Duke v. Squibb

392 S.W.2d 885
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 20, 1965
Docket7641
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 392 S.W.2d 885 (Duke v. Squibb) 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
Duke v. Squibb, 392 S.W.2d 885 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

FANNING, Justice.

A summary judgment case. Julia Duke Squibb, John Bradley Underwood and Robert Duke Underwood sued James Robert Duke, Jr. and wife, Dorothy Duke, alleging that plaintiffs and defendant James Robert Duke, Jr. were joint owners of real and personal property belonging to the estate of James Robert Duke, Sr., deceased, that the personal property was subject to partition in kind and that the real estate, consisting of a house and lot located in Dallas County, occupied by defendant and his wife, was not subject to partition in kind, but that said house and lot should be sold and the proceeds be paid to the joint owners according to their interests, etc. Plaintiffs’ suit was filed August 14, 1963.

Defendants in their first amended answer, filed Feb. 25, 1964, contended, among other things, to the effect that in any partition they were entitled to be paid on three claims (A, B & C) they had against said estate, claim A being a claim of Dorothy Duke for nursing services for James Robert Duke, Sr., deceased, for the period of June 1, 1959 to Feb. 1960, with interest, said claim A totalling $4,284.00, claim B being a similar claim for nursing services in the same amount by James Robert Duke, Jr., and claim C being a claim of James Robert Duke, Jr. and wife, Dorothy Duke, for various itemized items of taxes on the said house and lot, fire and casualty insurance premiums, various items of improvement and repair to said property, paid by them from Jan. 1, 1960, through the years 1960, 61, 62, and through December 1963, with all of said items and interest thereon totalling the sum of $2,606.10. Defendants further alleged that there were not sufficient assets of personal property in said estate to pay said claims and that such claims were liens against the real estate and in effect should be paid from proceeds arising from the sale of the real estate, the principal asset remaining of the estate.

Defendants, in their first and second supplemental answers, alleged in effect that in consideration of the nursing services rendered by them as shown in their claims A and B, James Robert Duke, Sr., deceased, and his deceased wife executed and delivered a warranty deed to defendants conveying to defendants fee simple title to the house and lot in question, but that later, on Aug. 28, 1962, a judgment was entered in the 44th District Court of Dallas County, Texas, setting aside said deed and declaring such deed null and void, and that the said judgment on Aug. 28, 1962, caused and effected the total consideration for said deed to fail, and that the nursing claims, A and B, were from and after the date of Aug. 28, 1962, unpaid and due to defendants, and that claims A, B and C should be paid to them out of the assets of the estate, etc.

*887 Plaintiffs in their second amended motion for summary judgment, among other things, contended to the effect that the claims of defendants were barred by the two year statute of limitations in that James Robert Duke, Sr. died on Feb. 9, 1960, and that defendants’ claims therefor were not asserted until Feb. 25, 1964, more than four years after the death of James Robert Duke, Sr., and further contention was made by plaintiffs that under Rule 97(a), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the claims of defendants were compulsory counter-claims, and should have been asserted by said defendants as compulsory counter-claims in Cause No. 53715H, styled “Julia Duke Squibb, et al vs. James Robert Duke, Jr., et ux”, in the 44th District Court of Dallas County, Texas.

While plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment referred to said cause No. 53715H, no sworn or certified copies of the pleadings and judgment in said Cause No. 53715H were attached to said motion. None of the proceedings or papers in said Cause No. 53715H appear in the record in this cause. The judgment of the trial court, however, does contain a recital that the pleadings and judgment in said Cause No. 53715H were considered.

The trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, denying all claims of defendants, ordering partition, etc. Defendants have appealed.

The recent case of Great American R. Ins. Co. v. San Antonio Pl. Sup. Co., Tex.Sup.Ct., 391 S.W.2d 41, (June, 1965) states the principles of law applicable to the determination of whether a summary judgment should be granted. We quote from the court’s opinion in part as follows:

“This is a summary judgment case; and in answering the above question, we must follow certain rules laid down by this Court. Rule 166-A Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, provides that summary judgment shall be rendered if it is shown that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. The burden of proof is on the movant, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue as to a material fact are resolved against him. Tigner v. First Nat’l Bank, 153 Tex. 69, 264 S.W.2d 85 (1954); Gulbenkian v. Penn, 151 Tex. 412, 252 S.W.2d 929 (1952). In other words, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Valley Stockyards Co. v. Kinsel, 369 S.W.2d 19 (Tex.Sup.1963); Smith v. Bolin, 153 Tex. 486, 271 S.W.2d 93 (1954). If the motion involves the credibility of affiants or deponents, or the weight of the showings or a mere ground of inference, the motion should not be granted. All conflicts in the evidence are disregarded, and the evidence which tends to support the position of the party opposing the motion is accepted as true. Cowden v. Bell, 157 Tex. 44, 300 S.W.2d 286 (1957); Smith v. Bolin, supra; Gulbenkian v. Penn, supra. Evidence which favors the movant’s position is not considered unless it is uncontradicted. If such un-contradicted evidence is from an interested witness, it cannot be considered as doing more than raising an issue of fact, unless it is clear, direct and positive and there are no circumstances in evidence tending to discredit or impeach such testimony. Cochran v. Woolgrowers Central Storage Co., 140 Tex. 184, 166 S.W.2d 904 (1943). This exception is especially true where the opposite party has the means and opportunity of disproving the testimony, if it is not true, and fails to do so. Valley Stockyards Co. v. Kinsel, supra; James T. Taylor & Son, Inc. v. Arlington Ind. School Dist., 160 Tex. 617, 335 S.W.2d 371 (1960); Owen Dev. Co. v. Calvert, 157 Tex. 212, 302 S.W.2d 640 at 642 (1957); McGuire v. City of Dallas, 141 Tex. 170, 170 S.W.2d 722 (1943); Simonds v. *888 Stanolind Oil & Gas Co., 134 Tex. 332 [114 S.W.2d 226],

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