City of West Orange v. State ex rel. City of Orange

598 S.W.2d 387, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3436
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 24, 1980
DocketNo. 8429
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 598 S.W.2d 387 (City of West Orange v. State ex rel. City of Orange) 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
City of West Orange v. State ex rel. City of Orange, 598 S.W.2d 387, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3436 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

KEITH, Justice.

This case presents another facet of the continuing legal battle between two neighboring cities in Orange County. Both cities were organized and exist under the Home Rule Amendment, Tex.Const. art. 11, § 5, and Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 1165, et seq. (1963).1 The dispute centers around efforts of both cities to maintain extraterritorial [389]*389jurisdiction over several large chemical plants located on the west bank of the Sabine River.

An order of consolidation discloses that three cases pending between the parties, Nos. A-18,460, No. A-18,639, and No. A-21,980, were consolidated for trial, but we find no pleading in No. A-18,639, so our discussion will be confined to the other two causes.

The first suit, No. A-18,460, was one brought by West Orange against Orange under the provisions of Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 970a (1963), the Municipal Annexation Act, seeking judicial apportionment of the extraterritorial jurisdiction between the two cities. This suit was filed on January 20, 1972, and the cause, after consolidation, proceeded upon the amended original petition filed on that date.2

The second suit was a proceeding in the nature of quo warranto brought by the State of Texas by the County Attorney upon relation of Orange challenging a charter amendment and certain ordinances of West Orange. The State and Orange prevailed in that proceeding but West Orange failed to file the record in this Court within the twenty-day period required by Tex.R.Civ.P. 384. We dismissed the attempted appeal in the quo warranto proceedings.

West Orange went to trial on its first amended original petition alleging that it had established extraterritorial jurisdiction over the territory by virtue of its Ordinance No. 120 adopted May 18, 1970. It also asserted that it had a population of more than 5,000 on August 23, 1963.3

Issue was joined on both counts and at the conclusion of the bench trial, the court found that the territory described in Ordinance No. 120 was totally overlapped by territory already within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Orange. The Court also found that Orange Ordinance No. 1960-22, adopted in 1960, was a valid ordinance which laid claim to the territory which West Orange attempted to annex ten years later.

Extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law, all favorable to Orange, were filed in support of the judgment. Both parties offered testimony from witnesses in their attempts to establish (or defeat) the claim of the 5,000 inhabitants upon the critical date. No one pretends that there was an actual head count on the target date so that each witness gave his own opinion, based upon his research and the facts available to him, as to the population on the date in question. It would serve no useful purpose to go into detail on this facet of the case since the witnesses for both parties simply extrapolated from the underlying data to arrive at their final opinion.

There was evidence which, had it been accepted by the trier of the facts, would have supported a finding that on the data in question the population was in excess of 5,000 persons; but, the trial court did not so find. Instead, it found that there was a lesser number.

It is now well established in this state that opinion testimony does not establish any material fact as a matter of law, but is merely evidentiary and not binding upon the trier of the facts. Broussard v. Moon, 431 S.W.2d 534, 537 (Tex.1968); Fillyaw v. City of Beaumont, 564 S.W.2d 139, 141-142 (Tex.Civ.App. — Beaumont 1978, no writ).

As noted earlier, the trial court’s findings of fact were against West Orange. In such a case, the general rule is that if there is some evidence of a substantial and probative character to support the trial court’s findings of fact, they are controlling [390]*390upon the reviewing court and will not be disturbed, even though the appellate court may have reached a different conclusion. Commercial Union Assurance Co. v. Foster, 379 S.W.2d 320, 322-323 (Tex.1964); United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Borden Metal Products Co., 539 S.W.2d 170, 172 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1976, writ ref’d n. r. e.).

Moreover, as we read appellant’s brief, West Orange does not directly attack the trial court’s findings of fact which were adverse to its present contentions. In the absence of a proper attack on material findings of fact, they are binding on appellant and must be accepted by this Court. Smith v. Hues, 540 S.W.2d 485, 489 (Tex.Civ.App. —Houston [14th Dist.] 1976, writ ref’d n. r. e.), and authorities therein cited.

We also invoke the rule which was stated in these words in Custom Leasing, Inc. v. Texas Bank & Trust Co. of Dallas, 516 S.W.2d 138, 142 (Tex.1974):

“It is the duty of the appellate courts to sustain the judgment of the trial court if it is correct on any theory of law applicable to the case. Gulf Land Co. v. Atlantic Refining Co., 134 Tex. 59, 131 S.W.2d 73, 84 (1939).”

See also, State ex rel. Russell v. Knorpp, 575 S.W.2d 401, 405 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amaril-lo 1978, writ ref’d n. r. e.).

Having reviewed the record in accordance with the applicable rules, we overrule the first point of West Orange set out in the margin.4

The second point of error, quoted in the margin,5 attacks the trial court’s determination that the buffer strip annexation ordinance of 1960 was valid. It is to be noted that no challenge of the findings of fact and conclusions of law are included in the point now under review. Thus, we reiterate our prior holding as to the binding effect of the trial court’s unchallenged findings and conclusions.

West Orange contends that the strip ordinance is void because (1) the first boundary call could not be located on the ground, consequently the entire ordinance was ineffective; and (2) the long and narrow strip was void under the holding in City of Pasadena v. State ex rel. City of Houston, 442 S.W.2d 325, 328 (Tex.1969).

Admittedly, there was an error made in the first call of the description of the land enclosed in the 15-foot buffer strip ordinance of Orange.6 Two competent surveyors brought by West Orange, Smith and Verrett, testified that there was no “C. L. Brown 32.8 acre tract”, consequently, they could neither begin nor close the description on the ground.

On the other hand, Orange brought two competent and licensed surveyors, Klinkhamer and Shaw, who gave their opinion. They could not find the C. L.

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City of Bridge City v. State Ex Rel. City of Port Arthur
792 S.W.2d 217 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
City of West Orange v. State ex rel. City of Orange
613 S.W.2d 236 (Texas Supreme Court, 1981)

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598 S.W.2d 387, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-west-orange-v-state-ex-rel-city-of-orange-texapp-1980.