Crockett & Sons v. Anselin

132 S.W. 99, 1910 Tex. App. LEXIS 934
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 2, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 132 S.W. 99 (Crockett & Sons v. Anselin) 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
Crockett & Sons v. Anselin, 132 S.W. 99, 1910 Tex. App. LEXIS 934 (Tex. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

NEILL, J.

J. Anselin sued D. Crockett, R. B. Crockett, B. E. Crockett, T. O. Crockett, and W. I-I. Crockett, partners, doing business under the firm name of Crockett & Sons, the Union Warehouse & Elevator Company, the Le Tulle Mercantile Company, and the First National Bank of Bay City, alleging as his cause of action, in substance: That on and prior to July 13, 1907, he was the lessee of and in rightful possession of a certain described tract of 160 acres of land, holding the same under a lease from E. P. Layton, for five years, from and after August 3, 1906; that on the date first mentioned the land had been planted in rice, and valuable improvements made thereon by him, and the crop thereon growing and in fine condition; that said tract of land lay between the pumping plant of Crockett & Sons and land leased by them from Layton and planted in rice for the year 1907; and that, to carry water from their pumping plant to their land, it was necessary for them to build a canal across plaintiff’s tract, which for that reason was valuable and desirable to defendants Crockett & Sons. That on the day first above stated said defendants Crockett & Sons entered into a contract in writing with plaintiff wherein he, in consideration of 500 barrels of No. 1 rice, of the value of $2,075, to be delivered him by said defendants at the warehouse at Sim’s switch, on or before October 1, 1907, less 3 cents per sack, the same being one-half of hauling charges, which was to be paid by plaintiff, with the written consent of his lessor, assigned, conveyed, and ■ delivered to Crockett & Sons, his lease contract for said 160 acres, with all his rights therein, together with the rice crop growing thereon and all improvements there placed by him and situated on said land, and that such assignment was accepted in writing by Crockett & Sons. That on said day defendants Crockett & Sons, for the purpose of securing the prompt payment and delivery of the 500 barrels of No. 1 rice, contracted to be delivered plaintiff by them as the purchase price of said lease, rice crop, and improvements, made, executed, and delivered to plaintiff their chattel mortgage, of date July 13, 1907, wherein they declared that they were justly indebted to plaintiff for 500 barrels of No. 1 rice, for his entire interest in and to his rice crop planted on the land here-inbefore described, and that in order to secure the prompt payment of said 500 barrels of rice to said Anselin, the said defendants, Crockett & Sons, did sell and mortgage to him all the crop and interest therein purchased by them and grown on the above-described lands; and therein agreed to have said 500 barrels of No. 1 rice harvested, threshed, sacked, and sewed, to furnish the sacks at their own expense, and to deliver the rice as soon as threshed in the warehouse at Sim’s switch, at a cost to plaintiff of 3 cents per barrel, the sacks to be marked “F. A.”; and that in and by the same mortgage instrument, the said defendants, for the purpose of better securing the payment of said 500 sacks of rice, mortgaged to Anse-lin (this part of it being declared a second mortgage) their entire rice crop grown on the land which they leased from E. P. Lay-ton for the year 1907. That said mortgage was duly filed with the county clerk of Mata-gorda, county on July 15, 1907, and duly entered in the chattel mortgage register of said county. That Crockett & Sons, during the year of 1907, raised, harvested, and deposited in the warehouse of defendant, the Union Warehouse & Elevator Company, and sold therefrom more than 4,500 sacks of merchantable rice, of the reasonable value of $15,000, all of which was grown upon the land described in plaintiff’s said mortgage, [101]*101which was a lien thereon; that, though often requested to do so, defendants Crockett & Sons, each and every one of them, have failed and refused to haul and deliver to plaintiff the 500 barrels of No. 1 rice, or any part thereof, sacked and marked as agreed, at the warehouse at Sim’s switch, and have failed and refused so to deliver the same or any part thereof at any other place; that the market value of said 500 barrels of No. 1 rice, at agreed date of delivery and at various periods during the market season of said year, was §4.15 per barrel, and of the aggregate value of $2,075.

Crockett & Sons, after interposing exceptions to plaintiff’s petition and a general denial, answered specially that they bought the leasehold on the 160 acres on representations made by Anselin that there was a good stand of rice thereon and that all contours, field levees, and ditches for the proper distribution of water had been properly constructed, or immediately would be at the cost of An-selin ; that relying upon such representations he entered into said contract; that all of such representations were false and fraudulent, in consequence whereof no rice was raised on said land; wherefore the consideration for said contract had wholly failed. The Union Warehouse & Elevator Company answered that Crockett & Sons, during 1907, deposited in its warehouse a quantity of rice, and that acting under their instructions it sold the same and held the proceeds thereof, amounting to $2,230.65; that out of the proceeds it has paid on the written orders of Crockett & Sons to Le Tulle Mercantile Company $1,048.65 and to the Alamo Lumber Company the sum of $600; that after deducting all storage and other charges due there remains in its hands the sum of-$581.26; that it has no means of knowing to whom said sum is payable, said sum having been garnisheed by the Farmers’ Rice Milling Company in a suit wherein' J. Anse-lin is plaintiff; wherefore he asks that it be awarded to whomsoever may be entitled to said fund, and that it be discharged. No answer was filed by the bank.

The case was tried before a jury and resulted in a verdict in favor of plaintiff upon which judgment was entered against defendants Crockett & Sons and the individuals composing the firm, jointly and severally, and the Union Warehouse & Elevator Company, for the sum of $1,965, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from date of the judgment. It was further decreed that the Le Tulle Mercantile Com'pany and the First National Bank of Bay City, both of which failed to answer, had no interest in the proceeds ■ of the sale of the rice and that plaintiff’s rights therein, as against the two last-named defendants, be forever quieted. An order was also entered protecting the Union Warehouse & Elevator Company against the garnishment proceedings set up in its answer.

Conclusions of Fact.

We conclude, as a matter of fact, that the evidence is reasonably sufficient on all issues between plaintiff and the defendants against whom the money judgment was recovered, to support the verdict upon which such judgment was rendered.

Conclusions of Law.

1. Inasmuch as defendants Crockett & Sons pleaded that they were induced to enter into contract and execute the mortgage sued upon by false and fraudulent representations made to them by plaintiff, by reason whereof the consideration had wholly failed, and introduced evidence to prove such defense, all the facts and circumstances leading up to, connected with, and attending the execution of the contract were admissible on the issue of fraud. If such evidence were not admissible a contract could not be avoided for fraud, unless it bore upon its face irrefraga-ble evidence of it. It would be a solecism to say that while one alleging fraud may introduce such evidence to establish it, his adversary cannot rebut such proof by introducing evidence of the same character.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 S.W. 99, 1910 Tex. App. LEXIS 934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crockett-sons-v-anselin-texapp-1910.