Herrin v. Bunge

336 S.W.2d 281, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 26, 1960
DocketNo. 13185
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 336 S.W.2d 281 (Herrin v. Bunge) 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
Herrin v. Bunge, 336 S.W.2d 281, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277 (Tex. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

BELL, Chief Justice.

The appellee recovered judgment against appellant in the amount of $793.88. This amount represented certain alleged fixtures taken by appellant from real property which he sold to appellee, and also damage caused by appellant’s agents to two gates. Trial was to the court without a jury-

On March 14, 1956, appellant and ap-pellee entered into a written contract, under the terms of which appellant agreed to sell to appellee and appellee agreed to purchase from appellant for a consideration of $112,500, 1,250 acres of land in Colorado County. The part of the contract material to this appeal is the provision that “large barn to be moved by Seller as his own separate property and not part of this consideration.” Also the seller was to, 90 days from the date of the contract, deliver possession of the land to appellee.

The sale of the property was consummated April 10, 1956, by the payment of the consideration and the delivery of a deed. Contemporaneously with consummation appellant gave appellee a letter which reserved to appellant 60 acres of corn he had planted and certain feeders-on skids. It also stated 3 bobtail vans on the property should belong to appellee.

The evidence shows that appellant removed 3 concrete watering troughs and' their fittings, 1 steel water tank, 277 feet of 2-inch water pipe, and 67½ feet of 2-inch pipe used as sign posts. Damage was shown to have been done to 1 aluminum gate, 1 steel gate, and 12 1" X 6" X 12' boards.

The trial court, in his findings of fact, found the following improvements had’ been placed on the land by appellant prior to the date of the contract of sale :

1. 277 feet of 2" pipe used as a water line for watering livestock.

2. 3 concrete water troughs with fittings for watering livestock.

3. 1 steel butane tank of 1,000 gallon-capacity on three columns constructed as-a foundation for such tank, for use in watering livestock.

4. 12 boards of lumber, size 1X6 and1 12 feet long, constructed in a fence for keeping livestock.

5. 1 steel gate made of pipe, 11 feet long and 3½ feet high, used in livestock fence.

6. 1 aluminum gate used in fence for keeping livestock.

7. 4 sign posts made of 2" steel pipe with cross-arms and set in concrete.

The court found these improvements-were actually and constructively annexed to the land by appellant and that he intended that they be used and they were used as a part of the permanent improvements-on the land.

There was the further finding that these were being used as a part of the perma[283]*283nent improvements when the deed was delivered and they were not reserved by appellant or excepted from the conveyance.

The court then concluded the improvements were a part of the land conveyed to appellee by the deed from appellant and that appellee was entitled to recover the reasonable cost of replacing the fixtures moved and the reasonable cost of repairing those damaged, so as to place the premises in the same condition they were in at the time of the delivery of the deed.

There were other items sued for by appellee, but the court found adversely to him and no complaint is here made by appellee of that part of the judgment.

Appellant presents four Points of Error:

1. He contends the court erred in finding and concluding that the 277 feet of 2" pipe and the 3 concrete watering troughs were not reserved and excepted by appellant. His position is that they were a part of the barn which was reserved in the contract of sale.

2. He contends the court erred in finding and concluding the steel butane tank passed with the land because he asserts it was not actually or constructively annexed to the land and was not used as a part of the permanent improvements.

3. He contends the court erred in holding him liable for damage done to the gates, sign posts and boards because the damage occurred prior to the contract of sale or, alternatively, it occurred while he was in lawful possession of the premises and there was no allegation of negligence.

4. He contends there is no evidence to support the finding that the reasonable cost of replacing the steel tank was $400, or that the finding is contrary to the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence.

Appellant contends that none of the above findings are supported by the evidence and alternatively that each finding is contrary to the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence.

The first contention of appellant is that the 277 feet of 2" water pipe and the 3 concrete water tanks were a part of the barn which was reserved in the contract of sale. The action of the trial court in holding adversely to appellant on this issue was correct.

The evidence shows that the 2-inch line ran from a point near the water tank to a point near the barn. From the 2-inch line 1" lines led up to each water tank. None of the 3 troughs here involved was connected physically with the barn. The nearest one was about 30 feet from the barn. The barn was called a “show barn”. It was used to show cattle. Inside of the structure were stalls for the cattle. There was a feed .room and a wash room. There was also a water trough in the barn but it is not here in dispute. The cattle were usually kept in the barn during the day, though they were sometimes in the pasture. At night they were turned into the exercise pens that were adjacent to the barn. The exercise pens, under some testimony, were also used in connection with the breeding of cattle. In the exercise pens were the three troughs involved. The troughs rested on the ground, but soil had been banked up around the bottom part of each, so that you might accurately state that the lower portion was below the surface of the ground. A creosoted fence pole was at the end of each, about the middle of each end, and across the center line of each, two 1" X 6" boards were placed and nailed to the pole. The trough would in this manner afford drinking facilities in two separate exercise pens. One of the troughs was in the fence line as just described, but it served only one exercise pen and the pasture. Thus the troughs could only be moved by removing the boards and by being lifted out of the shallow embanked earth around each. The 2" pipe was all buried 4 or 5 inches. It was placed there when the show barn was built, as were the exercise pens. The only physical connection that could be said to exist between the barn structure and the [284]*284two-inch pipe is that a one-inch pipe connected to it served a water trough in the barn. The only physical connection, if it is that, which could be said to be between the barn structure and the three troughs here involved is that they were incorporated in the exercise pen fences, as above described, and an end of such fences was nailed onto the end of the barn.

Appellant takes the position that, because of the above, and because the barn structure, the troughs, the 2-inch pipe and the exercise pens were all erected or placed on the premises at the same time for use in showing cattle, they all constitute the barn.

Unquestionably all of these items were a part of the realty that would pass with the sale of the land to which they were affixed in the absence of a reservation in favor of the seller.

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Bluebook (online)
336 S.W.2d 281, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herrin-v-bunge-texapp-1960.