Giblin v. Sudduth

300 S.W.2d 330, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1663
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1957
Docket10463
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 300 S.W.2d 330 (Giblin v. Sudduth) 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
Giblin v. Sudduth, 300 S.W.2d 330, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1663 (Tex. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

ARCHER, Chief Justice.

H. C. Sudduth, Jr., and wife filed this suit against N. A. Giblin for specific performance of a contract which they contended gave them an option to purchase a tract of 1.18 acres of land belonging to the Giblins. The defendants resisted on the grounds, among others, that the land was not sufficiently described in the written memorandum to satisfy the Statute of Frauds and that plaintiffs’ rights had ceased long prior to the attempted exercise of the option because of their failure to pay the annual consideration necessary to keep the option alive.

A trial before the court resulted in judgment for the plaintiffs. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law were filed by the trial court at defendants’ request.

The appeal is before this Court on three points assigned as error and are:

*332 “First Point of Error: The error of the Court in holding that the land was sufficiently described in the contract of sale to comply with the Statute of Frauds.
“Second Point of Error: The error of the court in holding that plaintiffs’ failure to make the annual payments of rental provided in the contract did not bar their right to specific performance.
“Third Point of Error: The error of the court in holding that the parties had entered into an option con- . tract instead of having only agreed to enter into an option contract.”

The parties entered into a contract of sale concerning other property, consisting “of house and one acre more or less located on Wheless Lane (Rt. No. 3) which is the fifth house on the left from Cameron Road going in an easterly direction; the property being the same property bought from George V. Reeves and wife and joins the H. V. Hayes property on the east,” and in this contract there is this special condition:

“The seller agrees to give the purchaser an option on the acre tract joining the property they are buying from the seller on the east; this option will be for 5 years and the purchasers can take up their option at any time within S years from date by pay_the seller $1500.00 in cash. The purchaser agrees to pay a yearly rental of $10.-00.”

On July 16, 1951, N. A. Giblin and wife conveyed to Henry C. Sudduth, Jr. and Dorothy P. Sudduth a tract of land, being the land mentioned in the contract above referred to, described as follows:

“A tract of land being the west portion of that 2.12 acres conveyed by W. W. Covington to Geo. Reeves by deed recorded in Vol. 529, Page 249, of the Travis County Deed Records, and more particularly described as follows:
“Beginning at the Southwest corner of the said George Reeves tract at a corner post;
“Thence N. 30 deg. 00' E. 346.3 feet along a fence to a corner post;
“Thence S. 60 deg. 00' E. 115.9 feet along a fence to a corner post.
“Thence S. 30 deg. 00^ W. 346.2 feet along a fence to a corner post in the North line of a county road;
“Thence N. 60 deg. 0(Y W. 116.0 feet along the North line of said county road to the place of beginning; containing 0.922 acres, more or less, as surveyed by Doak Rainey, R.P.E.”

The court made findings of facts and conclusions of law as follows:

“Findings of Fact
“1. That on July 3, 1951, the defendant, as seller, and the plaintiff, as purchaser, signed an instrument in writing for the sale of certain lands therein described.
“2. That the lands contracted to be conveyed were 2.12 acres out of the James P. Wallace Survey in Travis County, Texas, and being the same land conveyed to defendants by George V. Reeves, et ux., recorded in Vol. 789, Page 241, Travis County Deed Records, and joining the H. V. Hayes property on the east; save and except the acre tract thereof on the east.
“3. That the property, a certain 0.922 acre tract, described by metes and bounds in the deed dated July 16, 1951, recorded in Vol. 1172, Pages 276-279, Travis County Deed Records, was conveyed to plaintiff by defendants.
“4. That the sales contract contains a rental agreement on the one acre tract to the east of the land conveyed, in the sum of $10.00 annually.
“5. That the demand for payment of the rental was not made upon plaintiff by defendant.
*333 "6. That plaintiff tendered to defendant the full five (5) year rental in the sum of $50.00 by letter dated March 26, 1955.
“7. That defendant refused to accept payment of the rental and returned the bank money order to plaintiff.
“8. That the sales contract gave the plaintiff an option to purchase the acre tract on the east, being out of the 2.12 acre tract, and adjoining the 0.922 acre tract purchased by, and conveyed to plaintiff by defendant.
“9. That by a letter dated April 7, 1955, plaintiff elected to exercise his option to purchase the acre tract on the east, and made demand upon the defendant to deliver a deed.
“10. That defendant refused to deliver a deed to the acre tract.
“11. That prior to plaintiff’s election to exercise the option defendant gave no written notice of revocation of the option granted in the sales contract.
“12. That prior to the election of plaintiff to exercise the option, defendant during the Christmas holidays of 1953 verbally stated to plaintiff that he did not have an option on that land any more.
“13. That the defendant wholly prepared the sales contract, and that same was duly executed by plaintiff and defendant.
“Conclusions of Law
“1. That the sales contract describes the tract out of 2.12 acres out of the James P. Wallace Survey, Travis County, Texas, by excepting therefrom the acre on the east.
“2. That the sales contract contains a valid option in favor of plaintiff for the purchase of the acre on the east.
“3. That considering the entire sales contract, such instrument furnishes within itself, and by reference to other existing writings, the means or dates by which the particular land under option may be identified with reasonable certainty.
“4. That plaintiff elected to exercise such option while such option was in force, and made demand upon defendant for specific performance prior to receiving a written revocation thereof from defendant.
“5. That defendant refused to deliver the deed in accordance with the terms and provisions of the sales contract.
“6. That the sales contract is not violative of the provisions of Art. 3995, V.A.C.S., the Statute of Frauds.
“7.

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Bluebook (online)
300 S.W.2d 330, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 1663, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/giblin-v-sudduth-texapp-1957.