Gantt v. McClellan

252 S.W. 229, 1923 Tex. App. LEXIS 241
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 21, 1923
DocketNo. 6558. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 252 S.W. 229 (Gantt 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
Gantt v. McClellan, 252 S.W. 229, 1923 Tex. App. LEXIS 241 (Tex. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

BLAIR, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment granting a rescission of an executory contract of sale of real estate, upon a failure to pay the vendor’s lien note given as a part of the purchase price of the lands so sold.

On March 3,1921, appellee, F. S. McClellan, filed his suit against appellant, W. B. Gantt, in the district court of Lee county, Tex., to recover on a note for the sum of $28,856.55, said note bearing date of February 10, 1920, executed by appellant, and payable to ap-pellee, at Giddings, Lee county, Tex.; and, further, for the foreclosure of his vendor’s lien on certain lands and gravel rights in certain lands conveyed by appellee to appellant, by deed dated February 10, 1920, said note being given as a part of the purchase price thereof; also for the cancellation of a deed of conveyance to the gravel rights in a 39-acre tract of land, deeded by one Braun to appellant, Gantt, at the instance and request of appellee, as a part of the lands to be conveyed under deed of February 10, 1920, by virtue of a contemporaneous written contract, signed by appellant and appellee, which said 39-acre tract was alleged to have been paid for by appellee and taken by appellant under the same conditions as the other lands deeded direct from appellee to appellant, the consideration, among other things, being the execution of the said vendor’s lien note herein sued upon; and further alleging that, by reason of such facts above stated, appellee became the equitable owner or acquired an equitable lien in the said 39-acre tract.

On October 10, 1921, appellant filed his, original answer, consisting of a general demurrer, special exception, general denial; and by special answer charged that appellee had fraudulently represented the title to the land to be good, and that in truth and in fact there was a partial failure of title to the first four tracts described in said deed, aggregating 408 acres, in that appellee’s immediate grantor had reserved the right to repurchase the land at $2.50 per acre upon gravel being discovered thereon, and that gravel had been discovered, and said party reserving said right to repurchase was threatening to do so, and had so notified appellant; and further, -by special answer, alleged that’ he did not know of the existence of said re-versionary interest at the time he purchased; and, further, that he did not know of the existence of two notes, aggregating $4,000, constituting a lien upon the fifth tract of land described in said deed, at the time he purchased the same, and that appellee had represented it to be clear; alleging further that he had paid the $750 consideration for the 39-acre Braun tract, and denied that ap-pellee had any interest therein, and, further, that appellee had, by slandering the title to prospective purchasers, kept him from selling the land at a profit; and asked for damages therefor.

Appellant prayed that appellee’s claim be abated in accordance with the loss sustained by him, and that he recover all damages by reason of appellee’s slandering his title, to-' gether with the sum paid plaintiff, or such proportionate part as the court might find him entitled to, and that the note be canceled, and, if this could not be done, to abate the same to the extent of his loss by reason of the matters above pleaded.

In reply to said answer, appellee filed, on the 25th day of October, 1921, a Supplemental petition, in which he denied the charges of fraud alleged by appellant, and asserted that appellant purchased said land with full knowledge of such defects, and,) notwithstanding the fact tha't appellee had notified him of same, he insisted on the purchase of the land and the gravel rights; and further pleaded the execution of a contemporaneous contract, by which it was agreed that, in the event the lands were sold for a net profit over and above the $39,600 consideration within one year, appellee was to share one-half of such net profits, and this agreement included the 39-acre Braun tract; and further alleging that, although the legal title passed from Braun to Gantt by reason of said conveyance of tíie 39-acre tract, nevertheless appellee paid the purchase price therefor, and that he thereby became the equitable ownér of the title; and, further, that - under the contemporaneous written agreement the said 39-acre tract was to constitute a part of the lands and gravel rights agreed to be conveyed under the terms of *232 their contract of February 10, 1920; alleging that the contract for the sale of the land and gravel interest was executory; and tendered into court the note sued upon and asked that it be canceled, and, further, that the court rescind the executory contract for the sale of the lands and gravel interests, because of its breach by appellant in his failure to pay the purchase-money note; and prayed for the cancellation of the deed and contract, and for title and possession of the lands and gravel interest described in the deed of February 10,1920, and for the title and possession of the 39-acre tract, and, further, that appellant be divested of title, and that title be vested in him to all of his above-mentioned lands and gravel rights; and, in the alternative, prayed that, if he was not entitled to a rescission of the contract of sale of said real estate, then he have judgment for the recovery of said note for $28,856.55 and for a foreclosure of his vendor’s lien upon all of the lands and gravel rights, including the 39-acre Braun tract.

Appellant answered this by special exception and general denial. The case was submitted to a jury upon special issues, and, based upon the jury’s findings of fact and the additional findings of fact by the trial judge, judgment was rendered for appellee for a rescission of the contract of the'sale of said land and gravel rights therein, canceling the deed and contract and divesting title out of appellant to all of the lands described in said deed of date February 10, 1920, also divesting title out of appellant to the 39-acre Braun tract, and vesting title thereto in appellee, and, further, canceling the note for $28,856.55, executed by appellant February 10, 1920, to appellee, in part payment of the land and gravel rights. From which judgment this appeal, in due form, is brought to this court.

The proof shows: That on February 10, 1920, appellee was the owner of cei*tain lands in fee and gravel rights in certain other lands in Fayette and Washington counties, Tex., and the owner of an option on 39 acres of land, owned by Gustav Braun, in Fayette county, Tex. That on said above date he sold the same to appellant for an agreed consideration of $39,600, of which sum $6,000 was paid in cash, and for the balance of the consideration appellant assumed . the payment of certain indebtedness then existing as a lien against certain tracts of land, and, further, by the execution of a vendor’s lien note in the sum of $28,856.55, for which an express lien was reserved in the deed conveying the lands and the gravel rights, and which note provided for interest at 7 per cent, per annum, and contained, the usual 10 per cent, attorney’s fee clause. That on said above date, and contemporaneously with the execution and delivery of the deed, appellant and appellee entered into a written agreement, whereby it was agreed that, should appellant sell the land'so conveyed by appel-lee to him within one year for a net profit over and above $39,600, one-half of such net profit should be paid appellee, and in this was included the 39-acre Braun tract. Said contract is as follows:

“State of Texas, County of Fayette.

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Bluebook (online)
252 S.W. 229, 1923 Tex. App. LEXIS 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gantt-v-mcclellan-texapp-1923.