Eura Mae Higginbotham Green v. The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company

Fifth Circuit

Eura Mae Higginbotham Green v. The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company

393 F.2d 67

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedJune 19, 1968

Docket24854_1

StatusPublished

Cited by10 cases

This text of 393 F.2d 67 (Eura Mae Higginbotham Green v. The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Eura Mae Higginbotham Green v. The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, 393 F.2d 67 (5th Cir. 1968).

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THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

This diversity suit is the third in a trilogy concerning the ownership of the Humphries survey. See Humphries v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, 5 Cir., 1968, 393 F.2d 69; Beasley v. McFaddin, 5 Cir. 1968, 393 F.2d 68. The heirs in this ease claim only a mineral interest. They urge first that a tax deed in 1850 vested title in the State of Texas and second that if they could have the tax deed set aside, they would be entitled to the minerals rather than appellees. Appellants- joined the Commissioner of the General Land Office and sought a declaratory judgment that the tax deed was invalid. The State of Texas moved to dismiss the Commissioner on the ground of sovereign immunity, and the final judgment of the district court so ordered. The heirs attack this dismissal, contending that the suit could not properly be determined without consideration of the tax deed. Following his opinion in the Humphries and Beasley cases the trial judge granted appellees’ summary judgment without commenting on the validity of the tax deed.

If the tax deed simply vested title in the State of Texas, the well-settled doctrine that a party in a trespass-to-try-title action must recover on the strength of his own title, not the weakness of his opponents', would preclude appellants’ recovery. Thus their only relevant argument is that the tax deed was invalid and that the dismissal of the State of Texas on grounds of sovereign immunity was improper under McGuire v. Sadler, 5th Cir. 1964, 337 F.2d 902 and requires a remand to determine the validity of the tax deed. Whatever the soundness of that argument, our reasoning in Hum-phries and Beasley confirms that all Humphries heirs are without title and renders a remand unnecessary. Appellants cannot use the shield of sovereignty to escape the conclusive effect of their own 125 years of complete non-claim.

Affirmed.

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THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

This diversity suit is the third in a trilogy concerning the ownership of the Humphries survey. See Humphries v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, 5 Cir., 1968, 393 F.2d 69; Beasley v. McFaddin, 5 Cir. 1968, 393 F.2d 68. The heirs in this ease claim only a mineral interest. They urge first that a tax deed in 1850 vested title in the State of Texas and second that if they could have the tax deed set aside, they would be entitled to the minerals rather than appellees. Appellants- joined the Commissioner of the General Land Office and sought a declaratory judgment that the tax deed was invalid. The State of Texas moved to dismiss the Commissioner on the ground of sovereign immunity, and the final judgment of the district court so ordered. The heirs attack this dismissal, contending that the suit could not properly be determined without consideration of the tax deed. Following his opinion in the Humphries and Beasley cases the trial judge granted appellees’ summary judgment without commenting on the validity of the tax deed.

If the tax deed simply vested title in the State of Texas, the well-settled doctrine that a party in a trespass-to-try-title action must recover on the strength of his own title, not the weakness of his opponents', would preclude appellants’ recovery. Thus their only relevant argument is that the tax deed was invalid and that the dismissal of the State of Texas on grounds of sovereign immunity was improper under McGuire v. Sadler, 5th Cir. 1964, 337 F.2d 902 and requires a remand to determine the validity of the tax deed. Whatever the soundness of that argument, our reasoning in Hum-phries and Beasley confirms that all Humphries heirs are without title and renders a remand unnecessary. Appellants cannot use the shield of sovereignty to escape the conclusive effect of their own 125 years of complete non-claim.

Affirmed.

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393 F.2d 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eura-mae-higginbotham-green-v-the-texas-gulf-sulphur-company-ca5-1968.

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