Gattis v. Kirk

12 S.W.2d 589
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 7, 1928·No. No. 508.·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

HICKMAN, O. J.

Appellants sued Prank Kirk, J. E. Brewer, Arnold Kirk, and C. C. Neeb for $600 alleged to be due them on a written contract dated March 31,1926, signed by appellants and Arnold Kirk and C. C. Neeb. After the testimony was concluded, the defendants Prank Kirk and J. E. Brewer moved to be dismissed from the suit. The motion was granted and an order entered dismissing them. The action of the trial court in so doing is not before us for review, but this appeal is prosecuted against Arnold Kirk and C. C. Neeb, who are the sole appellees. The written contract upon which the suit was based provided for the sale by appellants to appellees of an oil and gas lease on 60 acres of land at $10 per acre, subject to satisfactory title to be approved by appellees’ attorneys. The assignment of the oil and gas lease, together with $600 and a copy of the contract, were deposited in escrow with the Partners’ National Bank of Cross Plains. One of the provisions of the contract which is material to a decision of this case was as ■ follows:

“Second: Assignor agrees to obtain and deliver to Assignee, within 10 (ten) days from the date hereof a complete abstract of title, certified to the date of this agreement by some competent abstract company or abstractor, covering the above property, said abstract- to be delivered to Assignee at Cross Plains, Texas.”

Other terms of the contract material to notice were to the effect that appellees were granted ten days’ time from receipt of the abstract within which to examine the title to the land as presented by the abstract, and that, in the event defects were discovered in the title as reflected by the abstract, the ap-pellees should furnish appellants and said escrow bank a copy of the requirements made by their attorneys, and appellants should have 30 days thereafter within which to cure' such defects and meet such requirements. Option was granted to appellees to accept the title with its defects in the event appellants were unable to cure same, or to reject the title and thereby terminate the contract. Appellants alleged compliance with the terms of the contract, and also pleaded waiver and es-toppel against appellees to defend the suit on the ground of appellants’ failure to furnish an abstract certified to the date of the contract within the ten days period provided. They tendered appellees a lease on 60 acres of land, and prayed for judgment for $600. There was a jury impaneled in the case, but, at the conclusion of the testimony, a peremptory instruction .was given the jury to return a verdict in favor of defendants (appellees), and, from the judgment of the court entered in accordance with the verdict so returned, this appeal is prosecuted.

Appellees present the counter proposition that, appellants and appellees both having requested an instructed verdict at the conclusion of the testimony, such requests were equivalent to an agreement .to withdraw . the case from the jury, and that, since a jury was thereby waived, the judgment of the trial court should be upheld, it being sus *591 tained by tbe evidence. In support of this proposition cases from federal courts and the following Texas cases are cited: Tiblier v. Perez (Tex. Civ. App.) 277 S. W. 189; Mendlovitz v. Shoe Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 5 S.W.(2d) 559.

The authorities cited support the proposition, and many authorities from other states could be cited to the same effect. However, we are convinced that the contrary rule should obtain in Texas, where motions for peremptory instructions are not given the effect of demurrers to the evidence. This question was carefully considered by the Austin Court of Appeals in the case of Citizens’ National Bank of Brownwood v. Texas Compress Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 294 S. W. 331 (error refused), and both because we approve the reasoning in that decision and because a writ of error was refused therein we shall follow it, and hold that by making a request for an instructed verdict a party does not thereby waive his right to have fact issues submitted to the jury, and such request by both parties does not have the effect of withdrawing the case from the jury by agreement.

The same decision is authority for overruling the contention of appellee that, since appellants made no request to have the court submit their issues of waiver and estop-pel such issues were thereby waived by them. The well-known rule announced in such cases as Kirby Lbr. Co. v. Conn, 114 Tex. 104, 263 S. W. 902; Ormsby v. Ratcliffe (Tex. Sup.) 1 S.W.(2d) 1084, and Bulin v. Smith (Tex. Com. App.) 1 S.W.(2d) 591, have no application to a case where a peremptory instruction is given. The case of Citizens’ National Bank of Brownwood v. Texas Compress Co., supra, points out the distinction, which we approve.

Appellants’ propositions may be grouped into two classes, viz. first, those complaining of the failure of the court to peremptorily instruct the jury to return a verdict in their favor, and, second, those complaining of the action of the court in giving appellees’ peremptory instruction, and insisting that the evidence raised issues of fact which should have been submitted to the jury. We shall dispose of the second group first.

The rule is well established that the court is not justified in taking a case from the jury where there is any evidence, although slight, tending to support the issues tendered. In passing upon these assignments, we are required to consider only appellants’ evidence and the evidence in the record tending to support appellants’ theory, and wholly disregard any evidence to the contrary. Raper et al. v. Parmenter (Tex. Civ. App.) 1 S. W.(2d) 343; Goodwin v. Abilene State Bank (Tex. Civ. App.) 294 S. W. 883.

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Gattis v. Kirk, 12 S.W.2d 589 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

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