Gravis v. Rogers

214 S.W.2d 886, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1544
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 3, 1948
DocketNo. 9736.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 214 S.W.2d 886 (Gravis v. Rogers) 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
Gravis v. Rogers, 214 S.W.2d 886, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1544 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinions

RAYMOND GRAY, Justice.

The subject matter of this suit is $87,500 awarded by the American Mexican Claims Commission on January 21, 1947, to the estate of Mrs. Martha A. Rabb. deceased. This award was made in payment for cattle lost to Mexican raiders from August 20, 1866, to August 20, 1872.

It is conceded by all parties that the cattle lost belonged to the community estate of Martha A. Rabb and husband,- John Rabb.

Appellees brought the suit seeking a declaratory judgment establishing their rights as against appellants to receive payment of the award. Appellees (except Dr. George W. Cox) claim title to the award through the wills of Martha A. Rabb and her second husband, C. M. Rogers, who was the father of appellee C. M. Rogers. Appellants, except their respective husbands, claim as heirs of John Rabb, and as such claim one-half of the award. Dr. Cox claims 50% of the award by reason of powers of attorney held by him.

The trial was to a jury, but at .the con-elusion of the evidence, and upon appellees’ motions, the court withdrew the case from the jury and rendered judgment that appel-lees are entitled to receive payment of the award, as follows: Dr. Cox 50% thereof, all other appellees 50%, and that appellants have no interest therein.

The record shows John Rabb died April 15, 1872, intestate, leaving surviving him his wife, Martha A. Rabb, and six children; one of these, Thomas L., died intestate and unmarried after the death of the father; the' • other five children are now deceased. Appellants claim interests in the award as heirs of these five children, and which claims are established unless the interests of said five children in the award passed to Martha A. Rabb by the several deeds hereinafter discussed.

On April 23, 1872, Martha A. Rabb qualified as community survivor of the estate of herself and deceased husband. She filed an inventory and list of claims of said estate, but did not include any claim for cattle lost. Mrs. Rabb married C. M. Rogers March 25, 1879, and died testate March 20, 1901, leaving her estate to her surviving husband, who married Georgia Allen, January 5, 1902, and died testate March 1, 1909, leaving all his property to his wife during her life, with remainder to his children by her. These children are C. M. Rogers and Máry Rogers Brown. ' Georgia Allen Rogers married W. F. Bayans. These named par-ties, together with Leon Brown, husband'of Mary Rogers Brown, and Dr. Cox are appellees.-

By the inventory filed by Mrs. Martha A. Rabb the total community estate is valued at $70,625. Attached to, or as a part of, the inventory is a sworn statement of Mrs. Rabb that out of the father’s portion of the community estate there stands chargeable “against Mrs. Elizabeth Gravis $5,000 in cash and 600 head of cattle; against Mrs. French $5,000 in cash and 600 head of cattle; against Green A. Rabb 1,000 head of cattle and 50 mares; against Thomas L. Rabb 1,000 head of cattle and 50 mares; and against M. Louis Rabb, 600 Hundred of cattle; of all which said property the said several children and heirs *888 are now in -their possession and of which they haye the sole use and benefit.”

The claim for cattle lost to Mexican raiders was filed with the Robb Commission August 17, 1872, and was for an alleged loss -of 20,000 head of cattle.

At the time of his father’s death Frank Rabb was a minor. His mother, Martha A. Rabb, qualified as his -guardian July 28, 1879, -and the inventory then filed shows him to be entitled to an estate amounting to approximately $11,744.26, plus ½0 of cattle in a given brand, but the number and value of such cattle was undetermined.

As the deeds from-the children of John Rabb t-o Martha A. Rabb are not in. the same words, we deem it advisable to quote the portions of these deeds relevant to -our inquiry, for the ultimate rights of the parties depend upon, whether -or not these deeds convey the grantors’ interest in the cattle claim.

By deed dated May 27, 1879, Green A. Rabb, a son of John Rabb, made a deed to Mrs. Martha A. Rogers, for a consideration of $15,706 to him paid by her. The deed recited:

“ * * * have released, bargained, sold and conveyed and by these presents, do release, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Martha A. Rogers, in her own separate right, all of the right, title, interest and claim which I have in or to the property re-a-1- and personal belonging to -the Estates of John Rabb deceased and Thomas L. Rabb deceased, by heirship or otherwise, said claim or interest being one-twelfth of the Estate of the said John Rabb, deceased, and one-tenth of the Estate of the said Thomas L. Rabb, deceased, of both of which Estates the said sum of Fifteen thousand seven hundred and six dollars is the value of the entire therein, owned or claimed by me.
“The said Estates consisting in part of lands situated in Nueces and Duval Counties, Texas, and a part of which is. the -land enclosed in the .pasture in Nueces County, Texas, known as ‘Mrs. Rabb Pasture.’ ”

By a deed dated May 13, 1878, Margaret French, a daughter of John Rabb, joined by her husband, conveyed to Mrs. Martha A. Rabb, for a consideration of $15,706 to them paid, the interest of Margaret French in the estate of John Rabb and Thomas L. Rabb, employing the same descriptive language as is used in the deed from Green A. Rabb in describing the interest conveyed.

By a deed dated November 22, 1887, Frank Rabb conveyed to Martha A. Rogers, in consideration of $10 to him paid by her and further consideration of property deeded and transferred to him (the value and kind of property so deeded and transferred is nowhere shown), his interest in. the estate of John Rabb and Thomas L. Rabb. The deed uses the same descriptive language employed in the two above mentioned deeds, with the following additional :

“ * * * and all the inventories of said estates and all the deeds connected with same and descriptive of the properties belonging to said estates are hereby referred to and made a part hereof for a better description of all the property hereby conveyed.”

We find nothing in the language used in these deeds which we can interpret as supporting appellants’ contention that the deeds do not convey the interest of the grantors in the cattle claim to Mrs. Rabb. Appellants claim as heirs of John Rabb and Thomas L. Rabb, and bottom their claim solely on the proposition that the award was made in payment for cattle belonging to the community estate of John,Rabb and Mrs. Martha A. Rabb, and therefore one-half of the award is property belonging to John Rabb’s estate, and which they claim as his heirs. They having, in their several deeds, designated the property conveyed by them as “all the rights, title, claims and interest which I (we) have in or to the property, real and personal, belonging to-the estates of John Rabb, deceased, and Thomas L. Rabb, deceased, by heirship or otherwise * * is inclusive of all property belonging to said estates.

To hold the interests in the cattle-claim were not assignable by the deeds would be to treat the same in a manner different to that accorded it by appellants. We think these interests were in the nature *889 of expectancies of the heirs of John Rabb, and we hold they were assignable. Clark v. Gauntt, 138 Tex.

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Bluebook (online)
214 S.W.2d 886, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gravis-v-rogers-texapp-1948.