Conn v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co.

6 S.W.2d 372, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 466
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 19, 1928
DocketNo. 1646.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 6 S.W.2d 372 (Conn v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co.) 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
Conn v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co., 6 S.W.2d 372, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 466 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

*373 O’QUINN, J.

The Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, one of the appellees here, brought this suit in the district court of Newton county, Tex., to recover of the Peavy-Moore Lumber Company damages for the value of 210,000 feet of pine timber cut and removed from 80 acres of land, a part of section 9, H. T. & B. Railway Company survey, located partly in Jasper county and partly in Newton county. Said plaintiff also made appellant, Mrs. S. N. Conn, a party defendant, and sought judgment against her individually as the sole devisee, and as independent executrix of the estate of her deceased husband, R. C. Conn, alleging that R. C. Conn, by general warranty deed, conveyed the timber in controversy to plaintiff July 18, 1917. Plaintiff also alleged that R. C. Conn, by and through his agent, J. E. McDonald, pointed out the timber in question to plaintiff, and represented that said timber stood upon the 80 acres of land described in the deed from said Conn to plaintiff, and that plaintiff so believing bought said timber from said Conn, and paid him for same, and that the timber cut by defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company was the same timber pointed out and sold to plaintiff by said Conn, and which said timber was covered by the covenants of warranty in said Conn’s deed to plaintiff. \ Plaintiff further alleged that, if for any reason it should not be entitled to recover against the Peavy-Moore Lumber Company for the value of said timber, nevertheless it would be entitled to recover against Mrs. S. N. Conn, individually and as independent executrix of the estate of R. C. Conn, deceased, at the value of $4 per thousand feet, with 6 per cent, interest thereon from the date of said deed.

The defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company answered by general demurrer, general denial, and plea of not guilty, and disclaimed having any interest in or claim to section 9, H. T. & B. Railway Company, and that it owned or claimed no interest'in 80 acres out of the southwest corner of same, but alleged that it was the owner of the John B. Wright survey No. 20, immediately west of and adjoining H. T. & B. section No. 9, and that the division line between said surveys was a common line. Said appellee further alleged that plaintiff’s suit was an attempt to establish a conflict between Hr T. & B section No. 9 and the John B. Wright survey No. 20, and by proper allegations made J. P. McMahon, Jr., a party to the suit as a remote grantor in appellee’s chain of title to the Wright survey on his warranty of the title to same.

Appellant, Mrs. Conn, filed answer admitting that the plaintiff, Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, was the owner of the timber de-acribed in its petition, and that it had a cause of action against Peavy-Moore Lumber Company for cutting said timber. She admitted that her deceased husband, R. C. Conn, conveyed the timber on the land described in plaintiff’s petition to plaintiff by deed dated July 18, 1917, and by said deed warranted the title thereto to plaintiff, and by way of cross-action against appellee Peavy-Moore Lumber Company, adopted the allegations of the plaintiff, Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, as her own.

Appellee Peavy-Moore Lumber Company answered the pleadings of appellant, Mrs. S. N. Conn, by general demurrer and general denial.

The case was tried to a jury upon special issues, and upon their answer judgment was rendered establishing the west boundary line of the H. T. & B. Railway section No. 9, located on the ground, as contended by appel-lee Peavy-Moore Lumber Company, . and that said line was a common line with the east boundary line .of the Wright survey No. 20; that plaintiff, Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, take nothing as against the defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company; that the Peavy-Moore Lumber Company take nothing as against its remote warrantor, J. P. McMahon, Jr.; and that plaintiff, Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, recover of appellant, Mrs. S. N. Conn, individually and as independent executrix of the estate of R. C. Conn, deceased, the sum of $840, together with 6 per cent, interest thereon from July 18,1917, said sum representing the value of 210,000 feet of pine timber in question at $4 per thousand, with all costs of suit. Motions for a new trial by appellee Miller-Vidor Lumber Company and by appellant were duly made and overruled, and Mrs. Conn brings this appeal.

The Wright survey lies west of H. T. & B. section No. 9, and they adjoin. The pivotal point in the case was the true location of the southwest corner of said section No. 9, as the common line between the two surveys ran north from said southwest corner. Special issue-No. 1, submitted to the jury, was:

“Do you find from the evidence that the west line of H. T. & B. section No. 9 was originally located on the ground as contended for in this case by the plaintiff; or do you find from the evidence that said line was originally located on the ground as contended for in this case by the defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company?”

To this issue the jury answered:

“We find said line was originally located on the. ground as contended for by the defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company.”

Appellant’s first and second propositions attack this finding of the jury, as without support in the evidence, and so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly wrong, and.as indicating bias, prejudice, or some other improper motive on the part of the jury in making said finding. This contention is overruled. As above said, the location of the line between the two surveys was the main and deciding question in the case, in that, if said line was located as contended for by defendant Peavy-Moore Lumber Company, then the *374 timber in question was not on the H. T. & B. section No. 9, but was on the Wright survey. But, if located as contended for by appellant and the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, then the timber was on H. T. & B. section No. 9, and appellee Peavy-Moore Lumber Company was liable for its value. Much evidence was introduced by both parties, and a verdict of the jury either way would have found support in the evidence. We do not think that any good or useful purpose could be served by discussing or setting out the evidence, but say that we have carefully considered the whole of the evidence and find that the verdict of the jury has ample support. We further-find that there is nothing in the record to indicate any sort of bias, prejudice, or any other improper motive on the part of the jury in making said finding. Moreover, there was no motion to set aside this finding in the court below, nor was there any objection to the court’s submitting the issue. We think the objection that the finding is without support in the 'evidence comes too late. Burnett v. Bank (Tex. Civ. App.) 191 S. W. 172.

Appellant complains that the court erred in refusing to submit to the jury special requested issue No. 1, requested by appellee Miller-Vidor Lumber Company and by appellant, as to whether Mrs. Haynes had had peaceable and adverse possession of the land from which the timber was cut, cultivating,. using, or enjoying the same for more than 10 years prior to the date when such timber was cut. This assignment is overruled. The facts show that the 160 acres of land claimed, sued for, and recovered by Mrs. Haynes was in the southwest corner of H. T. & B. section No.

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Bluebook (online)
6 S.W.2d 372, 1928 Tex. App. LEXIS 466, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conn-v-peavy-moore-lumber-co-texapp-1928.