Earwood v. Smart

107 S.W.3d 1, 2002 WL 22377
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 14, 2003
Docket04-00-00867-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 107 S.W.3d 1 (Earwood v. Smart) 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
Earwood v. Smart, 107 S.W.3d 1, 2002 WL 22377 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinions

Opinion by

PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice.

The cause underlying this appeal involves a dispute over whether a conflict exists between two land patents issued by the State of Texas. The appellants contend that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the appel-lees on the defenses of limitations and estoppel by deed. The appellants further contend that the trial court erred in denying their motion for summary judgment because no vacancy existed between two surveys. The appellees, assert a cross-issue contending that the summary judgment could also be affirmed on the defense of adverse possession. Because we con-, elude that the trial court properly granted summary judgment based on estoppel by deed, we do not reach the other issues asserted by the parties. See Tex.R.App. P. 47.1 (opinion should only address issues necessary to final disposition of appeal).

BACKGROUND

In 1880, Surveys 15 and 16 were located and filed in Edwards County, Texas. A land patent was issued for the Survey 15 land in 1881. In 1901, a patent application was filed.for the Survey 16 land. In 1902, G.C. Earwood (“Earwood”) acquired equitable title to the Survey 16 land from the owner of Survey 16. In 1911, the appel-lees’ predecessor in title, R.C. Walker (‘Walker”), commissioned a resurvey of the area (the “Walker Survey”) and asserted that a vacancy existed between Surveys 15 and 16 and the surveys immediately to the east (the Walker Property”).

In 1911, Earwood purchased the surface rights to the Walker Property from Walker. A deed was recorded to reflect this purchase. In 1926, Earwood sold a portion of the Walker Property’s surface rights to Walter F. Whitehead, and the deed contained a reservation reflecting Walker’s ownership of the mineral rights. After this sale, the General Land Office issued Walker a patent for the Walker Property. In 1927, Earwood acquired the Survey 15 land. In 1936, a patent was issued to Earwood for the Survey 16 land. The patent was issued to Earwood as as-signee of J.W. Putnam.

In 1997, gas was discovered. The appellants filed a lawsuit asserting a trespass to try title claim and requesting a judgment be rendered confirming that the appellants were the owners of the Walker Property. EEW Minerals, L.L.C., which is an appellant, intervened in the lawsuit seeking a judgment “clearing [its] title of the cloud caused by [the appellees’] adverse claims [3]*3and quieting title to the mineral estate of the Walker Survey in [the appellants]”.

The appellants filed a motion seeking summary judgment on the basis that no vacancy existed. An expert’s affidavit stating that no vacancy existed was attached to the motion. The appellees responded with an expert’s affidavit stating that a vacancy existed. The appellees also filed a motion seeking summary judgment based on the defenses of statute of limitations, estoppel by deed, and adverse possession. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of appellees based on the statute of limitations and estoppel by deed defenses.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The party moving for summary judgment carnes the burden of establishing that no material fact issue exists and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. v. Steel, 997 S.W.2d 217, 223 (Tex.1999). A defendant moving for summary judgment on an affirmative defense has the burden to conclusively establish that defense. Id. When reviewing a summary judgment, we take as true all evidence favorable to the non-movant. Id. We indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in the nonmovant’s favor. Id.

When competing motions for summary judgment are filed, and one is granted and the other denied, the reviewing court must review the summary judgment evidence presented by both sides and determine all questions presented. Commissioners Court of Titus County v. Agan, 940 S.W.2d 77, 81 (Tex.1997). We are required to consider all summary judgment grounds the trial court ruled on and the movant preserved for appellate review that are necessary for final disposition of the appeal. Cincinnati Life Ins. Co. v. Cates, 927 S.W.2d 623, 626 (Tex.1996).

Estoppel by Deed

The appellants contend that the trial court also erred in granting summary judgment on the basis of the appellees’ estoppel by deed defense. The appellees contend that the appellants are estopped by the recitals in the 1911 deed from Walker to Earwood, the 1926 deed from Earwood to Whitehead, and the Survey 16 patent.

With regard to the Survey 16 patent, the appellees contend that the land described in the patent recognized the Walker Property. However, the field notes from the original survey controls over the field notes in the patent for purposes of determining the actual land conveyed. Atlantic Refining Co. v. Noel, 443 S.W.2d 35, 38 (Tex.1968) (quoting Morrill v. Bartlett, 58 Tex. 644, 649 (1883)). The commissioner of the General Land Office is not authorized to change the call of the field notes from the original survey’s field notes in issuing a patent, and the commissioner is not authorized to divest property rights by accepting a resurvey. Id. at 38-39. Accordingly, the appellants are not estopped from relying on the property rights acquired based on the original survey even if the field notes in the patent vary from the original survey’s field notes.

With regal'd to the deeds, the appellees assert that the appellants are estopped from denying Walker’s ownership interest in the Walker Property because the deeds recognized that ownership interest. The appellees rely on Greene v. White, 137 Tex. 361, 153 S.W.2d 575 (Tex.1941), which in turn relies on Waco Bridge Co. v. City of Waco, 85 Tex. 320, 20 S.W. 137 (Tex.1892).

In Waco Bridge Co., the plaintiff, Waco Bridge Co., purchased the land at issue from W.B. and S.B. Trice. See id. at 137. Waco Bridge Co. introduced a series of [4]*4deeds and testimony into evidence in an effort to show that title to the land passed from A.J. Buchanan to the Trices, but no written instrument was executed to reflect that conveyance. See id. at 138-39. The defendant introduced into evidence a deed from D.C. and J.D. Giddings that the defendant claimed was the source of plaintiffs’ title and which contained a reservation of three public roads. Id. at 137. In analyzing the two possible sources of the Trices’ title to the land conveyed to Waco Bridge Co., the court noted:

Plaintiffs only evidence of title to the entire two acres was through the deed to it from the Trices, and the Giddings deed is the only conveyance shown by the evidence to have ever been made to the Trices, or either of them. The only evidence that we find of title in the Trices from any other source was given by Buchanan.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 S.W.3d 1, 2002 WL 22377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/earwood-v-smart-texapp-2003.