Harris v. Harris

174 S.W.2d 996
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 1, 1943
DocketNo. 14554.
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 174 S.W.2d 996 (Harris v. Harris) 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
Harris v. Harris, 174 S.W.2d 996 (Tex. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

Plaintiff Ocie Harris sued his wife, Cynthia Harris, for divorce. The defendant answered with a general denial and a cross-action against plaintiff for a division of the community property. She also impleaded Jim Harris, plaintiff’s father, *998 and sought to recover against him a community interest in the title and possession of a certain house and lot in the City of Fort Worth, Texas, under an alleged parol gift to her and her husband, Ocie Harris. All the parties are negroes. j

Cross-defendant Jim Harris, to whom we shall refer by name to save confusion, answered by general denial, and claimed the house and lot in fee simple. He denied that any gift, oral or otherwise, was ever made by him of the house and lot to his son, the plaintiff Ocie Harris, and his wife, Cynthia Harris, or to either of them. He alleged that his son and daughter-in-law, the parties to the divorce suit, were indebted to him in the sum of $300, for rentals on the house in controversy, in which they lived; that he made a deal with them by which the three would improve the house, and that such amount as Ocie and Cynthia expended on. the improvements would be credited by him on his indebtedness against them and prayed that neither plaintiff nor defendant take anything against him, and for costs of suit.

A jury trial was demanded and special issues were submitted. The jury found that plaintiff’s grounds for divorce existed; plaintiff and defendant were indebted to Jim Harris on July 3, 1939, in the sum of $300; Ocie and Cynthia expended $200 in the repair of the house; Ocie and Cynthia installed the Butane Gas System at an expense of $230; Jim Harris promised plaintiff and defendant that such sum as they expended on the house would be credited on their indebtedness to him; Jim Harris never did promise plaintiff and defendant, or either of them, to give them the property at any time.

Judgment was entered decreeing a divorce to plaintiff from defendant, and awarding the title -and possession of the house and lot, by proper description, to Jim Harris, “together with all improvements situated thereon, including the Butane Gas System * * * subject to a lien in favor of Cynthia Harris, in the sum of $65.00,. payable $10.00 on the first day of April, 1943, and $10.00 on the first day of each month thereafter until the sum of $65.00 is paid”; and further providing for the writ of restitution in favor of Jim Harris and his costs against both plaintiff- and defendant. The motion for new trial was overruled and Cynthia Harris has appealed.

The substance of the points relied upon for reversal is: (1) Error of the court in entering judgment for Jim Harris for title and possession of the Butane Gas System because Jim Harris had not sought any affirmative relief against Cynthia; (2 and 8) failure of the court to order the community property of plaintiff and defendant to be divided; (3) error of the court in entering judgment in favor of Jim Harris for the Butane Gas System because it was not shown to be a part of the realty; (4) there were no pleadings by Jim Harris entitling him to recover the Butane Gas System; (5, 6 and 7) error of the court in decreeing that Jim Harris should pay to Cynthia Harris $65 in $10 monthly instalments because, (a) there were no pleadings seeking such relief, (b) the effect of the judgment was tó decree a sale of the Butane Gas System, without pleadings or proof, and (c) the judgment in respect to the Butane Gas System was not a final one, but leaves the matter open for further litigation.

The pleadings of Jim Harris, upon which the judgment is based, are not all that one might wish to see when a party seeks to defend against the claim of title by such an adversary as was Cynthia in this case. She sought recovery of the title under a parol gift from Jim, her father-in-law. Jim’s defense to her claim and his right to have his title quieted in him did not depend upon anything more than Cynthia’s failure to show her right of recovery against him. It is stipulated as a fact in the record that: “Appellant Cynthia Harris does not complain of any error in that part of the judgment decreeing title to said real estate in Jim Harris.” Insofar as the several points of error relied upon com plain of the insufficiency of the pleadings of Jim Harris to entitle him to recover the real estate, there is no merit. Defendant Cynthia, in her brief, relies upon the provisions of Article 2211, R.C.S., Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., and the many cases cited thereunder in the annotated statutes, to support her contention that the judgment must conform to the pleadings and the nature of the case proved, etc., as provided by Rule 301, Texas Rules Civil Procedure, which superseded the cited statute. We have so treated the citation and think it the better practice to cite the rule of procedure, if, as in this case, the statute was repealed and replaced by the rule; *999 this, however, does not affect the point the parties seek to have reviewed.

Under the provisions of Rule 67, T.R.C.P., if issues are not raised by pleading's, and such issues are tried out by express or implied consent of the parties, they shall be treated as if they had been raised in the pleadings. The judgment of court indicates that the point complained of was tried out by the parties and acted upon by the court, and there is nothing to the contrary shown. We must presume by the action of the court, in such circumstances and under the last cited rule, that the matter was properly before the court.

The purported statement of facts consists mainly of stipulations plus some questions and answers of two witnesses. Among what we term stipulations of facts, we find that Ocie and Cynthia accumulated some community property “of which a part was what the evidence shows to be a Butane Gas System. No evidence as to just what a Butane Gas System is, with reference to whether it was real estate or personal property, was introduced, excepting the testimony of Jim Harris * * * and Ocie Harris, which testimony is attached.” We shall notice that testimony later.

In her cross-action against her husband for partition of community property, Cynthia alleged that they owned a Butane Gas System of the value of $300 and household and kitchen furniture and other effects of the value of $150; there are further allegations to the effect that the community between her and her husband owned the house and lot, under a parol gift from Jim Harris.

The verdict of the jury removed her claimed rights in the house and lot. There is no testimony of any character concerning the existence of household and kitchen furniture.! Points 2 and 8 assert error because no partition of community property was awarded her. The asserted community interest in the gas system appears to be the sole bone of contention.

The “stipulations” further show that no ■complaint is made by Cynthia of the sufficiency of the testimony to support the ■divorce decree, nor is there any complaint of the sufficiency of the testimony to support the jury finding against her relating to the parol gift, of the house and lot.

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174 S.W.2d 996, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-harris-texapp-1943.