquired the land in controversy-in 1906. In the fall of 1917 his wife came to San Antonio to school their children. That he continued to live on the farm with his four year old boy, and cultivated part of it. That another son cultivated a portion of it, and he had leased 100 acres of ■ the same to one Charlie Hurley. From the time he purchased said property and made it his homestead he continued to live there until 1922, when he came to San Antonio to live, and that he leased his home to his son and to other persons. That in April, 1918, he was living on the farm, and his wife was living on Pardee street in San Antonio, and he continued living on the farm in 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1922: The purpose of his wife in coming to San Antonio was to educate her children and obtain positions for some of them who were large enough to work. At the time, the note and deed of trust were executed, his wife was living in San Antonio on Pardee street, and he was living on his homestead in Atascosa county.

He further testified his wife came to San Antonio in 1917, and that she first rented a house on Roosevelt avenue, and from time to time he visited her, but that he continued to remain and cultivate the property under controversy until 1921. In November, 1917, his wife moved from Roosevelt avenue to a house she rented on Pardee street, and where she continued to reside until some time in May, 1918, and that he had made ho representations to Mr. Feldman, the agent who negotiated the loan, that he had abandoned his homestead.

Wright Landrum testified he was the son of defendants, 34 years of age, and at that time was living on his father’s farm of 200 acres, where he had lived all of his life. That after his mother and some of the children came to San Antonio, his father remained on the farm, and was there using and cultivating it during the years 1917 to 1921, inclusive. His mother came to San Antonio in 1917 to *210 send the smallest children to school, and he still rented from his father, but that, from the time his mother moved to San Antonio in 1917 until 1922, his father, with one of his little boys, continued to live on the farm, and cultivate the same during all of the said period of time.

Mrs.

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

Related

First State Bank of Memphis v. Seago
120 S.W.2d 951 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)
Seidemann v. New Braunfels State Bank
75 S.W.2d 167 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)
Dallas Building & Loan Ass'n v. Patterson
48 S.W.2d 657 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1932)
Carstens v. Landrum
17 S.W.2d 803 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 S.W.2d 208, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carstens-v-landrum-texapp-1928.