Herron v. Hughes

11 S.W.2d 567
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 14, 1928
DocketNo. 11988. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 11 S.W.2d 567 (Herron v. Hughes) 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
Herron v. Hughes, 11 S.W.2d 567 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

BUCK, J.

On and prior to the year 1921, B. Frank Herron and his wife, Mrs. Mary D. Herron, owned four tracts of land in Young county, containing a total of 640 acres. They had tw.o daughters, viz., Mrs. Maud Hughes, wife of John W. Hughes, the defendants herein, and Mrs. Dynnie Willerford, plaintiff herein. She was subsequently divorced from Mr. Willerford, and this suit was brought in the name of Dynnie Herron, by which name the plaintiff will be hereinafter designated. Mr. and Mrs. Herron on July 30, 1921, gave an oil and gas lease on the 640 acres to their son-in-law, John W. Hughes. It is claimed by plaintiff, and admitted by defendants, that this lease was' executed without any consideration, and that primarily the leasehold interest vested in lessee constituted a trust for the benefit of Frank Her-ron and wife, and their creditors. John W. Hughes was at the time of the conveyance the agent for the Magnolia Petroleum Company at Graham and ran a filling station, and was engaged in handling oil and gas leases, and it was thought by the interested parties could more successfully handle the leasing of this land than Mr. Herron could. The Herrons about this time owed some debts; perhaps $5,000 to $6,000 to the Graham National Bank; $800 to John E. Morrison, etc. The creditors were demanding payment. The Herrons were old and unable to raise the money necessary to meet these debts. • So it was finally agreed to convey the property, subject to any oil and gas lease formerly conveyed to Hughes or others, to-the bank, in payment of the debt to the bank and some other indebtedness, amounting all told to some $T,00O. This was done on October 6, 1921. On December 29, 1921, the bank conveyed to Hughes, by a general warranty deed, for a recited consideration of $1,000 cash, and a vendor’s lien note, payable to the bank in the sum of $6,000, the land theretofore conveyed by the Herrons to the-bank, subject to any vdlid outstanding oil or gas leases on said land.

Frank Herron died on May 31 or June 1, 1922, leaving his entire estate to his widow, Mrs. Mary D. Herron. Plaintiff subsequently filed suit against her mother, Mrs. Mary D. Herron, and Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, for an interest in the land, hut this suit was dismissed; Mrs. Mary D. Herron also filed suit against Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, but Mrs. Her-ron died before trial, on, to wit, December 29, 1924, and the suit was not further prosecuted' by the administrator.

On September 1, 1922, Mrs. Mary D. Her-ron, as “sole devisee under the will of Benjamin F. Herron, deceased, and as sole executrix under the will of Benjamin F. Herron,, and for a recited consideration of $10,” executed to John W. Hughes a quitclaim deed to 206.88 acres of this land, described as follows: “All of the A. D. Denton Survey, abstract .88, and said survey contains by a resurvey 206.88 acres of land, as appears by resurvey and plat shown of record in volume-64, page 428, deed records of Young county, Texas, and reference is hereby made to said plat and field notes and the record thereof for a full and complete description of the-land herein conveyed.” .

On January 10, 1923, a partition, deed was executed by and between Mrs. Mary D. Her-ron, Mrs. Dynnie Willerford, plaintiff- herein, joined by her husband, G. W. Willerford, and John W. Hughes and wife, Mrs. Maud Hughes, by the terms of which the mineral rights to the land in question were divided among the parties to said deed. We understand that it is agreed by all parties that by the terms of the deed Mrs. Mary D. Herron received virtually ⅝ of such mineral rights, and John W. Hughes and wife, Mrs. Maud Hughes, jointly received a ⅝ of such mineral rights, the plaintiff herein received a ⅛' of such mineral rights.

Mrs. Mary D. Herron received under this partition deed, covering the mineral rights only, a conveyance of an undivided ¾0 interest'in and-to all of the oil, gas, and other *569 minerals in the 206.88 acres of the A. Ii. Den-ton survey; an undivided e%4g.o5 interest in and to all the mineral rights in and under the J. Abernathy survey of 240.65 aeres; an undivided ⅜ interest in all the minerals under the P. J. Humphreys survey; an undivided ⅜ interest of the mineral rights in the E. Herron survey. The plaintiff received an undivided ¾0 mineral interest in the A. D. Denton survey; an undivided 3%49.65 interest in the J. Abernathy survey; an undivided ¾0 interest in the P. J. Humphreys survey ; an undivided ⅜ interest in the F. Her-ron survey. J. W. Hughes and wife, Mrs. Maud Hughes, received by the deed an undivided ¾0 interest in all the minerals under the A. L. Denton survey; an undivided 6%⅜9.65 interest in all of the J. Abernathy survey; an undivided ⅝ interest in the P. H. Humph-reys survey; an undivided ⅜ interest in the F. Herron survey.

This partition was signed by Mrs. Lynnie Willerford, joined by her husband, and by Mrs. Mary L. Herron, and by J. W. Hughes and his wife. There was in the deed the following stipulation: “The above and foregoing is intended to be and is a full, complete and final partition and settlement of the estate and interest hereinbefore set out, in and to the property of B. F. Herron, deceased, and his surviving wife, Mary L. Her-ron, in so far as the same affects the mineral rights.”

The contention made by plaintiff was that this stipulation was not in the deed when she signed it or when her mother signed it. In answer to question 1, the jury found that the stipulation was on the deed when Mrs. Mary hi. Herron signed it, but was not therein at the time Mrs. 'Dynnie Herron, plaintiff, signed and acknowledged it.

On the same day the quitclaim deed was executed by Mrs. Mary L. Herron to John W. Hughes, she also executed a “ratification of oil and gas lease” on 160 acres of land more or less out of the A. L. Denton survey, by the terms of which instrument the grantor “ratified and confirmed said oil and gas lease theretofore made by her and her deceased husband.”

On- August 25, 1926, plaintiff, as a feme sole, filed her original petition herein. The petition is quite lengthy, consisting, with attached exhibits, of some SO pages of closely typewritten matter. Plaintiff pleads and sets out the deed to the Graham National Bank, by her father and mother, the deed by 'the bank to John W. Hughes, the quitclaim deed and the so-called ratification deed by Mrs. Mary B. Herron to John W. Hughes, the partition deed executed by Mrs. Mary- L. Her-ron, plaintiff, and Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, but alleges that all of the instruments were executed by Mrs. Mary B. Herron upon the promise and agreement made by John W. Hughes, and the reliance thereon by Mrs. Herron, that such conveyances were made for the sole purpose of convenience and in order to enable Hughes to handle the leases more profitably and expeditiously, and that the Herrons were not finally disposing of their interests in any part of the estate by reason of such instruments so executed, but that Hughes, as said trustee, agreed that the Her-rons should receive all the residue of the estate, after the debts and the necessary expenses incurred in the management of the estate had been paid; that originally Frank Herron and his wife, and after his death Mrs. Herron, relied on such promises and agreements, and but for speh reliance would not have executed said instruments or any of them.

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Bluebook (online)
11 S.W.2d 567, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herron-v-hughes-texapp-1928.