Dallas Land & Loan Co. v. Garrett

276 S.W. 471
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 20, 1925
DocketNo. 9604
StatusPublished

This text of 276 S.W. 471 (Dallas Land & Loan Co. v. Garrett) 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
Dallas Land & Loan Co. v. Garrett, 276 S.W. 471 (Tex. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinion

LOONEY, J.

This appeal is from an order of the court sustaining a general demurrer to appellant’s petition. As the questions presented for review challenge the correctness of the action of-the court sustaining the demurrer, it becomes necessary to state the substance of appellant’s petition:

Appellant alleged that it owned lot No. 12 in block No. 6, Munger Avenue addition to the city of Dallas, upon which was a good residence occupied by tenants; that appellee owned lots Nos. 10 and 11 in said block, and had under construction on lot 10, then nearing completion, an apartment house consisting of 12 apartments, and was threatening to erect, and would erect unless restrained, a garage house on rthe boundary line between appellant’s lot No. 12 and appellee’s lot No. 11, 100 feet in length, subdivided into 12 compartments, for the accommodation of the tenants of the apartment house; that same is to be located 6 feet from the house of appellant, and will extend the full length of said house; that the back wall of the garage is to be of brick, 10 feet in height at the rear, gradually increasing to 12 feet in front, and, when completed, will shut off light and air from appellant’s house, and.the eaves of the same will extend over on appellant’s lot the full length of the building, thus appropriating a part of appellant’s lot; and, further, that the roof will be so constructed as to cause the water from rainfalls to be carried and emptied on appellant’s lot, all to its great damage.

It is alleged that it is wholly unnecessary for appellee to erect the garage building in the manner and at the place contemplated, as -he has sufficient room elsewhere on said lots where the same can be placed without injury to himself or damage to appellant.

It is further alleged that the garages will at all times have from' 6 to 12 automobiles, day and night; that they will contain gasoline, oil, and grease that will leak, causing trash, filth, and germs to accumulate in the garage house, will emit noxious, offensive, unpleasant and unhealthful gases, odors, and vapors, thus polluting the atmosphere, which will, on account of the location of the garage building, be carried into the house of appellant, materially discomforting, annoying, and injuring persons residing therein, and to the detriment and damage of appellant’s property; and that by reason of these conditions the fire hazard and cost of insurance on appellant’s property will be increased.

It is further alleged that the proposed erection of the garage building in the manner and place designated is uncalled for, is done with malice and spite on the part of appellee, with the specific intent and design on his part to injure and harass appellant, to its damage in the sum of not less than $2,500.

[473]*473Appellant prayed for a temporary writ, to be made final on bearing, and for such damages as it may bare suffered by tbe time tbe case is tried. Tbe judge granted tbe temporary writ on condition that appellant execute a bond in tbe sum of $500, restraining appellee from erecting, or attempting to erect, tbe garage building, and that be be notified to appear before tbe court May 23, 1925, and show cause, if any, wby tbe restraining order should not be continued in force until further orders of court.

On tbe bearing of appellee’s motion to dissolve tbe temporary writ tbe court sustained a general demurrer to tbe petition, and, as appellant declined to amend, the same was dismissed and tbe writ dissolved, from which order of dissolution appellant prosecutes this appeal. Tbe court entered an order suspending tbe effect of tbe order appealed from, and-continued in force tbe temporary writ pending appeal.

Tbe first question for our consideration is presented by tbe motion filed in this court by appellee to dissolve tbe temporary writ, continued in force by order of tbe trial court. This motion is based on tbe proposition that tbe trial judge was without authority to enter tbe suspending o'rder, for the reason that tbe court, having dissolved tbe injunction and dismissed 'the petition, lost all jurisdiction and authority. Article 4644, Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1922, makes provision for an appeal from an order of tbe court dissolving a temporary writ of injunction, and in this connection provides as follows :

“* * * But gueh appeal shall not have tbe effect to suspend the order appealed from, unless it shall be so ordered by the court or judge who enters the order. * * * ”

Tbe general demurrer urged by appellee to the petition of appellant was one of tbe grounds of the motion for tbe dissolution of tbe temporary writ. It challenged, at tbe outset, tbe sufficiency of tbe petition to entitle appellant to injunctive relief, and, on being sustained by tbe court, dissolved tbe writ theretofore issued just as effectually as if tbe order bad resulted from a bearing on tbe facts. Tbe right to appeal is in nowise conditioned on tbe particular ground, or grounds, on which tbe motion to dissolve may be predicated, whether of law or fact, and tbe authority of tbe court to suspend, during tbe pendency of tbe appeal, the order appealed from exists in either case. Vogelsang v. Gray (Tex. Civ. App.) 224 S. W. 535, 539.

Tbe other grounds urged by appellee in bis motion to dissolve tbe temporary writ have been considered, but as they are, in our opinion, without merit are overruled.

On tbe appeal proper, appellant contends that tbe trial court erred in sustaining a general demurrer to its petition and in dismissing tbe same for tbe reason, among others, that it appeared from its allegations, admitted to be true by tbe demurrer, that appellee was in tbe act of constructing, and would, if not enjoined by tbe court, construct, a garage bouse with tbe eaves thereof extending over onto the lot of appellant, thus appropriating to bis use and benefit a strip of appellant’s land, and that tbe roof of the structure will be built so as to conduct and empty tbe water of successive rainfalls on appellant’s lot, injuring and damaging tbe same. Tbe allegation of appellant that tbe eaves of tbe structure to be erected by ap-pellee will extend over onto tbe lot of appellant was, in effect, an allegation that so much of tbe lot alongside tbe building under tbe eaves will be thus appropriated by appellee for bis own use and benefit. It is well settled that the grant of a bouse carries with it, by implication, title to all land under tbe same, and, as tbe eaves are a part of tbe building, tbe land under tbe same will also be included in the description. Sherman v. Williams, 113 Mass. 481, 18 Am. Rep. 522; Supplee v. Cohen, 80 N. J. Eq. 83, 83 A. 373, 375; 1 Words and Phrases, Second Series, p. 514; Berry on Restrictions on tbe Use of Real Property, § 83, p. 120.

Tbe doctrine above ’ announced is Very clearly stated in Sherman v. Williams, supra, as follows:

“The well settled rule that the grant of a house carries with it the title to all the land under the house which the grantor owns, extends to all the land covered or occupied by the house itself. As the eaves are a part of the building, the land under them is included in the description, when owned by the grantor. Where land is conveyed, bounded on a house as a monument, the land to the edge of the eaves only passes, that being the extreme part of the building; so where the house itself is, granted or demised, the extreme parts of the house are the bounds and limits of the conveyance, and such title as the grantor has to the land thus occupied by the whole house passes by the grant or demise.”

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Related

Lancaster v. Harwood
245 S.W. 755 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1922)
Sumner v. Crawford
41 S.W. 994 (Texas Supreme Court, 1897)
Vogelsang v. Gray
224 S.W. 535 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1920)
Gray v. S. T. Woodring Lumber Co.
197 S.W. 231 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1917)
Spann v. City of Dallas
212 S.W. 513 (Texas Supreme Court, 1921)
Spann v. City of Dallas
235 S.W. 513 (Texas Supreme Court, 1921)
Sherman v. Williams
113 Mass. 481 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1873)
Fitzpatrick v. Welch
55 N.E. 178 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1899)
Copper v. Dolvin
28 N.W. 59 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1886)
Supplee v. Cohen
83 A. 373 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1912)

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Bluebook (online)
276 S.W. 471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-land-loan-co-v-garrett-texapp-1925.