Fernandez v. Cano

108 S.W.2d 310, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 827
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 9, 1937
DocketNo. 10067.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 108 S.W.2d 310 (Fernandez v. Cano) 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
Fernandez v. Cano, 108 S.W.2d 310, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 827 (Tex. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

MURRAY, Justice.

This suit was originally instituted by Juan Cano, on April 19, 1933, as'the owner of an undivided one-ninth interest in the estate of his deceased mother, Santos Trevino de Cano, against Amador Fernandez and Tomas Cano, independent executor of the estate of Santos Trevino de Cano, deceased, seeking to set aside the sale of approximately 150 acres of land conveyed by Tomas Cano as such independent executor to Amador .Fernandez, made on the 1st day of December, 1931, for a consideration of $1,200.

On December 8, 1935, an amended original petition was filed, in which a number of the other heirs of Santos Trevino de Cano were made parties plaintiff in the suit.

On January 7, 1936, Juan Cano and the other plaintiffs below, who, with the exception of the independent executor, Tomas Cano, were the devisees, or legal representatives of devisees, under the last will and testament of Santos Trevino de Cano, deceased, filed their second amended original petition which, together with two trial amendments, constituted the pleadings upon which the plaintiffs went to trial below. •

Santos Trevino de Cano died in Hidalgo county on the 8th day of February, 1930, leaving a will in which Tomas Cano was named as independent executor. The will was duly probated and Tomas Cano qualified as such independent executor. The will provided that the property belonging to the estate, or any part thereof, might be sold at public or private sale by the executor for the purpose of paying the debts of the estate, or provided the heirs should refuse to enter into a partition of the property.

It is alleged that although the executor had been offered as high as $30 per acre for the land belonging to the estate, he held a purported public sale of all the property belonging to the estate and sold same for a consideration of $1,200 to Amador Fernandez. It is further alleged that said sale was made in furtherance of a conspiracy between the executor, Tomas Cano, and Ama-dor Fernandez, and for the purpose of defrauding the plaintiffs below, who are the appellees here, of their interest in the estate.

Amador Fernandez, who is the appellant here, filed a cross-action in the nature of a trespass to try title, seeking to recover the land here involved from the appellees. Ap- • pellees alleged that the land was worth $5,000, and that the reasonable rental value of the same was $500 per year. They also sought exemplary damages.

The trial was before the court without a jury, and after the court had announced that he would find for the appellees and restore the title of the property to the estate of Santos Trevino de Cano, deceased, the appellees dismissed that part of their cause of action wherein they sought to recover rents and exemplary damages, and the court entered judgment setting aside the purported sale of the land and restoring the title of the same to the estate of Santos Trevino de Cano, deceased, except as to the one-ninth interest of Tomas Cano, who had filed a disclaimer to any interest in the land.

Amador Fernandez contends that the court should have sustained his general demurrer to the pleadings of the appellees, because there was no offer to return the $1,200 bid by him for the land, together, with interest from December 1, 1931, to the date of the purported sale. Appellant has not pointed out to us where appellees have alleged that this $1,200 was ever actually paid. The proof shows that this $1,200 was not in fact paid by Fernandez, but merely that an offset was allowed against a claim held by him against the estate of Santos *312 Trevino de Cano, deceased. There is in appellees’ pleadings an offer to do equity. Under such circumstances, the court did not err in overruling appellant’s general demurrer.

Appellant, Fernandez, contends that the appellees’ 'cause of action was barred by the 4-year statute of limitation (Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 5529), because none of them, other than Juan Cano, filed any suit attacking the executor’s sale until the 9th day of December, 1936, which was more than 4 years after the sale had been made. We overrule this contention. When Juan Cano, one of the heirs and devisees under the will, instituted this suit on April 19, 1933, running of the statute of limitation was interrupted. It is clear that when one cotenant, who has an undivided interest in the entire tract of land, brings a suit to set aside the sale of such land, the running of the statute of limitation is interrupted and Juan Cano, even though not joined by the other devisees under the will, could have maintained this suit for the recovery of the entire tract of land of which he had an undivided interest, and the fact that the other cotenants did not join him in the original suit was immaterial. In 11 Tex. Jur. p. 498, etc., it is stated:

“It is never amiss for all the cotenants to join in an action concerning the common property against a stranger. Joinder, is not always necessary, however. Perhaps the true rule is that one cotenant alone may maintain a suit as against a stranger for the recovery or protection of any property in which he has a right or estate extending to the entire subject matter, whether his title be legal or equitable. Thus he may recover the entire common estate in an action of trespass to try title instituted in his own name. But he cannot maintain such a suit to recover rents or damages to the common property, whether real or personal, for the chose in action in such case is not held in strict coparcenary; he can recover at most his individual loss, and only that where the defendant waives the want of other parties. Since individual loss is personal to him and may be waived without prejudice to his cotenants, they have no interest in its recovery. Thus the logical test is, interest in the subj ect matter as an entirety.”

In Naugher v. Patterson, 9 Tex.Civ.App. 168, 28 S.W. 582, 585, the court said:

“The trial court permitted a recovery by appellees of all the land sued for, and of all the money on hand by appellant belonging to the estate of Patterson, and for all of the rents received by him arising from the lands in controversy, upon the theory that a part of the tenants in common are entitled to the entire estate against a trespasser or one without title. This is the correct doctrine as to the possession of the real estate of the tenants; but as to the damages to the estate, or rents arising from it, or as to moneys due the tenants in common, it is held that the tenants suing can only recover the share they are entitled to.”

As the trial court did not render judgment for any rents due, or damages to the estate, but merely restored the title to the land to the decedent’s estate, appellant’s plea of limitation was properly overruled by the trial court.

The cause of action was properly brought when Juan Cano instituted the original proceedings, and limitation did not thereafter run against any of the cotenants, in so far as the recovery of the land is concerned.

Appellant pleaded that Rufino Cano and Jacobo Cano executed to him quitclaim deeds as to their interest in the 150 acres of land here involved. It is apparent that if these quitclaim deeds were valid appellant was entitled to recoven the interest of these heirs, regardless of whether the sale by the executor was set aside or not.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
108 S.W.2d 310, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fernandez-v-cano-texapp-1937.