Collins v. Davenport

192 S.W.2d 291, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 650
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 10, 1946
DocketNo. 11733.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 192 S.W.2d 291 (Collins v. Davenport) 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
Collins v. Davenport, 192 S.W.2d 291, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 650 (Tex. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinion

MONTEITH, Chief Justice.

This suit was brought by appellees, Janet Dilley Davenport et al., in statutory form of trespass to try title for the recovery from appellant, W. H. Collins, and A. B. Crouch and wife, of the title to and possession of a tract of 82.79 acres of land in Trinity County, Texas. A. B. Crouch and wife disclaimed any interest in the land.

Appellant ■ answered by a plea of not guilty, a general denial, and by special pleas of the five and ten year statutes of limitations, Articles 5509 and 5510, R.S.1925.

Two special issues were submitted to the jury, those of adverse possession by appellant of the land in controversy under the five and ten year statutes of limitation. On November 28, 1944, the jury returned its verdict finding, in response to the issues submitted, that appellant Collins had not had peaceable and adverse possession of the land in controversy for any continuous period of either five or ten consecutive years prior to the filing of this suit. The trial court took appellant’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and appellees’ motion for judgment on the verdict under advisement and on February 28, 1945, rendered judgment in favor of appellees for the title and possession of the land in controversy.

This judgment was rendered in Walker County, Texas, and was mailed by the trial judge to the clerk of the district court of Trinity County, who entered the judgment in the minutes of the district court of Trinity County. Appellant Collins duly filed his motion for new trial in which he alleged, among other grounds for a new trial, that this judgment had been rendered beyond the territorial confines of the district court of Trinity County, Texas, and was invalid.

On March 28, 1945, the trial judge in open court entered an order at Groveton, in Trinity County, Texas, vacating and setting aside said judgment on his own motion. In the court’s order it was recited that both plaintiffs and defendants were present in court in person and by their attorneys and that they had “announced ready for trial”. On the same day, in the district court of Trinity County, the trial court rendered a judgment in favor of ap-pellees for the 82 acre tract of land in controversy upon the verdict of the jury. Appellant has appealed from this judgment.

Appellees relied for their title to the land in controversy in the trial of the case upon a’judgment of the district court of Trinity County rendered on September 18, 1922, wherein appellees’ predecessors in title recovered judgment from A. B. Crouch for the title and possession of a tract of 160 acres of land, of which the 82 acre tract of land involved in this suit is a part. A. B. Crouch was stipulated by the parties to be the common source of title. This judgment was not filed for record in the office of the county clerk of Trinity County until October 5, 1926.

On May 12, 1924, A. B. Crouch and his wife conveyed the 160 acres of land involved in the September 18, 1922 judgment to appellant, W. H. Collins. This deed was filed for record in the office of the county clerk of Trinity County on June 19, 1924. W. H. Collins testified that at the time he purchased this land from A. B. Crouch he had not heard of any lawsuit that A. B. Crouch had with the Dilleys (appellees’ predecessors in title) concerning this land and that the consideration for the conveyance of the land was the cancellation of a debt of $1,100 or $1,200.

Under appropriate points appellant contends that the court erred in rendering judgment for appellees, for the alleged reason that the judgment appealed from is without support in the evidence and that it is contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.

*293 It is the established rule in this state that an appellate court is not authorized to set aside the verdict of a jury if there is any credible evidence to support it, or unless the verdict and finding's of the jury are so against such a preponderance of the evidence as'to be clearly so wrong as to show passion or prejudice, or where they are in such obvious conflict with the justice of the case as to render them unconscionable. Foley Bros. Dry Goods Co. v. Settegast et al., Tex.Civ.App., 133 S.W. 2d 228, writ of error refused; Federal Underwriters Exchange v. Hinkle et al., Tex.Civ.App., 187 S.W.2d 122, and the authorities cited in these cases; 3 Tex.Jur. 1097, Sec. 768.

Appellant’s adverse claim to title under the limitation statutes in this case is based largely upon the testimony of appellant, W. FI. Collins, and A. B. Crouch, who was a party defendant in the suit and who warranted the title to said land in his deed to W. FI. Collins. The testimony of appellant’s two other witnesses has little probative value. Collins testified that he had cultivated a portion of the land in controversy and had used the balance for the pasturage of cattle since the year 1924 through his tenant, A. B. Crouch.

A. B. Crouch testified that he had occupied said land as the tenant of W. H. Collins since 1924; that he had lived on a SO acre tract adjoining the tract for 20 years; that after he sold said land to W. H. Collins in 1924 he continued to occupy and use the land as Collins’ tenant to the date of the filing of this suit; that he had cultivated a small portion of said land, approximately 4½ acres, which was fenced with his 100 acre tract, and that he had used the balance of the land for the past.ur-age of livestock each year.

Appellant introduced tax receipts showing that he had rendered and paid taxes on said land before they became delinquent for the years 1924 to 1934, inclusive.

W. B. Chambers, a surveyor, a witness for appellees, testified that he had surveyed and made a review of the land in controversy and had made a careful examination of the fencing by which it was enclosed; that the land was not enclosed or fenced except by fences or cross-fences built by appellant Collins across the land; that the fences were of recent date and that there was no evidence of the use of the 82.79 acres of land except a new wire fence by which it was enclosed. He testified that there was a railroad crossing that entered the land, which was open with no cattle guard, so that range cattle could go on the land for pasturage at will. That with reference to cultivated land, none of said land was cultivated save a small portion, approximately 4½ acres, which was enclosed by Crouch’s field fence, and that there was no evidence of the use of the balance of the land except a new wire fence.

The jury was, we think, authorized to consider this testimony with other testimony adduced in connection with the limitation issues submitted as to whether appellant had acquired a limitation title to said land under either the five or ten year statutes of limitations, and as to whether there was in the record sufficient evidence or probative force to require the trial court to find that appellant, W. H. Collins, was an innocent purchaser of said land in good faith, without notice of the unrecorded judgment rendered against A. B. Crouch at the time he purchased said land on May 12, 1924, and that he paid a valuable consideration therefor.

Appellees contend that A. B. Crouch is an interested witness to the same extent as appellant, W. H.

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Bluebook (online)
192 S.W.2d 291, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-davenport-texapp-1946.