First National Bank of Wichita Falls v. First Bank of Chico

285 S.W.2d 286, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 2259
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 9, 1955
Docket15654
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 285 S.W.2d 286 (First National Bank of Wichita Falls v. First Bank of Chico) 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 National Bank of Wichita Falls v. First Bank of Chico, 285 S.W.2d 286, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 2259 (Tex. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

BOYD, Justice.

Appellee, The First Bank of Chico, Texas, a private bank owned by R. Lee Morris, filed this suit against J. S. Neville for debt and for foreclosure of chattel mortgage liens on cattle, and against appellant, The First National Bank of Wichita Falls, for a decree establishing the Chico Bank’s mortgages as superior liens on the cattle. The Wichita Bank answered, claiming prior liens on the cattle, and prayed for such adjudication and for judgment against Neville for debt and foreclosure of its liens. Trial was to the court, and judgment was rendered for the Chico Bank against Neville for $83,239.56, against the Wichita Bank and Neville for $11,694.01, and against Howell E. Smith, trustee, for $8,952.32. Judgment was rendered for the Wichita Bank against Neville for $55,836.23. The Wichita Bank and the trustee have appealed.

All the cattle in controversy had been sold before the suit was filed. The dispute between the Banks was as to priority of liens, and adjustment of pasturage and feed charges.

*288 There were 406 cattle involved in the suit. Both Banks claimed superio'r liens. The court found that the Chico Bank had superior liens on 168 of the cattle, and that the Wichita Bank had superior liens on 238 of the cattle.

The Wichita Bank had furnished Neville money with which to buy cattle for approximately twenty years. When the cattle were bought, Neville would usually pay for them with a draft on the Wichita Bank, and would promptly go to the Bank and make a note for the amount. In every instance, the Wichita Bank took a mortgage on the cattle so purchased and forthwith filed them for registration in the counties where the cattle were located. ' Each mortgage contained the following provisions: “Also all other cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and other livestock situated in said County aforesaid now owned, or that may be hereafter acquired, by said mortgagor, until this mortgage is released in full, save and except such livestock as may be herein especially reserved * * * and as well to secure the payment of all other indebtedness now owing said bank, and any and all indebtedness hereafter to become owing said bank, its successors, assigns or legal representatives, whether evidenced by note, overdraft, or otherwise, * * None of sáid mortgages has been released.

The cattle on which the Chico Bank claims the superior lien are not described in any mortgage given to the Wichita Bank. They were bought by Neville on March 2, 1951, in payment for which he drew a draft on the Chico Bank pursuant to an agreement with that Bank that the Bank would furnish the money' for the purchase of cattle, and that title to the cattle would be in said Bank until they were paid for by Neville. On March 6, 1951, the draft was received and paid by the Chico Bank and charged to Neville’s account as an overdraft. On March 12, 1951, Neville executed his note for the amount of his overdraft and executed a mortgage on the cattle to the Chico Bank. The note and mortgage were dated March 1, 1951. The mortgage was not registered until November 3, 1952. The Wichita Bank had ho knowledge of the existence of that mortgage until the late summer or early fall of 1952. In addition to the Wichita Bank’s claim that its several mortgages theretofore given by Neville covered future acquired cattle, it took from Neville two mortgages after the 'Chico Bank’s mortgage was executed, but before it was registered and before the Wichita Bank had any knowledge of its existence. One of such mortgages was dated June 15, 1951, and the other July 19, 1951. Neither of those mortgages described the cattle on which the Chico Bank claims the prior lien, but both particularly described other cattle located on the Morris ranch in Clay County, and both purport to cover and include “all other cattle, * * * that may be hére-after acquired, by said mortgagor.”

In the fall of 1952, after each Bank learned for the first time that Neville was dealing with the other, and when a controversy had arisen between them as to priority of liens, it was agreed by the Banks and Neville .that on .account of the depressed condition of the market, the cattle then owned by Neville on which each Bank claimed to have superior liens should, not be sold but should be carried through the winter. At that time Neville had a lease on the Chico Bank’s 3,800-acre ranch in Clay County, at an annual rental of $10,000. It was agreed that the Chico Bank would furnish its ranch upon which to graze the cattle, at a monthly rental of $833.33, that the Wichita Bank would furnish the feed, and that Neville would feed and take care of the cattle. Whenever the cattle were sold, the pasturage and feed bills were to be paid out of the proceeds ratably as the priorities of liens should be determined. There is a controversy as ’ to whether the pasture was to be furnished and the monthly rental paid only through the winter of 1952-53, or whether this arrangement was to last until the cattle were sold. Without Morris’ knowledge -or consent, on April 1, 1953, Neville moved the cattle off of the ranch and to the State of Kansas. Different lots of the cattle were sold at different times during the summer of 1953, the last sale being on September 30, 1953. The net *289 proceeds were remitted by Neville to the Wichita Bank, except $8,952.32, which was received for the last 89 cattle sold, and which it was agreed should be held by Howell E. Smith, trustee, until the priority of liens was determined.

A mortgage may be valid upon after-acquired property. Childress v. First State Bank of Barnhart, Tex.Civ.App., 264 S.W. 350; Lawson v. First Nat. Bank of Rotan, Tex.Civ.App., 150 S.W.2d 279; Fort Worth Nat. Bank v. Red River Nat. Bank, 84 Tex. 369, 19 S.W. 517; Lapowski v. Taylor, 13 Tex.Civ.App. 624, 35 S.W. 934. A mortgage will secure later advances. Cattle Raisers’ Loan Co. v. First Nat. Bank of Decatur, Tex.Civ.App., 54 S.W.2d 857, and authorities there cited. But we think that although a mortgage may be valid upon after-acquired property, it does not cover any greater interest in the property than the mortgagor acquires. Hamilton Nat. Bank v. Harris, Tex.Civ.App., 260 S.W. 318; 5 R.C.L., p. 403, sec. 27; Hammel v. First Nat. Bank of Hancock, 129 Mich. 176, 88 N.W. 397, 95 Am. St.Rep. 431; Thurmond v. International Harvester Co., Tex.Civ.App., 166 S.W.2d 742; Tips v. Gay, Tex.Civ.App., 146 S.W. 306.

“A mortgage given to cover after-acquired property covers such property only in the condition in which it comes into the hands of the mortgagor. If that property is already subject to mortgages or other liens at that time,- the general mortgage does not displace them although they , may be junior to it in point of time. It attaches only to such interest as the mortgagor acquires. If he purchases property and gives a mortgage for the.purchase money, the bill of sale which he receives and the mortgage which he gives are regarded as one transaction, and the prior mortgage cannot displace such mortgage for the purchase money.

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Bluebook (online)
285 S.W.2d 286, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 2259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-of-wichita-falls-v-first-bank-of-chico-texapp-1955.