Garcia v. Sun Oil Company

300 S.W.2d 724, 7 Oil & Gas Rep. 1256, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1689
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 7, 1957
Docket6100
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 300 S.W.2d 724 (Garcia v. Sun Oil Company) 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. Sun Oil Company, 300 S.W.2d 724, 7 Oil & Gas Rep. 1256, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1689 (Tex. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

R. L. MURRAY, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order granting a temporary writ of injunction in the district court of Hardin County.

On May 24, 1954, the appellants here, Earnest Garcia and three other persons, filed this suit in the district court of Hardin County in trespass to try title, suing for title and possession of the Gregorio Garcia League in Hardin County, defendants in that action being the appellee Sun Oil Company and almost one thousand other persons. On February 25, 1955 the Sun Oil Company answered by pleas of not guilty and general denial, and also reconvened by cross action for title and possession of the Gregorio Garcia League in Hardin County against all those parties as.plaintiffs in the original action. The plaintiffs in the original suit answered the cross action by pleas of not guilty and general denial by pleadings filed June 12, 1956. On June 14, 1956, the three plaintiffs mentioned first above, J. Garcia, Pauline Garcia Taylor and her husband, Ray Taylor, were dismissed as parties to the lawsuit. On June 14, 1956 the original plaintiffs in the trespass to try title suit took a non-suit, leaving the case before the court in form of cross actions of this appellee, Sun Oil Company, and various other original defendants, who also filed cross actions. On September 14, 1956, ap-pellee Sun Oil Company filed its petition for temporary injunction against the appellants, Earnest Garcia et al., involving only a described 448.33 acre tract out of the Gregorio Garcia League. The appellants answered this petition first by a pleading which is in the nature of a plea in abatement, then by general denial, special exception to the description of the land involved in the application for temporary injunction and further special defenses. We think the pleadings of the parties in this matter are vital to the determination of this appeal, and for that reason we set out in detail both pleadings.

The petition of the appellee, omitting the formal parts thereof, alleged as follows:

*726 “I

“Your petitioner is the oil, gas and mineral lessee of the record title holding the following described tract of land, which tract is a portion of the land in controversy herein:

“448.33 acres of land, more or less, out of Tract No. 3 of Subdivision of said Gregoria Garcia League, described as follows:

“Beginning at the northeast corner of said Tract No. 3, which is also the southeast corner of Tract No. 4 of said league;

“Thence westerly parallel with south boundary line of the said League to the northwest corner ,of said Tract No. 3, which point is also the southwest corner of Tract No. 4;

“Thence southwardly with the west line of said League far enough that running a line thence across said League parallel with its south boundary line to the east boundary line thereof, and from thence northwardly to the place of beginning will contain 458.33 acres of land; save and excepting herefrom 10 acres of land described particularly as follows:

“Lots No. Nine and Ten (9 & 10) of the north half of said Tract No. 3 of the said Gregoria Garcia League, each of said lots containing five (5) acres and described as:

“Beginning at a point on the western boundary line of said League, which point is distant 3600 and 82/100 feet north of the southwest corner of said League;

“Thence eastwardly with the south line of the north half of Tract No. 3 a distance of 3027 and 2/10 feet to a point on said line, which point is the southwest corner of Lot No. 28 of said north half of Tract No. 3;

“Thence northwardly on a line parallel to the eastern and western boundary lines of said League for a distance of 143 and 74/100 feet to the southwest corner of Lot No. 27 of said north half of said Tract No. 3;

“Thence westwardly on line parallel to the northern and southern boundary line of Lots 8 and 11 of said north half of said Tract No. 3 a distance of 3600 and 82/100 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot No. 8, which is on the west boundary line of said League;

“Thence southwardly on said line 143 and 74/100 feet to the place of beginning, being the same ten (10) acres conveyed to P. Lynch Garrett by Henry C. Mayer by deed dated September 23, 1905 and recorded in Volume 58, Page 165 of Hardin County Deed Records.

“The plaintiffs are mere trespassers as to said tract and have no title nor colorable claim ,of title thereto. Alternatively, your petitioner would show, that even if the plaintiffs should be adjudged to have title in the hearing of this case upon its merits, which your petitioner denies, your petitioner is then a cotenant in the very claim asserted by the plaintiffs, and entitled to possession of the above described tract for that reason. In spite of these facts, the plaintiffs have recently, and without the consent of your petitioner or any of the other owners of the above described tract, taken possession thereof, and plaintiffs have forcibly and unlawfully withheld the possession thereof from your petitioner, making known to your petitioner that their action in so doing was upon the advice of their counsel, and making known their intention to continue to so forcibly and unlawfully withhold such possession. Your petitioner would show the Court further that unless plaintiffs are enjoined by this Court from unlawfully withholding possession from your petitioner and forcibly interfering with your petitioner’s efforts to lawfully and peaceably enter, thereupon, your petitioner will suffer great, irreparable, and irremediable damage.

“II.

“This suit was filed in this Court on or about May 29, 1954, by the plaintiffs herein against your petitioner and numerous other defendants, as named in said original petition, and thereafter, your petitioner filed *727 its answer and cross-action in this cause which, at all times since its filing, has been and is now pending in this Court.

“III.

“There was set down for hearing by this Court, on or about the 14th day of June, 1956, at a time when this suit had been pending over two years, a motion for summary judgment filed by your petitioner and forty ■other defendants, being all of those who had been served up to that time, but on that day and prior to the hearing on said motion, the plaintiffs filed their motion for non-suit, which was duly granted by this Court, leaving the case pending only on the cross-action of your petitioner and of defendant Gulf Oil Corporation, and on the petition in intervention of Lamar Palmer, et al.

“IV.

“The plaintiffs have testified by deposition in this cause that their only claim to the land in controversy is as the descendants and heirs of the original grantee of the league, one Gregorio Garcia. Plaintiffs’ counsel stipulated that no claim was being asserted by way of limitation or adverse possession.

“V.

“For three entirely independent and entirely sufficient reasons, as pointed out by the several defendants in their motion for summary judgment, the said plaintiffs have and can have no title as heirs of Gregorio Garcia as a matter of law:

“1.

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Bluebook (online)
300 S.W.2d 724, 7 Oil & Gas Rep. 1256, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-sun-oil-company-texapp-1957.