Hampton v. Nix

281 S.W.2d 126, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 1955
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 9, 1955
DocketNo. 6814
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 281 S.W.2d 126 (Hampton v. Nix) 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
Hampton v. Nix, 281 S.W.2d 126, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 1955 (Tex. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

FANNING, Justice.

This is a trespass to try title suit involving 82 acres of land in Smith County, Texas, and also for damages to timber cut from and growing on said land, which suit was brought by Phillip S. Nix and Sybil Nix against William Hampton and wife, Adeline Hampton, E. D. Dillard and Lois Hampton and wife, Fayrene Hampton.

The defendants William Hampton and wife, Adeline Hampton, filed a written disclaimer to the property. Defendants Lois Hampton and wife, Fayrene Hampton, pleaded and sought to prove title under the 10-year statute of limitation. The defendant Dillard, in his answer, among other things pleaded that he purchased by timber deed from Lois Hampton and Fayrene Hampton the growing timber on the land in question in reliance upon the limitation title of said Hamptons and that he was an innocent purchaser for value, etc.

The case was tried to the court without a jury under the stipulation that the record title to the property in question stood in the Nixes subject to being defeated by limitation.

The court rendered judgment in favor of Phillip S. Nix and Sybil Nix against all the defendants for title and possession of the land in question and for damages to timber in the amount of $125 against the [127]*127defendants' Lois Hampton and wife, Fay-rene Hampton, and E. D. Dillard. Lois Hampton and wife, Fayrene Hampton, and E. D. Dillard have appealed.

The trial court filed findings of fact and conclusion of law as follows:

“Findings of Fact
“I
“That it was stipulated between the plaintiffs and the defendants that record title was in the plaintiffs, Phillip S. Nix and Sybil Nix.
“H
“The defendants pled the ten-year statute of limitation, which they failed to establish, in that neither of them had peaceful and adverse possession of the lands and tenements for a period of ten years next preceding the filing of this suit.
“Ill
“The Court finds that the lands described were not enclosed by fences.
“IV
“The Court finds that the defendants cut and removed from the land timber of the value of $125.00.”
“Conclusions of,Law
“I
“That legal record title was in the plaintiffs, Phillip S. Nix and Sybil Nix.
“II
“That the defendants failed to establish any limitation title.
“HI
“That timber of the value of $125.00 had been cut from the land by defendants or at their instance.
“IV
“That the plaintiffs, Phillip S. Nix and Sybil Nix; are entitled to judgment for title and possession to the land, and for damage to timber cut therefrom in the sum of $125.00.”

Appellants by their points 3, 4 and 5 contend that the trial, court .erred in finding that appellants had not had peaceable and adverse possession of the land in question for a period of 10 years next preceding the filing of the suit, in finding that the lands in controversy were not enclosed by fences, and in finding that appellants had failed to establish any limitation title. Appellants’ points 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 complain of the admission of alleged hearsay evidence.

The evidence in this case with reference to limitation and adverse possession was highly conflicting. This suit was filed on April 27, 1954. Appellants Lois Hampton and wife, Fayrene Hampton, testified to the effect that they moved upon the 82racre tract in controversy in the fall of 1941, and had remained there continuously each and every year since and to the date of the trial (October 4, 1954), claiming the premises openly and adversely, etc., planting crops on 15 to 20 acres of the land, running cattle thereon, with a fence around the entire tract of said land capable of turning cattle, etc. Esau Hampton and Jesse Hampton testified to matters tending to support the limitation claim as did Samuel Maroney and the defendant E. D. Dillard.

However, the testimony of appellants and their witnesses with respect to the limitation claim was vigorously contested by appellees who produced several witnesses whose testimony sharply disputes the limitation claim.

The witness Ray .testified that he moved on the land in question in November 1942, and that he lived there (and in the house on the land) until the latter part of 1943, and paid rent to Mr. Nix. He also testified that Harlon Geyser lived on the land and in the house on the land (the same house that Lois Hampton had claimed he was living in on the same date) about two years. The witness Geyser testified that he moved on the premises in question in 1944, and lived there through 1945, that he worked the tract and paid rent on it to Mr. Nix. The [128]*128witness Eli Nix testified that in 1947 he collected rent, corn, potatoes and bundled sorghum from the appellant Lois Hampton from products raised on the place in question. The witness H. B¡‘Curtis, executor of the estate of Mrs. Lela Nix, deceased, testified that -in the year 1950, he rented the land' in question' to Lois Hampton for the following' year . (1951) on the basis of a third of the "corn and'a fourth of-the cotton. The witness Reuben Orr testified that Har-lon Geyser lived on the premises in question in 1944 and 1945 and that'the land was vacant for at least part of the year 1946. The witness--Chilton-Wells, a rural mail carrier, testified that Harlon Geyser lived on the premises in the year 1945 a'nd that Ray lived there in 1943. The witnesses Whiteside and Killion also-'testified that Geyser lived on the premises in question in 1945, arid other things! There was also other testimony to the effect that Lois'Hampton and wife, Fay-rene Hampton, did not live on or have pos--session óf the property in question during the years 1943, 1944, 1945 and part of 1946.

Appellees’ 'witnesses Ray, Killion, White-side and Curtis also testified as to the lack of fences around the premises in question during the 10 years next preceding the filing of the suit in 1954. The evidence with respect to fences was disputed' and sharply conflicting between the parties.

We quote from 3B Tex.Jur., as follows:

■ “It is for the trier of the facts, whether the court or the jury, to decide the issues of fact on conflicting evidence, or evidence which is susceptible of diverse influences. So the rule is well established that a reviewing court will not disturb the jury’s verdict or findings where there is some evidence of probative value to support’ them, unless the evidence is so everwhelmingly against the' verdict or findings as to shock the conscience or show clearly that the coriclusion reached was wrong or was the result of passion, prejudice or improper motive.” Page 449, * *
- - “It is not the prerogative of the ap- - pellate court to pass upon the weight of the testimony nor to determine in whose favor it'predominates. The only question for the court’s determination is whether or not there is any testimony of probative effect to support the findings.” Page 453. * * *

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Bluebook (online)
281 S.W.2d 126, 1955 Tex. App. LEXIS 1955, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hampton-v-nix-texapp-1955.