Harris v. Willson

59 S.W.2d 106, 122 Tex. 323, 1933 Tex. LEXIS 100
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1933
DocketNo. 6105
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 59 S.W.2d 106 (Harris v. Willson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Willson, 59 S.W.2d 106, 122 Tex. 323, 1933 Tex. LEXIS 100 (Tex. 1933).

Opinion

Mr. Judge CRITZ

delivered the opinion of Commission of Appeals, Section A.

The opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals in the case here sought to be certified is reported in 44 S. W. (2d) 784, and we refer to it for a detailed statement of its facts and issues.

Simple stated, Juanita Harris sued Ed Sprouls and John Houser, and in her petition alleges that while she was riding in an auto operated by John Houser and being driven along a public road in Wise County, Texas, and while Houser was attempting to pass a truck belonging to Ed Sprouls, she was injured as a result of the separate negligent acts of both Houser and Sprouls. Miss Harris sued both Houser and Sprouls in the same suit in the District Court of Tarrant County, Texas, on the theory that because she had venue as to the defendant Sprouls, who lives in Tarrant County, Texas, she also had venue as to the defendant Houser, who lives in Wichita County, Texas. Venue thus claimed is asserted under Subdivision 4 of Article 1995, R. C. S., 1925, and Subdivision 29a added to the same article by Acts First Called Session, 40th Legislature, page 197, chapter 72.

The defendant Sprouls, who resides in Tarrant County, answered ’ the plaintiffs’ petition, and also filed cross action against Houser. The cross action pleads that Sprouls was a passive wrongdoer, and Houser an active one. Also the cross action seeks relief for Sprouls against Houser under the provisions of Article 2212, R. C. S., 1925.

Houser answered both the main action and the cross action by separate pleas of privilege, and asked that the suit as affecting him be transferred to Wichita County, Texas, the county of his residence.

The case was heard on the pleas of privilege alone in the district court and both pleas overruled. On appeal by Houser to the Court of Civil Appeals, the judgment of the district court was reversed, and the cause remanded with instructions to the trial court to order the transfer of the cause, including the cross action, so far as against Houser, to the proper court of Wichita County, Texas, the county of Houser’s residence.

In its opinion the Court of Civil Appeals finds and holds that Miss Harris’ injuries resulted from acts of negligence [325]*325amounting to a tort committed by both of the above named parties, but that Houser and Sprouls in committing the tort were acting not jointly upon concert of action, or by simultaneous wrongful acts, or with community of legal responsibility, but separately and for themselves alone, and without legal obligation to each other.

The Court of Civil Appeals then holds in effect that Miss Harris cannot maintain an action for damages for personal injuries arising out of the above transaction against Houser in Tarrant County by joining him as a party defendant with Sprouls. In this connection the Court of Civil Appeals holds that ordinarily in negligent actions joint tort-feasors may be joined as defendants in the same suit at the will of the plaintiff, but that there cannot be, as respecting venue, proper joinder of several persons as defendants for pure tort where the persons committing the tort were acting as Houser and Sprouls were acting as found above. We understand this is the effect of the holding of the Court of Civil Appeals, both in its original opinion and its opinion on rehearing.

Miss Harris and Sprouls duly presented their motion for rehearing to the Court of Civil Appeals, which was overruled. They then presented their motion to certify to the Supreme Court. The motion to certify contended that the holding of the Court of Civil Appeals was in conflict with 27 holdings of the Supreme Court and Courts of Civil Appeals. The cases cited in the motion as conflicting are the following:

Cobb v. Barber, 92 Texas, 309, 47 S. W., 963; Richardson v. Cage, 113 Texas, 152, 252 S. W., 747; Bowers v. Bryant-Link Co. (Com. App.), 15 S. W. (2d) 598; Wool Growers’ Central Storage Co. v. Edwards, 10 S. W. (2d) 577; First State Bank v. Hill, 2 S. W. (2d) 1023; People’s State Bank v. National Bank, 267 S. W., 992; Alexander v. Alexander, 265 S. W., 1072; Childress v. Brooks, 265 S. W., 224; First State Bank v. Rice, 251 S. W., 284; Scott v. Cassidy, 240 S. W., 1041; Waxahachie Natl. Bank v. Sigmond Rothschild Co., 235 S. W., 633; White v. Alexander, 131 S. W., 437; Cardwell v. Masterson, 66 S. W., 1121; Dublin Cotton Oil Co. v. Robinson, 50 S. W., 1054; Harper v. Winfield State Bank, 173 S. W., 627; Behrens Drug Co. v. Hamilton, 92 Texas, 284, 48 S. W., 5; Burt v. Spearman, 19 S. W. (2d) 96; Carlisle v. Frost-Llewellyn Lumber Co., 196 S. W., 733; Cotton Concentration Co. v. First National Bank, 245 S. W., 118; Fuqua v. Shaw, 119 Texas, 325, 29 S. W. (2d) 319; Kunz v. Ragsdale, 200 S. W., 269; Mercantile Bank & Trust Co. v. Schuhart, 115 Texas, 114, 277 S. W., 621; [326]*326Miller v. Bush, 119 Texas, 53, 24 S. W. (2d) 23; Oakland Motor Car Co. v. Jones, 29 S. W. (2d) 861; Oxsheer v. Watt, 91 Texas, 402, 44 S. W., 67; Penix v. Davis, 265 S. W., 718; Ward Farm Co. v. Searcy, 257 S. W., 653.

The Court of Civil Appeals overruled the motion to certify and this proceeding followed as an original application for mandamus in the Supreme Court to compel certification of certain questions relating to the correctness of the above holding of the Court of Civil Appeals.

At this point we deemed it expedient to say that the right to the mandamus herein sought is claimed under the provisions of Article 1855, R. C. S., 1925. The article reads as follows:

“Where a decision of a Court of Civil Appeals is in conflict with an opinion rendered by the Supreme Court of Texas or by some other Court of Civil Appeals in this State on any question of law, and such Court of Civil Appeals refuses to concur with the opinion rendered by the Supreme Court or such Court of Civil Appeals, the court refusing to concur with the conflicting opinion shall transmit the question of law involved in the cause wherein said conflict of opinion has arisen, duly certified, together with the record or transcript in such cause, to the Supreme Court for adjudication by the Supreme Court.”

Before deciding whether the mandamus herein sought should be granted, we deem it advisable to state certain rules governing mandamus action under the foregoing article. Such rules are as follows:

First. The Supreme Court will not grant a mandamus to compel a certification under the above statute on an issue of conflict, unless the mandamus is sought in a case in which the jurisdiction of the Court of Civil Appeals is final. In other words, the action for mandamus will not lie in a case over which the Supreme Court has jurisdiction on appeal by writ of error.

Second. The Supreme Court will not grant a mandamus to compel certification under Article 1855, supra, simply because it disagrees with the ruling of the Court of Civil Appeals, or believes such ruling is erroneous. In this connection, it is held that an apparent inconsistency in the principles of law announced, or in the application of recognized principles of law, are not sufficient to justify a mandamus under this statute. The ruling must be so far under a similar state of facts that the decision of one case is necessarily conclusive upon the other. This means that the facts in issue, which are involved in the [327]*327particular ruling in each of the two cases must be materially the same in both cases, and the decision in one case as to the legal effect of the facts therein must be contradictory of the other. Layton v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Coastal Corp. v. Garza
979 S.W.2d 318 (Texas Supreme Court, 1998)
Saigh v. Monteith, C.J.
215 S.W.2d 610 (Texas Supreme Court, 1948)
Ed Grote v. Chief Justice P.R. Price
163 S.W.2d 1059 (Texas Supreme Court, 1942)
Cochran v. Wool Growers Central Storage Co.
162 S.W.2d 941 (Texas Supreme Court, 1942)
Dockum v. Mercury Insurance
135 S.W.2d 700 (Texas Supreme Court, 1940)
Ziegelmeyer v. Nealon
125 S.W.2d 1038 (Texas Supreme Court, 1939)
Wright v. Dunklin
123 S.W.2d 301 (Texas Supreme Court, 1939)
Meredith v. McClendon
130 Tex. 527 (Texas Supreme Court, 1938)
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Hamilton
89 S.W.2d 208 (Texas Supreme Court, 1936)
Pearson v. Guardian Trust Co.
84 S.W.2d 256 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1935)
Travelers Insurance v. Barker
80 S.W.2d 953 (Texas Supreme Court, 1935)
City Nat. Bank in Childress v. Phillips Petroleum Co.
78 S.W.2d 576 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1935)
Krueger v. Hall
122 Tex. 547 (Texas Supreme Court, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 S.W.2d 106, 122 Tex. 323, 1933 Tex. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-willson-tex-1933.