Hicks v. Price

81 S.W.2d 116
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 9, 1935
DocketNo. 10059
StatusPublished

This text of 81 S.W.2d 116 (Hicks v. Price) 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
Hicks v. Price, 81 S.W.2d 116 (Tex. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

PHEASANTS, Chief Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment of the court below refusing appellants a temporary injunction in a suit brought by them against appellees.

The suit, which was brought by A. Hicks, J. D. Simmons, and C. M. Haddad 'on June 1, 1933, against appellees Dr. W. L. Shirey, Earl Price, sheriff of Smith county, H. E. Byrne, W. M. Roberts, R. E. Morris, Tyler Commercial College, W. E. Weatherford, W. C. Wiley, E. R. Burgett, and Standard Accident Insurance Company, to enjoin the sale under execution of property which is described in the petition as a part of lot No. 1 in block No. 22 in the city of Tyler in Smith county:

“Beginning at the Northwest corner of Lot No. 1, which is also the Northwest corner of said Block No. 22;
“Thence East with the South line of West Elm Street, 120 feet to corner;
“Thence South parallel with the East line of South College Street, 130 feet to corner;
“Thence West 120 feet to corner on the East line of South College Street;
“Thence North along the East line of South College Street, 130 feet to the place of beginning, and being the same land described in a deed from the Tyler Commercial College and its trustees to H. E. Byrne, dated February 16,-1927, and recorded in Volume 195, [117]*117spage 142, Deed Records of Smith County, Texas.”

The petition alleged in substance that the ■ defendant sheriff, acting under a pluries execution issued from the court below on a judgment rendered by said court on July 21,1927, in favor of Carter Stewart against all of the • defendants named in the petition, and also against Houston Finance Corporation, the Byrne Publishing Company, and W. F. An-drews, for the sum of $14,731.62, has levied upon the land as the property of H. E. Byrne and advertised it for sale in satisfaction of ■ said judgment on June 6, 1933.

It is further alleged that the 120 by 130 feet of land before described was conveyed to H. E. Byrne by the Tyler Commercial College by deed of date February 16,1927, which deed was duly recorded in the deed records • of Smith county; that said Byrne and wife, on October 2,1928, conveyed the land to R. E. L. Johnson, who thereafter conveyed to plaintiff J. D. Simmons the south 60 by 120 feet of the land by deed dated October 16, 1928, and >by deed dated November 30, 1928, sold and ■ conveyed the 70 by 120 feet of the tract of :land to plaintiff A. Hielss by deed dated March 28, 1929; that Simmons sold and con- ■ veyed the north 38 by 120 feet of the portion ■of the tract conveyed to him by Johnson to plaintiff Hicks, who thereafter by deed dated May 9,1929, conveyed it to plaintiff Haddad; •that each of the deeds above mentioned were forthwith duly recorded in the deed records •of Smith county.

“That at the present time the plaintiff A. .Hicks is the owner in fee simple of the North 70 by 120 feet of said original tract; the plaintiff C. M. Haddad is the owner of the 38 ' by 120 feet of said tract adjoining the Hicks tract on the South, and the plaintiff, J. D. ■ Simmons, is the owner of the South 60 by 120 feet of said original tract.

“That these plaintiffs are informed and be■lieve and therefore allege on such information and belief, that at the date of the sale of ■ the original tract of land above described by ■the said Lida Byrne and husband, H. E. Byrne, to R. E. L. Johnson as aforesaid, said .land was vacant and unimproved or that any ■ improvements then situated thereon were old ■ and worthless and of no substantial value. ’That since said date the plaintiff, A. Hicks, has erected on the 70 by 120 foot tract owned ■ by him a substantial brick building at a cost •of approximately $40,000.00 and that the plaintiff, J. D. Simmons, has erected a substantial brick building on said tract owned iby him, together with an adjoining tract on the South also owned by him, and that such improvements are of the approximate value of $10,000.00; that the defendant Earl Price, Sheriff as aforesaid, under and by virtue of said pluries execution, is now attempting to sell, not only the real estate above described, but also the improvements situated thereon, although the defendant, H. E. Byrne, has never had any interest in or to any of such improvements.

“That the defendant, Dr. W. L. Shirey, purporting to be the owner and holder of the judgment in the case of Carter Stewart v. Houston Finance Corporation et al., above mentioned, claims and asserts that such judgment constitutes a lien against the land and premises above set forth superior to the right, title and claim of these plaintiffs in the respective portions of said land and premises owned by them as above set forth.

“That the Houston Finance Corporation and Byrne Publishing Company, two of the defendants in the original cause of Carter Stewart v. Houston Finance Corporation et al., above mentioned, are, so these plaintiffs are informed and believe, and therefore allege on information and belief, now dissolved, out of business and insolvent and possessed of no assets, and W. F. Andrews, one of the defendants in said cause is now deceased and the heirs or legal representatives of said W. F. Andrews are unknown to counsel for the plaintiffs.”

Other paragraphs of the petition allege in substance that the plaintiffs, prior to the institution of this suit, offered to pay the defendant Shirey the full amount due on the judgment in favor of Carter Stewart, before described, if the said defendant would transfer and assign said judgment to them, but that said defendant refused to accept such payment and make such assignment of the judgment; that plaintiffs here now tender the full amount due on said judgment at the time this suit was filed, subject only to the assignment to them of the judgment unimpaired by any act of the defendant other than the two releases heretofore executed by him to the defendants W. E. Weatherford and W. C. Wiley for the respective amounts paid by them on the judgment; that said judgment is against each of the defendants therein jointly and severally, and said defendant Shirey is seeking to enforce the judgment only against these plaintiffs, who are vendees of the land owned by defendant Byrne at the time the judgment against him was rendered, and has failed and refused to collect the judgment from the other defendants therein except the defendants Weatherford and Wiley, [118]*118from each of whom he has collected the sum of $606.70.

Plaintiffs further alleged that the defendant Tyler Commercial College is solvent and the judgment could be collected from said defendant; that an understanding or agreement existed between defendant Shirey and each of the remaining defendants that he will satisfy the judgment by sale of the property of these plaintiffs, and thereby satisfy and extinguish the judgment or any lien on the property of the other defendants; that such agreement is a conspiracy in fraud of the rights of plaintiffs, and defendant Shirey should upon the facts stated be required to attempt the collection of the judgment from the other defendants before seeking to subject the land owned by plaintiffs to the payment of the full amount of the judgment.

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Related

Simmons v. Sikes
56 S.W.2d 193 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1932)
Stewart v. Byrne
42 S.W.2d 234 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1931)

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Bluebook (online)
81 S.W.2d 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hicks-v-price-texapp-1935.