Foster v. Hackworth

164 S.W.2d 796
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 23, 1942
DocketNo. 9213.
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 164 S.W.2d 796 (Foster v. Hackworth) 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
Foster v. Hackworth, 164 S.W.2d 796 (Tex. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

BLAIR, Justice.

Appellee, Dan Hackworth, sued Mrs. Frankie Foster on a note for $280.62, and for interest and attorney’s fees, and on an open account for $107.59, joining her hus-oand, appellant, Linden Foster, pro forma. An attachment was issued and levied upon a Chevrolet truck. Later, by amended petition, appellant was also sued, it being alleged that he joined in the execution of the note and in the purchase of the materials and labor represented by the open account; that the truck was the community property of Frankie and Linden Foster; and praying for a foreclosure of the attachment lien on the truck. Appellant answered by certain demurrers to the petition, a general denial, a special plea that the note and account in suit were the debts of his wife, and a special plea that the attached truck was his separate property and not subject to the debts of his wife. Judgment was rendered against Frankie Foster for the indebtedness, and against her separate property, and against both Frankie and Linden Foster on the note and account, and against their community property; it being further decreed that the attached truck was community property; and the attachment lien thereon was foreclosed.

No complaint is .made as to the judgment against Mrs. Frankie Foster. Appellant, Linden Foster, has appealed on an agreed statement of facts and finding of facts by the trial court.

Several propositions are submitted by appellant. The primary question raised is whether the truck is subject to the payment of the indebtedness sued upon. We have reached the conclusion that under the agreed statement of facts it is not subject to the indebtedness represented by the note. The agreed facts show that appellant, Linden Foster, is the husband of Frankie Foster, who at the time of making the note owned as her separate property a business which was operated under the trade-name of “Teich Monument Works,” which business was given to her by her father, one Teich. Appellant, Linden Foster, was the manager of the business for the father of Mrs. Foster and continued in the same capacity for his wife after she acquired the business; and it is agreed that “the note sued on in this case was signed by said Linden Foster in his capacity as manager of said Teich Monument Works, and not as an individual.” He signed the note, “Teich Monument Works-Linden Foster,” which was the manner in which he signed all instruments required to be signed by Teich Monument Works. It is further agreed that he had no interest whatever in the Teich Monument Works at the time the note was executed, or at any other time. It is further agreed that the indebtedness represented by the note was that of Teich Monument Works, of which Mrs Frankie Foster was the sole owner, and operated it under the trade-name of Teich Monument Works.

A married woman may have her husband act as her agent in making any contract which the law authorizes her to make. Gohlman, Lester & Co. v. Whittle, 114 Tex. 548, 273 S.W. 808. It is agreed that appellant executed the note solely as manager of the Teich Monument Works and not in his individual capacity. Where an agent acts on behalf of a disclosed principal and within the scope of his authority, he is not personally liable to the contracting party, in the absence of an agreément otherwise or under other circumstances showing that he has, expressly or impliedly, incurred the responsibility. Hudson v. Compere, 94 Tex. 449, 61 S.W. 389; Sargent v. Wright, Tex.Civ.App., 230 S.W. 781; 3 C.J.S. 119, Agency, § 215.

In the case of Farm & Home Savings & Loan Ass’n v. Abernathy, 129 Tex. 379, 102 S.W.2d 410, 411, 104 S.W.2d 1111, Abernathy signed a note and deed of trust with his wife, which deed recited that he joined “his wife in the note and deed of trust as a formal requirement to make them legal under the law.” The Supreme Court held that he did not join as a co-maker or joint obligor, and was not personally liable on the note. The court stated that, “if plaintiff in error was willing to make an agreement to look to Mrs. Abernathy and her separate estate alone for payment, we see no reason why it should not be held *798 to abide by that agreement.” See also Wadkins v. Watson, 86 Tex. 194, 24 S.W. 385, 22 L.R.A. 779.

Since it is expressly stipulated that appellant signed the note for Teich Monument Works solely as its manager and not in his individual capacity, it must be held that he is not liable individually for .the indebtedness so incurred; and judgment in that regard must be reversed and judgment here rendered that appellee take nothing by his suit on the note against appellant, Linden Foster.

The liability of the truck for the debt represented by the note is controlled by our statutes, the material portions of which are as follows:

Art. 4621: “The community property of the husband and wife shall not be liable for debts or damages resulting from contracts of the wife, except for necessaries furnished herself and children, unless the husband joins in the execution of the contract * *

Art. 4623: “Neither the separate property of the husband nor the community property other than the personal earnings of the wife, and the income, rents and revenues from her separate property, shall be subject to the payment of debts contracted by the wife, except those contracted for necessaries .furnished her or her children * *

Under the agreed statement of facts the indebtedness represented by the note was that of the wife, incurred in her private separate business enterprise. It is agreed that appellant did not join in the execution of the contract, but that he acted solely as manager of her business and property in executing it. The agreed facts indisputably show that the indebtedness represented by the note was not for necessaries furnished to Mrs. Foster or her children. The rights of parties dealing with a married woman or her estate are prescribed by the statutes quoted, and under the plain language of those statutes the community property of the husband and wife (except perhaps the personal earnings of the wife and the income, rents, and revenues derived from her separate property) is not subject to the payment of debts and obligations contracted by the wife, unless it be for necessaries for herself or her children, or unless the husband joins in the execution of the contract. It is agreed that appellant, Linden Foster, did not join in the execution of the note, except as manager of his wife’s business; and if the truck be held to be community property, its attachment cannot subject it to the payment of the indebtedness represented by the note under the above statutes. Taylor v. Hustead & Tucker, Tex.Com.App. 257 S.W. 232.

The agreement that appellant executed the note as manager of his wife’s business and not individually could only mean that appellee was not seeking to hold him on the note, but took it knowing that he was intending to bind only the wife and her separate business enterprise thereon, which facts bring the suit on the note clearly within the rule announced in the Abernathy case, supra, to the effect if appellee were willing to agree to look to Mrs.

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164 S.W.2d 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foster-v-hackworth-texapp-1942.