Garcia v. Ramos

546 S.W.2d 400, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2642
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 3, 1977
Docket1130
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 546 S.W.2d 400 (Garcia v. Ramos) 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
Garcia v. Ramos, 546 S.W.2d 400, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2642 (Tex. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

BISSETT, Justice.

This is an action to remove cloud from title to a lot, and for damages for the wrongful withholding of the possession of the lot.

Suit was instituted on September 16,1974 by Alicia P. Meza, individually and as ad-ministratrix of the Estate of Guadalupe M. Meza, Deceased, against Consuelo Ramos. Thereafter, Consuelo Ramos brought a third party action against Eva M. Garcia. Trial was to the court, sitting without a jury. Judgment was rendered in favor of Alicia P. Meza, the plaintiff, against Consuelo Ramos, the defendant, in the action to remove cloud from title. The judgment denied the plaintiff any recovery against Consuelo Ramos in the action for damages for wrongful withholding of possession of the lot. The judgment also awarded Consuelo Ramos, as third party plaintiff, a recovery of $3,000.00 in her action against Eva M. Garcia, the third party defendant. Neither Alicia P. Meza nor Consuelo Ramos perfected an appeal from the portions of the judgment that were adverse to them. Eva M. Garcia has perfected an appeal from that part of the judgment which awarded $3,000.00 to Consuelo Ramos.

We first identify the parties to the suit in the trial court. Alicia P. Meza is the surviving wife of Guadalupe M. Meza, who died in March, 1971. Consuelo Ramos is a sister of Guadalupe M. Meza, deceased. Eva M. Garcia is not, according to the record, related to either Alicia P. Meza or Consuelo Ramos. Both Guadalupe M. Meza, deceased, and Consuelo Ramos are children of Francisca Martinez Meza, who died in April, 1974.

The lot in question is a residential lot in Corpus Christi, Texas. It will henceforth be referred to as “the premises”. The premises, prior to January 2, 1956, was owned by Joe Garcia and wife, Eva M. Garcia. Joe Garcia died in September, 1963.

Alicia P. Meza, plaintiff, among other allegations, alleged: that on January 2, 1956, she and her husband, Guadalupe M. Meza (who died on March 81, 1971), purchased the premises from Joe Garcia and wife, Eva M. Garcia (the third party defendant in this case); that Francisca Martinez Meza, plaintiff’s mother-in-law, had been living on the premises “rent free” for many years with the permission of her deceased husband (a son of Francisca Martinez Meza), but that after his death plaintiff discovered that Consuelo Ramos was claiming title to the premises through a deed dated April 25, 1965 from Eva M. Garcia, as grantor, to Francisca Martinez Meza, as grantee, which conveyed the premises to the latter, and through a deed dated November 1, 1969, executed by Erancisca Martinez Meza, as grantor, to her (Consuelo Ramos), as grantee, which conveyed the premises to her (Consuelo Ramos), subject to a life estate reserved by the grantor; that plaintiff’s title to the premises was superior to that asserted by the defendant, Consuelo Ramos; and that the deeds under which Consuelo Ramos claimed were null and void. She prayed that the cloud cast on her title to the premises by the deeds under which Consuelo Ramos claimed be removed, and that such deeds be declared null and void.

Consuelo Ramos based her third party action against Eva M. Garcia, on the breach of the covenants of general warranty contained in a deed dated April 29, 1965, executed by Eva M. Garcia, as grantor, to Francisca Martinez Meza as grantee which conveyed the premises to the grantee *402 named therein for a stated consideration of $3,000.00 cash paid by the grantee to the grantor. She prayed that in the event Alicia P. Meza, the plaintiff prevailed in her suit and it was decreed that Alicia P. Meza had the superior title to the premises and recovered possession thereof or damages because of any wrongful withholding of the possession of the premises that she (Consuelo Ramos) have judgment over and against Eva M. Garcia in the amount of $3,000.00.

Eva M. Garcia, in her verified answer to the third party action filed by Consuelo Ramos, denied generally the allegations contained in the pleading and, in effect, specially pled that there was no “consideration paid to her by Francisca Martinez Meza for the Deed dated April 29, 1965, and therefore said Deed is void”.

The judgment decreed that the deed from Eva M. Garcia, as grantor, to Francisca Martinez Meza, as grantee, dated April 29, 1965, and the deed from Francisca Martinez Meza, as grantor, to Consuelo Ramos, as grantee, dated November 1,1969, were each null and void. Both deeds were cancelled by the judgment.

The findings of fact that bear on this appeal read as follows:

“5. The deed from Eva M. Garcia, a feme sole, to Francesca (sic) Martinez Meza, dated April 29, 1965 contains the words ‘. . . for and in consideration of the sum of Three Thousand and No/100 Dollars cash in hand paid by Francesca (sic) Martinez Meza, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and confessed .’ and the words ‘. and grantor hereby binds herself heirs, executors and administrators to warrant . . . the said premises unto the grantee . . .’
6. The damages resulting to Francesca (sic) Martinez Meza as a result of failure of title to the premises were the amount paid by her as purchase price, i. e. $3,000.00.”
The trial court concluded:
“3. The words quoted in Finding of Fact No. 5 serve to create a contractual obligation on the part of Eva M. Garcia to compensate Francesca (sic) Martinez Meza for any damages she might suffer as a result of not receiving good title to the premises.”
Eva M. Garcia’s first point of error reads:
“The trial court erred in holding the deed from Appellant to Francesca (sic) M. Meza was valid and binding when there was no evidence of any consideration from Francesca (sic) M. Meza to Appellant.”

In deciding a “no evidence” point, an appellate court considers only the evidence and the inferences reasonably resulting therefrom which tends to support the findings of fact made by the trier of fact and disregards all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821 (Tex.Sup.1965).

The deed dated April 29, 1965, executed by Eva M. Garcia, as grantor, to Francisca Martinez Meza, as grantee, which conveyed the premises in dispute to the grantee was introduced into evidence. The deed reads, in part, as follows:

“. . . That I, Eva M. Garcia, a feme sole, of the County of Nueces State of Texas for and in consideration of the sum of THREE THOUSAND AND no/100 Dollars cash in hand paid by Francisca Martinez Meza the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and confessed, have Granted, Sold and Conveyed, and by these presents do Grant, Sell and Convey unto the said Francisca Martinez Meza

The deed contained covenants of general warranty. The attorney for Eva M. Garcia objected to the introduction of the deed in evidence solely on the ground that the pleadings of the said Eva M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
546 S.W.2d 400, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 2642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-ramos-texapp-1977.