Heath v. Boyd

171 S.W.2d 396, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 351
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 7, 1943
DocketNo. 9364
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 171 S.W.2d 396 (Heath v. Boyd) 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
Heath v. Boyd, 171 S.W.2d 396, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 351 (Tex. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

BLAIR, Justice.

Appellant, Bert Heath, sued appellee, J. A. Boyd, Sheriff of Irion County, to recover $1,000 actual and $1,500 exemplary damages for alleged illegal arrest and imprisonment. A jury verdict upon special issues resulted in judgment for appellee; which judgment we affirm.

In substance appellant alleged that at the time of his arrest he was “blading” or cutting a new road as an employe of the Commissioners’ Court of Irion County, and under its lawful order; and that while committing no offense appellee arrested him without a warrant and illegally held him for about three hours. Appellee answered [397]*397that at the time and place in question appellant was operating a large road machine, cutting small trees, grass and turf on lands lawfully in the possession of R. D. Johnson as lessee; that before the occurrence Johnson advised appellee that appellant was cutting the road across the land without his consent and over his protest; that Johnson advised appellee that he had tried to stop appellant, but that appellant refused to stop; that thereafter appellee, as sheriff, and in the discharge of his duties of preventing a breach of the peace between Johnson and appellant, of keeping down trouble between them, and of protecting the property lawfully in the possession of Johnson from injury, went to the place where appellant was cutting the road, and requested him to stop cutting the road; that appellant told him that he was not going to stop, and that the only way appellee could stop him was to arrest him ; and that thereupon appellee told appellant that if that was the only way he could stop him, he would do it that way; whereupon appellant got in appellee’s automobile and rode a short distance to where his own car was parked, got in his own car, and drove himself to Mertzon, and then went to the sheriff’s office with appellee, where he stayed for about an hour, and was then discharged by appellee.

In answer to special issues the jury found: (1) That the Commissioners’ Court, acting through appellant, was blading the road without the consent of R. D. Johnson ; (2) that appellee believed it was necessary to arrest appellant at the time, “in order to stop the operation of the maintainer without a disturbance of the peace”; and (3) that it was reasonably necessary for appellee to arrest appellant “in order to prevent injury to the property in the possession of R. D. Johnson.” Upon these findings judgment was rendered for appel-lee.

Appellant presents two points, in substance, as follows:

1. That the evidence conclusively showed the arrest without a warrant to be unlawful.

2. That the evidence conclusively showed that at the time of his arrest appellant was working under the direction of the Commissioners’ Court upon a road which had been laid out by order of the Commissioners’ Court; and that the trial court erred in permitting such action of the Commissioners’ Court to be collaterally attacked in this suit for damages for false arrest and imprisonment.

The second point will be first discussed. Appellant alleged that he was working at the time of his arrest under lawful orders of the Commissioners’ Court. He introduced two orders of said court looking to the establishment of a road, or the shortening of an old abandoned road over the ranch leased by Johnson from Miss Ella Sugg. She had consented to the establishment of the road at any point satisfactory to Johnson, her lessee. The second order, dated February 9, 1942, recited that such a road was desired by certain parties, including Johnson; and that the court would meet the parties on a certain date to try to locate the road. After a second attempt the Commissioners’ Court and Johnson viewed out and agreed upon the location of the road to a certain point, but were unable to agree upon the location of the remainder of the road, being from the point agreed upon to the Concho River, a distance of more than one mile. Later two of the Commissioners, in the absence of Johnson, marked or “flagged” this portion of the road. No proceeding, such as a petition for the establishment of the road, notice, or for a jury of view to lay it out as required by Arts. 6703, 6705, and 6707, R.S.1925, was ever had, and under the undisputed evidence the effort made was merely to establish and locate the road by agreement with Johnson, which the undisputed evidence also shows was not made. Therefore, neither appellant nor the Commissioners’ Court had any lawful authority to locate or blade or cut the road at the time of the arrest of appellant, without the consent of Johnson. The jury found that Johnson had not consented to the location or blading of the road .at the time of the arrest of appellant. This was not a collateral attack on any valid order of the Commissioners’ Court establishing the road at the point where appellant was arrested, because no such order had ever been made; and the only possible issue in that respect was whether Johnson had consented to the location or blading of the new road at the point where appellant was arrested; which issue was decided .against appellant.

Nor do we sustain the first point that the evidence conclusively showed the arrest of [398]*398appellant without a warrant to be unlawful as a matter of law.

The facts show that after Johnson discovered that the new road had been marked or flagged, he protested several times to at least two of the Commissioners, one of whom was in charge of the work, and to the County Judge, telling them that he did not want the road' at that location, and that it would not serve him; and, according to his testimony, that on the night before the day of the arrest of appellant he obtained an agreement with these Commissioners and the County Judge that the road as flagged would not be bladed or cut until the matter of its location could be settled. He learned on the following morning early that appellant and other employes of the Commissioners’ Court were starting to blade and open the road. He then called appellee, as sheriff, by phone, and requested his aid in stopping the work. Appellee went immediately to the home of Johnson’s brother, about three or four miles from where the work was to be started, and where Johnson was; and after Johnson had informed him of the facts he apparently sent Johnson to request that appellant and the other employes not commence work on the road. When Johnson arrived he found that work had begun, and after informing appellant and the other employes that it had been agreed to stop the work until the matter could be settled, he requested all of them to stop the work¡ offering to pay their wages for the time lost; and told them that if they did not stop the work, he would have to file a complaint against them. All of the employes except appellant agreed to stop work and went to their road camp, about one mile away. Appellant, who was the foreman in charge of the work, tried to keep the other employes from stopping work, but they told him that they were not able to pay a fine. Appellant refused to stop work, testifying, in substance, that he did not believe Johnson was telling the truth about having an agreement with the Commissioners to stop the work until the matter could' be settled, and “for the reason that he (Johnson) was going to do anything to stop that job.”

Johnson then returned to his brother’s home where appellee was, and after informing him what had taken place, requested that he, as sheriff, stop appellant from blading the road and injuring his land.

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Related

Heath v. Boyd
175 S.W.2d 214 (Texas Supreme Court, 1943)

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Bluebook (online)
171 S.W.2d 396, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heath-v-boyd-texapp-1943.