First Nat. Bank in Wellington v. McClellan

105 S.W.2d 394
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1937
DocketNo. 4699.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 105 S.W.2d 394 (First Nat. Bank in Wellington v. McClellan) 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
First Nat. Bank in Wellington v. McClellan, 105 S.W.2d 394 (Tex. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

HALL, Chief Justice.

The appellee, Len McClellan, sued F. O. Smith, Tip Mooney, and First National Bank in Wellington in trespass to try title to recover the north one-half of section 690, block D, in Yoakum county. He alleged that T. C. Spearman is the comomn source of title; that F. O. Smith purchased the land and assumed the payment of notes numbered 2 and 7 of a series of notes for $285 each, and that Smith also executed certain other notes not necessary to be described, and further as part of the consideration assumed the balance of the original purchase price due the State of Texas; that the notes executed by Smith were duly assigned to ap-pellee, McClellan; that Smith defaulted in the payment of said notes, and appellee agreed to accept a deed from Smith and wife conveying the land and to cancel the notes executed by Smith; that the deal was consummated; that Smith conveyed the land to appellee and said notes were canceled, after which appellee took possession of the property; that thereafter appellee paid the two $285 notes which Smith had assumed; that at some time unknown to appellee the said Smith and wife executed a mineral deed to Tip Mooney, conveying a one-half interest in and to all oil, gas, and other minerals in and under said land, which deed was filed in Yoakum county February 28, 1927; that appellee had already agreed with Smith, on February 24, 1927, to accept a deed to said land and cancel said notes; that Mooney conveyed the one-half of said mineral estate to -appellant bank herein, *396 which conveyance was filed in Yoakum county February 8, 1935.

Appellee pleaded that said mineral deed constituted a cloud upon his title, and prayed that it be removed. He further prayed, in the alternative, for a foreclosure of his lien upon all of the land in satisfaction of his debt, and for the recovery of title to all of said land.

The appellant pleaded not guilty, and alleged that at the time Smith (who has not appealed) purchased the property involved from H. C. Raphelt, on March 2, 1925, he assumed the payment of two notes in the sum of $285 each which had been given as part of the purchase price, and executed and delivered to Raphelt one note for $214, one for $220, seven for $300 each, and one for $100, and also assumed the payment of an indebtedness of $1,560 payable to the State of Texas; that all of said items of indebtedness were secured by a vendor’s lien against the property involved in this suit; that Smith had defaulted in the payment of the debts, the interest, and taxes, and alleged that Smith was unable to pay the same; that in 1927, at the request of defendant Smith, appellee agreed to accept a deed to' the property in cancellation of the indebtedness, and surrender of the purchase-money notes which the appellee had acquired from Raphelt, all ten of them being still unpaid.

Appellee further pleaded that the conveyance of the premises was for the purpose of saving the time and expense of foreclosure and in lieu of foreclosure, and was made with the intention to vest title to the property in appellee, unencumbered except as to the state debt and the two notes for $285 each assumed by Smith.

Appellee further pleaded that with all of the vendor’s lien notes of record, including the transfer to the appellee of the ten notes executed by Smith to Raphelt, appellee, at Smith’s request, agreed to take the property and relieve Smith of his obligation; that Smith delivered his deed conveying the property to the appellee, which was dated February 19, 1927, and acknowledged on February 26, 1927, conveying the property in cancellation of the indebtedness as aforesaid and the surrender of the ten notes; that thereafter appellee paid the other outstanding vendor’s lien notes, paid all delinquent taxes, and executed to the State of Texas new purchase-money notes.

The appellee further pleaded that shortly before he filed this suit on December 7, 1935, he learned that a deed had been filed for record, purporting to have been executed by Smith to Mooney on February 24, 1927, which was five days after the date of Smith’s deed to appellee and two days before .it was acknowledged, and that deed purported to convey to Mooney an undivided one-half interest in the minerals in the land involved.

Appellee pleaded further that the appellant was claiming the mineral rights through a deed dated November 16, 1934, from Mooney to the bank, executed about seven and one-half years after the appellee had acquired title from Smith and had his deed recorded. He pleaded the proper registration of liens; actual and constructive notice to the defendants of the rights to which he became subrogated; that he was ignorant of any of the alleged transactions among the defendants, and of the fraudulent purposes on the part of defendants; and prayed in the alternative for a foreclosure.

The appellee objects to a consideration of appellant’s brief because no copy was filed in the trial court, and the brief was not filed in this court within the time required by R.S. art. 2283, and moves that the appeal be dismissed for this reason. No previous motion has ever been made to strike the briefs because they were not filed in time, and this constitutes a waiver. It appears that appellee has had full time in which to brief the case, and has not been injured, so the motion is overruled.

Appellee further insists that the case is not properly before us for consideration because appellant does not attack the judgment nor the sufficiency of the evidence, and is bound by the actual and implied findings of the court; that there is no offer to redeem, and no allegation that any such offer was ever made.

The record shows that appellant duly excepted to the judgment. This is a sufficient basis upon which appellant may attack the judgment upon legal grounds and question the sufficiency of the evidence to support it. 3 Tex.Jur. §§ 163, 415; R.S. art. 2210.

The appellant has briefed the case upon the mistaken theory that appellee, McClellan, is seeking to foreclose his vendor’s lien upon the land, and insists that the rule which obtains in foreclosure proceedings where the mortgagor has sold separate parcels of the mortgaged property that the court should order the property sold in the inverse order of alienation. That rule can *397 have no application to this case because when the mortgagor, Smith, conveyed all of the property to McClellan by deed dated February 19, 1927, which was acknowledged February 26, 1927, he divested himself of all title both to the surface and mineral estate, unless it can be held that his deed to Mooney of a half interest in the mineral estate, dated February 24, 1927, acknowledged the same day, and filed for record February 28, 1927, can be given the effect of transferring the interest in such mineral estate to Mooney. This interest was after-wards acquired by the appellant bank. The deed from Smith to McClellan was in effect a foreclosure of Smith’s liens by agreement of the parties, but it did not have the effect of merging the legal and equitable titles in McClellan, since the equitable rule which obtains in mortgage foreclosures, where the mortgagor, after the execution of the lien, has sold the property or a portion thereof in separate parcels, does not apply. The remedies of the parties interested in the land rest upon a different basis and must be enforced through different proceedings.

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Related

Jones v. Ford
583 S.W.2d 821 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Tex-Wash Enterprises, Inc. v. Fillmore
478 S.W.2d 623 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1972)
First Nat. Bank in Wellington v. McClellan
117 S.W.2d 807 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
105 S.W.2d 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-nat-bank-in-wellington-v-mcclellan-texapp-1937.