Holman v. Houston Oil Co.

174 S.W. 886, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 267
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1915
DocketNo. 6643.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 174 S.W. 886 (Holman v. Houston Oil Co.) 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
Holman v. Houston Oil Co., 174 S.W. 886, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 267 (Tex. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinion

McMEANS, J.

This is a second appeal of this case. The first was disposed of by an opinion of this court reported in 152 S. W. 885.

The statement of the nature and result of the suit made by appellants in their brief is approved by the appellees and adopted by us. In substance it is as follows:

“This suit was originally instituted by W. L. Holman, as plaintiff, against the Houston Oil Company, on August 18, 1904, to recover the east half of the Nathaniel Hyden league, situated in. San Augustine county. On July 3, 1911, Harriett J. Harrison, J. E. Harrison, R. L. H. Williams, Mary Carnehan, and J. T. Carnehan filed. their original petition of intervention asserting title to the entire east half of the Hyden league, ‘less and except out of said east half of said league, 810 acres of land conveyed by the administrators of the estate of L. I. Holman to W. H. Ford by deed dated September 23, 1881.’ The defendants answered to both the petition of the plaintiff and the petition of the interveners, and the case was tried on July 6, 1911, resulting in a judgment for the interveners for all of the land sued for by them. The defendant Houston Oil Company perfected an appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals of the First District, and' on December 4, 1912, the Court of Civil Appeals rendered judgment reversing the judgment of the district court, and rendering judgment in favor of the defendant and against the plaintiff and interveners for the tract of 425 acres of land out of the northeast corner of the Hyden league conveyed by Col. W. W. Holman to J. G. Wdldert, by deed dated July 7, 1848, and the cause was remanded as to the other land sued for. After the cause was remanded to the district court, the interveners filed an amended petition of intervention, suggesting the death of R. L. H. Williams pending the suit and making his heirs parties, and also making the Maryland Trust Company a party defendant to the suit, and by the amended petition the interveners claim title to the entire east half of the Nathaniel Hyden league, less the tract of 425 acres out of the northeast corner of the league. The case was tried the second and last time by a jury on July 23, 1913, and special issues were submitted to the jury, and on the answers to the issues submitted to the jury a judgment was rendered that inter-veners take nothing by their suit, and that plaintiff also take nothing by his suit, and that the defendants go hence without day and recover their costs.”

From this judgment the interveners have appealed.

We are relieved of the duty of making any extensive statement of the facts because of the exhaustive statement made by Associate Justice Reese of this court in the former opinion, to which we refer. The evidence in part consisted of the following deed, executed by William W. Holman, Jr., familiarly known as “Little Billy Holman,” to Lucius *888 I. Holman, which was introduced by the in-terveners :

“The State of Texas, County of San Augustine.
“Know all men by these presents, that I, William W. Holman, a resident citizen of the county of Denton, in the state aforesaid, for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars cash to me in hand paid by Lucius I. Holman, a resident citizen of the county of San Augustine, in the said state of Texas, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and acquittance is fully granted, have this day bargained, sold, released, conveyed and delivered unto the said Lucius I. Holman, his heirs and assigns, forever, eight hundred and ten acres of land, part of the Nathaniel Hyden league, situated in the county of San Augustine and state aforesaid, and about twenty miles south of the town of San Augustine, the same to be an undivided interest in the said Nathaniel Hyden league, and the said eight hundred and ten acres of land being the interest owned by my father in the said league of land, as .will appear by reference to the record of real estate for the county of San Augustine and state aforesaid, together with all and singular the rights, members, hereditaments and appurtenances to the-same belonging or in any wise incident or appertaining. To have and to hold the same unto the said Lucius I. Holman, his heirs and assigns forever, and I, the said William W. Holman, do hereby bind myself, my heirs and assigns, to forever warrant and defend the title to the same unto the said Lucius X. Holman, his heirs and assigns, forever, against the claim or claims of any person whomsoever, claiming the same or any part thereof or interest therein.
“In testimony whereof witness my hand done in the town of San Augustine, Texas, on this the 8th day of January, A. D. 1874.
“[Signed] Wm. W. Holman. [Seal.] “W. H. Crouch. ■
“J. H. Sharp.”

One of the special issues submitted to the jury is as follows:

“Did W. W. Holman, Jr., intend to convey only an undivided interest of 810 acres, supposing that- to be the extent of his interest, but nevertheless intending to convey no more than the 810 acres undivided.”

The jury answered this question in the affirmative.

' By their first assignment of error appellant asserts that it was the duty of the court to construe said deed, and instruct the jury as to its legal effect, and complains that the court erred in submitting to the jury the question as to how much land was conveyed by the deed.

The second assignment complains of the refusal of the court to give to the jury its third special charge, to the effect that the deed in question conveyed to the grantee, L. I. Holman, all the land owned by W. W. Holman at the time of his death, which was the entire east half of the Nathaniel Hyden league, less a tract of 425 acres out of the northeast corner of the league. No complaint is made that the evidence was not sufficient to justify the jury in answering the special issue in the affirmative, and, even if such a contention had been made, we think the evidence amply justified, if it did not require, the jury to answer as it did.

[1] One of the questions presented for determination by this court on the former appeal was “whether the deed from W. W. Holman, Jr., to Lucius I. Holman, conveyed only 810 acres of the east half of the Hyden league, or all of the land in such east half of the league, which was owned by W. W. Holman, Sr., and which was inherited by the grantor.” 152 S. W. 888. In passing on this question this court, on page 891 of 152 S. W., after referring to the recitals in the deed and the evidence introduced in aid of its construction, which is substantially the same as introduced on the last trial, says:

“Without paying much attention to the (often fine-spun) distinction between a general and a particular description of the land conveyed in a deed, our conclusion is that the court erred in holding as a matter of law, and so instructing the jury, that the deed from W. W. Holman, Jr., to Lucius I. Holman, conveyed the entire half league, or any more than an undivided interest of 810 acres. It is insisted on the part of the interveners that, at all events, the evidence being either documentary, or undisputed as to such facts as were not so shown, it was the duty of the court to construe the deed in the light of such surrounding circumstances.

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Bluebook (online)
174 S.W. 886, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holman-v-houston-oil-co-texapp-1915.