Durham v. Scrivener

270 S.W. 161
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMarch 18, 1925
DocketNo. 619-4125
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 270 S.W. 161 (Durham v. Scrivener) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Durham v. Scrivener, 270 S.W. 161 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1925).

Opinion

BISHOP, J.

On May 9, 1919, Chas. P. Scrivener by his deed conveyed to W. M. Campbell a one-eighth undivided interest in 621 acres of land, being the B. P. Blount survey, 331 acres, the A. A. Durfee survey, and 640 acres, the Lucinda Meadows survey, in consideration of $1,600 cash. Said Scrivener and W. B. Wortham on the same day executed to said Campbell a deed to a one-fourth undivided interest in an oil and gas permit on the Durfee school land survey No. 2 for the consideration of $3,400.

The Durfee Mineral Company, a joint-stock company, and Durfee Mineral Company, a foreign corporation, acquired from Campbell and others a portion of the Dur-fee survey, including this undivided interest therein. T. H. Bass, trustee, secured from Durfee Mineral Companies an oil lease on the land and conveyed same to the Bass Petroleum Company, who, prior to May 10, 1919, had produced from said land oil to the value of $225,000. The Cordell Petroleum Company acquired the Meadows survey and part of the Durfee survey from, Campbell and others, including this undivided interest therein, and executed oil leases to innocent purchasers, for which it received $200,000.

This is a suit by defendants in error, Scrivener and Wortham, to cancel the two deeds on account of fraudulent misrepresentations made to them by R. L. Durham, their attor[162]*162ney, who had entered into a conspiracy with Campbell to defraud them of their property by securing same for a grossly inadequate consideration, and to recover damages by reason of the oil leases granted to innocent purchasers, and also to recover for the value of the oil wrongfully extracted from the land and disposed of by the Bass Petroleum Company.

All the parties named • above, except defendants in error, togéther with others not' necessary to here mention, were made parties defendant.

Subsequent to the filing of this suit, the state of Oklahoma instituted a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States against the state of Texas, claiming sovereignty over lands, including the lands described in the two deeds executed to Campbell, and claiming proprietary ownership of said lands. The United States intervened in said suit, claiming some of the lands therein involved, and also involved in this suit, as trustee for certain Indians, and also claiming a proprietary ownership of other portions thereof. Certain placer claimants, under the laws of the United States, also intervened.' On petition of the United States, the Supreme Court appointed a receiver, who qualified, and on April 24, 1920, took into his possession the lands involved in that suit, which included the lands described in the deeds- to Campbell. Thereafter when this suit came to trial in the district court, the defendants therein filed and presented their motion to abate same- because the lands involved herein were in the hands of a receiver under the facts as above recited. This motion was overruled, and on trial judgment was rendered in .favor of defendants in error, Scrivener and Wortham, and against all of the defendants here named, together with other- defendants not necessary here to mention, canceling* the two deeds executed to Campbell as prayed for. Judgment was also -rendered in favor of Chas. P. Scrivener against W. M. Campbell, R. L..Durham, and the. Cordell Petroleum Company, jointly and severally, -for the sum of $21,183.33; same being damagesi sustained by reason of leases executed to innocent purchasers. It was' further adjudged that Chas. P. Scrivener recover from W. M. Campbell, R. D. Durham, the two Durfee Mineral Companies, T. H. Bass, trustee, and Bass Petroleum Company, jointly and severally, the sum of $22,851; same being, 13/i28 of $225,000, the value of the oil taken from the land by the Bass Petroleum Company, ■ and this being the interest to which' the court found Scrivener was entitled.

• On appeal the Court of Civil Appeals held that T. H. Bass, trustee, and Bass Petroleum ■Company were innocent purchasers to- the extent of a .portion of the consideration 'paid: for the lease and reverse the judgment against them, and that portion of the judgment against them and R. D. Durham and W. M. Campbell for $22,851, and remanded the cause as to this portion of the judgment, but in all other respects affirmed the judgment of the district court. 259 S. W. 606.

R. L. Durham, W. M. Campbell, and the Cordell Petroleum Company filed their application for writ of error, which was by the Supreme Court granted.

Plaintiffs in error' insist that the district court was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the issue involved in this suit because the land described in the deeds sought to be canceled was in the actual possession of the receiver appointed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the casé of State of Oklahoma against the state of Texas. As sustaining this claim they cited the opinion in the case of Wabash Ry. Co. v. Adelbert College, by the Supreme Court of the United States, 208 U. S. 54, 28 S. Ct. 187, 52 L. Ed. 386. From this opinion we quote the following:

“When a court of competent jurisdiction has, by appropriate proceedings, taken property into' its possession through its officers, the property is thereby withdrawn from the jurisdiction of all other courts. The latter courts, though of concurrent jurisdiction, are without power to render any judgment which invades or disturbs the possession of the property while it is' in the custody of the court which has seized it. For the purpose of avoiding injustice which otherwise might result, a court during the continuance of its possession has, as incident thereto and as ancillary to the suit in which the possession was acquired, jurisdiction to hear - and determine all questions respecting the title, the possession or the control of the property.”

We think the rule is here clearly stated! The court, having taken possession of the res, has exclusive jurisdiction to determine all issues in regard thereto, which can be said to have been in contemplation of, the court in taking possession. The district court in this case was “without power to render any judgment which” would invade or disturb the possession of the property while in the custody of the Supreme Court of the United States. The question here to be determined is whether, by their suit in the district court, -the defendants in error sought in any way to interfere with the Supreme Court’s possession of the property, and whether the judgment rendered therein invaded or disturbed its possession. ' If there was no attempt to interfere with the receiver’s possession of the property, the rule here sought to be invoked cannot apply to this case; for, if the reason for the rule does not exist, the rule does not apply.

The purpose for which the receiver was appointed was to prevent wa^te'and to conserve the petroleum products of the land so [163]*163that the proceeds derived from production might'ultimately he awarded to the rightful owners. It was not contemplated that the receiver was to be authorized by the court to sell and convey title to land owned by any individual. The purpose of that suit was to determine whether the land involved lay within the boundaries of the state of Oklahoma or the state of .Texas, and whether same or any part thereof belonged to the United States.

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Bluebook (online)
270 S.W. 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/durham-v-scrivener-texcommnapp-1925.