Deaton v. Southern Irr. Co.

144 S.W. 294, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 73
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 7, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 144 S.W. 294 (Deaton v. Southern Irr. 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
Deaton v. Southern Irr. Co., 144 S.W. 294, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 73 (Tex. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

MOURSUND, J.

By deed, dated Hay 5, 1903, the Bay Prairie Irrigation Company conveyed to E. W. Turner lots 11 and 12, block 68, in the town of Lane City, Tex., expressly retaining in said deed the vendor’s lien on such premises to secure the payment of two promissory notes, of even date with said deed, for $1,144.89 each, executed by E. W. Turner, payable to the order of Bay Prairie Irrigation Company, bearing 8 per cent, interest per annum, and providing for 10 per cent, attorney’s fee, if collected by suit. One of said notes became due November 1, 1903, and the other November 1, 1904. On November 1, 1903, $1,094.15 was paid on the first note, and on November 30, 1904, $950 was paid on the second note. The Southern Irrigation Company became the owner of said two notes, in due course of trade, for a valuable consideration.

On January 18, 1904, E. W. Turner and wife, Lula Turner, executed and delivered to W. A. Gaffert, as trustee for the Deaton Grocery Company, a deed of trust on said two lots to secure the payment of three notes to the Deaton Grocery Company, aggregating $5,000, and also to secure said company in future advances to be made to E. W. Turner. The deed of trust contained the statement that the property therein conveyed formed no part of any property owned, used, or claimed by E. W. Turner and wife as exempted from forced sale under the laws of the state of Texas, and that they disclaimed and renounced all and every claim thereto under such law or laws, and designated 100 acres out of the Nacaria Mancha league in Wharton county, Tex., as their homestead, and as constituting all the property of nature similar to that therein conveyed, owned, used, or claimed by them as exempted under said laws.

On November 30, 1904, E. W. Turner filed in the United States District Court at Galveston a voluntary petition ‘in bankruptcy, and was adjudged to be a bankrupt, and J. W. Vann appointed trustee of his estate. The- trustee duly qualified and took charge of the estate, including said lots. On February 28, 1905, the United States District Court entered an order, designating all of said lot No. 12 and a part of lot No. 11 as the homestead of E. W. Turner, but held that a portion of lot 11 was not homestead, which portion is described as follows: Being a part of lot No. 11 in block No. 68, and out of the D. D. D. Baker augmentation. Beginning at the south corner of lot No. 11 in said block; thence north, 63 deg. and 20 min. east, with the southeast line of lot No. 11 to the corner of *295 the building thereon, known and described as the “Knights of Pythias Building,” and at the same time known and described as the “Delaney Saloon Building”; thence north 26 deg. 40 min. west with the end of said building 27 feet 7 inches to its west corner; thence south 63 deg. 20 min. west with the side of said building to the northeast side of the reservation for the Cane Belt (G., C. & S. E. Ry. Co.) right of way; thence south 26 deg. 40 min. east to the place of beginning.

Thereafter said United States District Court made and entered an order, decreeing that the Deaton Grocery Company, under its deed of trust, had a valid lien upon the portion of lot 11 held not to be a part of the homestead of Turner, and ordered same sold in satisfaction of such lien. In obedience to this order, said part of lot 11 was duly sold by the trustee and purchased by appellant for the sum of $675, which amount was paid over to the Deaton Grocery Company. A deed was duly executed and delivered by the trustee, d. W. Vann, to appellant for the premises sold. The Southern Irrigation Company did not file its vendor’s lien notes in the bankruptcy proceedings, and neither the Bay Prairie Irrigation Company nor the Southern Irrigation Company was a party in the bankruptcy proceedings.

On April 25, 1906, Southern Irrigation Company instituted this suit against the Deaton Grocery Company, G. W. Deaton, E. W. Turner and his wife, Lula Turner, for the balance due upon the two vendor’s lien notes, executed by E. W. Turner to the Bay Prairie Irrigation Company, and for interest and attorney’s fees, alleging that on the first note there was due a balance of $95.24 on November 1, 1903, and on the second note a balance of $336.63 on November 30, 1904.

The Deaton Grocery Company filed a general denial. G. W. Deaton, by his amended answer, after demurrer and general denial, set up the execution of the deed of trust before mentioned, the representations therein made by Turner and wife concerning homestead exemptions, the proceedings in bankruptcy, the sale to him of the part of lot 11 by J. W. Vann, trustee, and contended that plaintiff had no lien on the portion of lot 11 sold under the bankruptcy proceedings. He prayed that, should it be held that plaintiff had a lien upon said lots, then it be foreclosed only upon lot 12 and that portion of lot 11 owned by said E. W. Turner, and that it be decreed that plaintiff had no lien on the part of lot 11 bought by him, and that in no event should the property bought by him be charged with more than its proportionate part of plaintiff’s indebtedness, which was alleged to be one-eighth.

E. W. Turner and wife, Lula Turner, admitted the indebtedness claimed by plaintiff, but alleged that lot 12 and the rear part of lot 11 constituted their business homestead, and was set apart to them by the decree in the bankruptcy proceedings of E. W. Turner in the federal court. They prayed that the decree of foreclosure be so rendered as to require the portion of lot No. 11 sold to appellant by the trustee to be first sold for the satisfaction of the plaintiff’s debt, and such other relief as to the court might seem necessary and proper.

On November 29, 1910, judgment was rendered by the court in favor of the Southern Irrigation Company against the defendant E. W. Turner for $647.20, and the further sum of $64.72, attorney’s fees, with interest on said sum of $647.20 from date of judgment at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum, and interest on said sum of $64.72 from date of judgment at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, and foi* costs of suit. Also against all of the defendants for foreclosure of plaintiff’s vendor’s lien on said lots 11 and 12, block 68, in the town of Lane City. The judgment provided that an order of sale issue to the sheriff or any constable of Wharton county, directing him to first seize and sell that part of lot 11 conveyed by J. W. Vann, trustee, to G. W. Deaton, and, if the proceeds of the sale of such portion should be insufficient to satisfy the judgment, then to sell the remainder of said lots in satisfaction of the judgment; but, if the proceeds of the sale of the part ,so conveyed to G. W. Deaton by J. W. Vann should be more than sufficient to satisfy the judgment and costs and expenses of sale, then the surplus to be delivered to G. W. Deaton. Erom this judgment G. W. Deaton has appealed.

Appellant’s three assignments of error complain of the judgment of the court, in so far as the same required that portion of lot 11 conveyed to him by J. W. Vann, trustee in bankruptcy, to be first sold for the satisfaction of the judgment. Briefly stated, his contention is that lot 12 and that part of lot 11 owned by Turner should be first sold for the satisfaction of the judgment, and, in the alternative, should such rule not be correct, then that the portion of lot 11 conveyed to him by J. W. Vann, trustee, should only be sold for its proportionate part of the judgment; the same being worth $500, and the Turner part worth $4,000.

It is contended by appellant that E. W.

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Bluebook (online)
144 S.W. 294, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deaton-v-southern-irr-co-texapp-1912.