Holland v. Commonwealth Finance Corp.

118 S.W.2d 364, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 661
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 2, 1938
DocketNo. 5213.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 118 S.W.2d 364 (Holland v. Commonwealth Finance Corp.) 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
Holland v. Commonwealth Finance Corp., 118 S.W.2d 364, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 661 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

HALL, Justice.

Appellee instituted this suit in form of trespass to try title against Mrs. C. E. Holland, appellant, her son, W. W.' Holland, and others not necessary to mention, to recover title and possession of a 185%-acre tract of land situated in Rusk County, Texas.

Appellant answered by general denial, plea of not guilty, and specially alleged title under the several statutes of limitation. By *365 way of cross action appellant urged that on May 2, 1926, she conveyed the land in controversy to W. W. Holland retaining in the deed of conveyance a vendor’s lien to secure part of the purchase price represented by a note of even date with said deed for $3500; that W. W. Holland defaulted in the payment of said vendor’s lien note, and she, being the owner and holder of the superior title, elected to and did rescind said sale; that on March 19, 1927, W. W. Holland as evidence of said rescission executed and delivered to appellant a deed conveying said land in cancellation of the $3500 vendor’s lien note. In the alternative appellant sought a foreclosure of the vendor’s lien retained, and judgment for her debt.

W. W. Holland filed an answer but has not appealed, so no further notice will be taken of same.

In answer to appellant’s answer and cross action, appellee alleged that the purchase money note mentioned in the deed from appellant to W. W. Holland was not secured by any lien upon the property in controversy ; that it “did not in fact evidence any part of the purchase money for said land”; that the note mentioned in said deed “had been executed and delivered by W. W. Holland to defendant (appellant), C. E. Holland, long prior to the deed of conveyance and was a preexisting obligation between said parties.” Appellee alleged further that the note mentioned in said deed was dated June 22, 1925, and was paid August 11, 1925, and that the deed dated May 2, 1926, did not and could not operate to create a lien on the land in controversy to secure said note. Appellee denied that appellant rescinded the sale of May 2, 1926, by cancellation of the purchase money note; that the deed from W. W. Holland to C. E. Holland' in cancellation of the purchase money note was wholly ineffective for the reason that on May 12, 1926, W. W. Holland had parted with the title to said land to Ed Black. Appellee alleged further that C. E. Holland was estopped from claiming a rescission or foreclosure of said lien for the reason that she delivered the vendor’s lien note of date June 22, 1925, which was marked “paid”, to W. W. Holland, and that W. W. Holland exhibited same to appellee and thereby induced it to purchase the vendor’s lien notes given by Ed Black' to W. W. Holland as part of the purchase price paid by Black for said land upon the belief that the original vendor’s lien note given to appellant by W. W. Holland had been paid.

Trial was to the court without a jury and resulted in judgment for appellee for title and possession of the land in controversy.

The record discloses that on May 12, 1926, W. W. Holland sold the land in controversy to Ed Black reserving a vendor’s lien to secure the payment of certain notes given by Black as a part of the purchase price. These notes were purchased by appellee. Black defaulted in the payment of said notes and appellee brought suit in- Dallas County against both Black and W. W. Holland for its debt and to foreclose the vendor’s lien. A sale of the land was ordered by the Dallas court and appellee became, the purchaser at the sheriff’s sale August 2, 1927.

The principal contention by appellant, and in our opinion the controlling one, is that the trial court erred in permitting appellee to introduce evidence contrary to the agreement between the parties made in open court to the effect that appellant had good title to the land in controversy on May 2, 1926, the date of the deed from appellant to W. W. Holland. This evidence consisted of the introduction of the note dated June 22, 1925, for $3500 payable to C. E. Holland, appellant, made and executed by W. W. Holland due October 15, 1925, reciting that it was given in part payment of three tracts of land, one of which is described as being 185% acres, a part of the S. C. George Survey located in Rusk County, said note being marked “paid” August 11, 1925, by the First Guaranty State Bank of Overton, Texas. This note described the remaining consideration for this land as being $3500 cash and the assumption of a $1500 note. This note is identical with the note described in the deed from appellant to W. W. Holland with the exception of the date of execution. It will be noted that it was marked “paid” by the Overton bank more than ten months before the deed from appellant to W. W. Holland was executed, which described a $3500 note of even date with said deed and retained a vendor’s lien to secure its payment. The parties to this suit agreed at the beginning of the trial in open court that appellant had good title on May 2, 1926. The stipulation respecting this agreement is:

Mr. Milliken: “I think while there is no agreement as to common source of title, I think the pleadings and the facts will show a common source of title in the defendant (appellant),'C. E. Holland, and we will not undertake to go back of that. Do we have *366 an agreement that the title was good in C. E. Holland as of May 2, 1926?”

Judge Brachfield: “That fact is agreed to by both plaintiff and defendants.”

This statement amounts to more than an agreement of common source of title. It amounts to a stipulation that appellant had both the legal and the equitable title to the land in controversy on May 2, 1926; it became an agreed fact. Veselka v. Forres, Tex.Civ.App., 283 S.W. 303; Clark v. Ray, Tex.Civ.App., 96 S.W.2d 808, 813; Collins v. Martin, Tex.Civ.App., 6 S.W.2d 126; Armstrong v. Maddox, Tex.Civ.App., 8 S.W.2d 693; Ogg v. Herman, 71 Mont. 10, 227 P. 476. Such being the effect of said agreement, evidence would be inadmissible to show that on May 2, 1926, appellant did not have good title to the land in controversy. Strippelmann v. Clark, 11 Tex. 296; Dupree v. Duke, 30 Tex.Civ.App. 360, 70 S.W. 561. This, we think, was the effect of the introduction of the note of date June 22, 1925, which was marked “paid” by the Overton bank. The evidence in the record, in our opinion, is not sufficient to identify it as being the same note referred to in the deed-from appellant to W. W. Holland of date May 2, 1926. The discrepancy in the dates of execution of the two notes amounts to more than ten months. The one marked “paid” by the Overton bank being executed over ten months prior to the execution of the deed from appellant to W. W. Holland. Moreover, when W. W. Holland was called as a witness by the appellee, he testified thát the two notes were not the same; that the note named in the deed from appellant to him had never been paid and was not the same note as the one of date June 22, 1925, marked “paid” by the Overton bank. W. W. Holland testified, further, that when he conveyed the property back to appellant in cancellation of the indebtedness due by him on the purchase price of said land, appellant delivered the note described in the deed dated May 2, 1926, to him and he threw it into the wastebasket. This téstimony of W. W.

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

Related

Estate of Menifee v. Barrett
795 S.W.2d 810 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Waybourne v. Plains Chevrolet Co.
125 S.W.2d 344 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 S.W.2d 364, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 661, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holland-v-commonwealth-finance-corp-texapp-1938.