Houston Oil Co. of Texas v. Bunn

256 S.W. 259
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedDecember 12, 1923
DocketNo. 421-3328
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 256 S.W. 259 (Houston Oil Co. of Texas v. Bunn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Houston Oil Co. of Texas v. Bunn, 256 S.W. 259 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1923).

Opinion

POWELL, P. J.

For an admirable statement of tbe nature and result of this action, we Quote as follows from tbe, opinion of tbe Court of Civil Appeals:

“This is a suit for injunction brought by appellant -to restrain appellee from cutting and removing the timber from a tract of 420 acres of land on the Pinckney Lout league in Orange county.
“The trial in the court below without a jury resulted in a judgment in favor of defendant.
“The suit involves the construction of a deed executed by Joseph Bunn and others on February 17, 1900, by which the timber in controversy was conveyed to the Beaumont Lumber Company. The Beaumont Lumber Company, on July 13, 1903, conveyed all of the right and title acquired by it under said deed to John H. Kirby, and on October 6, 1909, Kirby conveyed all of his rights and title in and to said timber to appellant. The appellee, prior to the institution of this suit, acquired from the grantors in said deed of February 17, 1900, the title to the 420 acres of land upon which the timber in controversy is standing' and growing. The material portions of the deed by which the timber was conveyed to the Beaumont Lumber Company are as follows:
“ ‘State of Texas, County of Orange.
'“ ‘ÍCn'oví all men by'these presents: That we, Joseph Bunn, P. L. Bunn, J. A. Bunn, V. A. Loving and husband, W. O. Loving, all of the county of Orange, in the state óf Texas, for and in consideration of the sum of ten thousand and four hundred and eighty dollars to us paid and secured to be paid by Beaumont Lumber Company,- a corporation chartered and organized under the laws of Texas, as follows: The sum of four hundred and eighty dollars in cash, the receipt wher.eof is hereby acknowledged, and the further sum of ten thousand dollars to be paid in eight equal annual installments of twelve hundred and fifty dollars each evidenced by the eight promissory notes of said Beaumont Lumber Company, drawn payable to the order of Joseph Bunn, due respectively, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight years after date and bearing even date herewith. Each note bearing interest from its date at the rate of six per cent, per annum, payable annually, and providing for the payment by the makers thereof of ten per cent, additional of the principal and interest if collected by legal proceedings, have granted, sold and conveyed, and by these presents do grant, sell and convey unt.o said Beaumont Lumber Company of Jefferson county, Texas, all those certain tracts, pieces and parcels of land situated 'in Orange county, Texas, to wit: (Here follows description of three several tracts of land, aggregating 1,165 acres. • A fourth tract is then described by metes and'bounds, and out of said tract the tract of 420 acres upon which the timber in controversy is standing and growing is reserved and excepted. The 420 acres so expressly reserved and excepted from the sale is described by metes and bounds. Two other tracts of 1,887 acres and 480 acres, respectively, are next described.)
“ ‘We also grant, bargain, sell, and convey unto said Beaumont Lumber Company all of the pine timber standing or growing in and upon that certain 420 acres of said Pinckney Lout league of land reserved and excepted from the “fourth” tract of land hereinbefore described, together with the right of ingress and egress in, to, upon and from said land for said company, its agents, employes and teams and appliances for the purpose of cutting and removing said timber; and together with the exclusive right at any time hereafter to build, maintain and operate in and upon said land any train, railroad, or other contrivance for transporting timber from any of the lands of said company.
“ ‘To have and to hold the above described and conveyed lands and premises and the above sold pine timber, rights, privileges, right of way, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in any wise belonging unto the said' Beaumont Lumber Company, its successors and assigns forever. And we do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators to warrant and forever defend all and singular the said lands and premises, pine timber, rights, privileges, right of way, etc., unto it, the said Beaumont Lumber Company, and unto its successor and assigns against every person whomsoever claiming or to claim the same.- or any part thereof.
“ ‘But it is expressly agreed and stipulated' that the vendor’s lien is retained against the above-described property, premises and improvements until the above-described notes and all interest thereon, are fully paid according to their face and tenor, effect and reading when this deed shall become absolute.’
“Parol evidence introduced by appellee, over appellant’s objection, sustains the findings of the trial court that the 420-acre tract expressly reserved from sale in the deed above set out was so reserved by the vendors therein for farming purposes, that it cannot be used for such purpose until the timber is removed therefrom, and that it was understood and agreed by all of the parties to the deed at the time it was executed, that the'purchaser of the timber would expeditiously remove it from the land.
“It was further shown that the appellee,' after he became the owner of the land prior to 1904, requested and insisted that appellant remove the timber therefrom so that he might put the land in cultivation, and, appellant having failed to remove the timber, appellee notified it in 1907, or prior thereto, that because of such failure the title to the timber had reverted to him.
“It is admitted that, if the deed did not convey the timber as an interest in fee in the land, a reasonable time for its removal had elapsed before appellee began to cut and remove it from the land. The agreed consideration paid by the Beaumont Lumber Company for this. [261]*261timber was 50 cents per 1,000 feet, and the-amount of timber on the land at the date of the sale was estimated at 1,500 feet per acre. It is further agreed that all of the vendor’s lien notes mentioned and described in the deed have been fully paid and the lien discharged.
“Under appropriate assignments of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in not construing the deed above set out as an absolute conveyance of a fee-simple title to the timber together with the necessary interest in the land for the sustenance of the timber, without any condition or requirement that the timber should be removed from the land within a reasonable time.”

The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the judgment of the district court. See 209 S. W. 830.

Upon application to the Supreme Court, the plaintiff in error oil company was awarded a writ of error. The notation by the Supreme Court in granting the writ was as follows: “We think the decision is in conflict with the Hamilton Case.”

The controlling question now before us is whether the conveyance under consideration conveys the fee-simple title to the timber described therein, or simply a right or privilege to remove said timber within a reasonable time, failing in which, such timber would revert to the grantors in the déed. We are clearly of the view that the case at bar is ruled by the decisions of our Supreme Court, speaking in each instance through Justice Greenwood, in the very recent cases of Houston Oil Co. of Texas v. Hamilton, 109 Tex. 270, 206 S. W. 817, and Chapman v.

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Temple Lumber Co. v. Arnold
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Bluebook (online)
256 S.W. 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houston-oil-co-of-texas-v-bunn-texcommnapp-1923.