Dennis v. Bellah

78 S.W.2d 653
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 5, 1934
DocketNo. 12973
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 78 S.W.2d 653 (Dennis v. Bellah) 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
Dennis v. Bellah, 78 S.W.2d 653 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

POWER, Justice.

On October 2, 1917, J. D. Bellah was the owner of a certain tract of land described as lot No. 10 in block No. 29, except 10 feet off of the south end of said lot, in Cheek’s addition to the town of St. Jo, Montague county, Tex., and on that date by general warranty deed he deeded the property to T. E. Bryant. The consideration for the transfer was $50 in cash and the execution and delivery of a vendor’s lien note in the sum of $300, dated October 2, 1917, and due October,-1, 1918. The note was signed by the grantee, T. E. Bryant, and the deed showing a full history of the transaction was filed and recorded in April, 1920.

.No other record is shown of said note an,d no other reference to said note is made in the statement of facts until the 6th day of May, 1925, when a deed was executed by T. E. Bryant and wife to the property described to B. E. Lewis and R. L. Mann for a consideration o.f $4,700 in cash and the assumption of the payment of a $300 vendor’s lien note outstanding against the real estate and as described in the deed from J. D. Bellah to T. E. Bryant. This deed was filed and recorded in May, 1925.

On July 27,1925, R. L. Mann and wife deeded their interest in said lot to B. E. Lewis in consideration of $400 cash in hand paid and the further consideration of B. E. Lewis assuming'and agreeing to pay all outstanding indebtedness against the business conducted by R. L. Mann and B. E. Lewis, consisting of a note for $3,000 due to the Lindsay Bank of Gainesville, $945 due to the Citizens’ National Bank of St. Jo, $300 due J. D. Bellah, and a further sum of $740 due the Citizens’ National Bank of St. Jo. This deed was filed and recorded in November, 1925.

On -the 15th day of March, 1927-, J. D. Bel-lah and B. E. Lewis executed an extension of indebtedness and lien, using the following language in part;

[654]*654“Whereas, J. D. Bellah, did, on the 2nd day of October, 1917, by a warranty deed of that date, of record in volume-page-of the Deed Records of Montague County, Texas, bargain, sell and convey to T. E. Bryant, the following real property, lying and being situated in the County of Montague, Texas, to-wit:
“All of Lot No. 10, Block #20, except 10 feet off of South end in Cheek’s Addition to Saint Jo, Montague County, Texas, and did in said deed retain a vendor’s lien on said property to secure the balance of the purchase money for said property, as follows, towit:
“One note dated October 2, 1917, and due on or before October 1, 1918, with interest at the rate of 10% per annum, payable annually at the First National Bank of Saint Jo, Texas, and later extended to mature on the 1st day of October, 1922.
“And whereas, said indebtedness is about to mature, and will, in fact, mature on the 1st day of October, 1922, and then become due and payable, and the vendor’s lien thereunder will become enforceable by foreclosure proceedings against said described property, and.B. E. Lewis, the Assumptor of said indebtedness is desirous of renewing and extending said indebtedness so as to make same mature on the 1st day of October, 1927.”

This extension of lien was filed and recorded in March, 1927.

In June, 1929, B. E. Lewis and S. H. Camp executed a promissory note payable to the defendant H. L. Dennis in the sum of $3,500, and at the same time executed and delivered to the defendant I-I. L. Dennis a deed of trust on lot No. 10, in block No. 29, except 10 feet off of the south end, in Cheek’s addition to the city of St. Jo. This deed of trust was filed and recorded in June, 1929.

On September 8,1931, J. D. Bellah filed suit for the collection of the $300¡ note dated October 2, 1917, and due October 1,1918, against B. E. Lewis and H. L. Dennis, asking for foreclosure of the lien on lot Np. 10, in block No. 29, as heretofore described. Both defendants pleaded that, under the facts outlined by the execution and recording of the various instruments, the note was barred by the four years’ statute of limitation.

Evidence was introduced tending to show that at the time of the execution of the extension agreement it was understood as between Bellah and Lewis that it was their intention to extend the due date and lien on lot 10, in block 29, as heretofore described in the deed from Bellah to Bryant; but the evidence further shows that the defendant Dennis had no actual knowledge of the intention of Lewis and Bellah.

The cause was submitted to the jury on two special issues:

“1. Do you find from the preponderance of the evidence that the $300.00 indebtedness due J. D. Bellah as mentioned in the deed from R. L. Mann and wife to B. E. Lewis, was intended by Mann and Lewis to refer to the debt in controversy in this suit?” To which the jury answered: Yes.
“2. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that in the extension agreement between B. E. Lewis and J. D. Bellah, dated March 15, 1927, that B: E. Lewis and J. D. Bellah intended that said instrument should describe the property as being in Block 29 instead of Block 20?” To which the jury answered: Yes.

Based upon the evidence and answers of the jury to the questions propounded, the court entered judgment that said J. D. Bellah recover from B. E. Lewis the debt, interest, and attorneys’ feés, and adjudged further that plaintiff’s vendor’s lien on lot 10, block 29, as heretofore described, be foreclosed, both as to defendants B. E. Lewis and H. L. Dennis. Lewis did not appeal from the judgment and the record is before us only as to defendant Dennis. This appellant reserved proper exceptions both as to the pleading and introduction of evidence fully protecting himself as to the record.

The questions to be determined are: (1) Was the assumption of the note in suit by the grantee in the deed from Bryant and wife to Mann and Lewis sufficient in' law to give no-dice to Dennis? (2) Was the assumption in the deed from Mann and wife to Lewis of the $300 due J. D. Bellah sufficient in law to take the note and lien out of the bar of limitation against the subsequent good faith lienholder? (3) Was the extension agreement between Lewis and Bellah sufficient in law to extend the note in suit and the lien securing same as against a subsequent good faith lienholder?

Article 5521, Rev. Civ. St. 1925, reads as follows: “Purchase money or mortgage lien notes relating to real estate shall conclusively be presumed to have been paid after four years from the date of maturity of such notes unless extended as provided by law.”

By Act of the Legislature 1931 (chapter 136, § 1), effective August 23,1931, article 5521, as above quoted, was repealed. Prior to September 21, 1925, article 5522, Rev. Oiv. Stat[655]*655utes, read: “When the date of maturity of either debt referred to in either of the foregoing articles is extended, if the contract of extension is signed and acknowledged as provided for in the law relating to the execution of deeds of conveyance hy the party or parties obligated to pay such indebtedness as extended and filed for record in the county clerk’s office in the county in which the land is situated, the lien shall continue and be in force until four years after maturity of the notes as provided in such extension, the same as in the original contract and the lien shall so continue for any succeeding or additional extension so made and recorded.

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Related

Neece v. Carter
129 S.W.2d 329 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1939)
Bellah v. Dennis
104 S.W.2d 490 (Texas Supreme Court, 1937)

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Bluebook (online)
78 S.W.2d 653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennis-v-bellah-texapp-1934.