Hughes v. Wright

127 S.W.2d 215, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 549
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1939
DocketNo. 13883.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 127 S.W.2d 215 (Hughes v. Wright) 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
Hughes v. Wright, 127 S.W.2d 215, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 549 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, Chief Justice.

This is a suit in trespass to try title to land, instituted by James R. Hughes against T. O. Wright and many others, in which his title was specially pleaded; and he has appealed from a judgment sustaining a special exception to his petition invoking the four year statute of limitation, and also sustaining defendant’s general demurrer and dismissing the suit after plaintiff declined to amend.

The property sued for was an undivided ⅛⅛ interest in a tract of 86 acres out of the Juan Barber Survey, in Smith County, Texas.

As against the general demurrer and the special exception presenting the defense of limitation, the allegations in the petition must, of course, be accepted as true, and the material, pertinent facts will be summarized as follows.

Plaintiff is the son of J. A. Hughes, deceased, and his surviving wife, Nancy Elizabeth Hughes; by a judgment of the District Court of Smith County, Texas, in a partition suit, rendered in February, 1914, after the death of J. A. Hughes, plaintiff’s father, an undivided %th interest in the 86 acres in controversy was set apart to plaintiff and the other undivided' %ths interest was set apart to his brothers- and sisters, free of any interest therein in their mother, Nancy Elizabeth Hughes, to whom was awarded other lands. The 86 acres was the homestead of J. A. Hughes and wife, and his surviving widow continued to reside on it, as such, until the year 1925, when they removed to' Harrison County. The %ths interest in the tract decreed to plaintiff’s brothers- and sisters, is now owned by T. O. Wright and divers and sundry other parties claiming title under him, all of whom were made parties defendant to the suit.

After the partition decree, T. O. Wright,, who was an educated business man, residing in Tyler, Smith County, acted as-a friendly advisor of plaintiff’s mother, who was frail in health, uneducated and. ignorant of her rights, and easily influenced and intimidated, in matters relating-to the welfare of herself and family.

On October 16th, 1926, Wright acquired a deed frdm all of plaintiff’s brothers and sisters to their said %ths interest in the-86 acres," with the understanding he would pay them the agreed consideration therefor whenever the plaintiff also signed the deed, which he refused to sign. At that time plaintiff was 19 years of age and residing in Harrison County. In order to get a binding deed from him, Wright, in conjunction with other persons aiding-him therein, fraudulently induced plaintiff’s mother to bring him into Tyler, in *217 Smith County, and there procure an order of the District Court of Smith County removing plaintiff’s disabilities of minority.

In furtherance of that fraudulent purpose; after that decree was entered, Wright induced plaintiff to execute to him a warranty deed of conveyance to his undivided %th interest in the 86 acres in controversy, acknowledging full consideration paid, with no reservation of a vendor’s lien, for which Wright paid him no consideration. That deed was ■dated November 27th, 1926. At that time plaintiff was illiterate and ignorant of his legal rights, and before he executed it, Wright informed him that he would not pay his brothers and sisters any consideration unless he did sign it, and plaintiff’s older brother, Judson Hughes, who exercised control over him, at the same time and in Wright’s presence, threatened to thrash him if he did not execute it, all of which, together with the fraud theretofore practiced by Wright, was the inducing cause of his executing that deed.

When the court heard the application to remove disabilities, no evidence was offered to prove plaintiff’s residence or that it was to his advantage to have his disabilities removed, ■ nor did the application for' such removal state the facts required by law to confer jurisdiction upon the trial court to make the order.

Plaintiff reached the age of 21 years on January 5th, 1929. He did not know of his right to disaffirm the deed until early in 1931, at which time Wright attempted to get a quitclaim deed from him, which he refused to give. At that time plaintiff notified Wright of his disaffirmance of the deed.

On March 7th, 1931, plaintiff filed a suit against Wright in the District Court of Smith County, in trespass to try title to recover the title he had theretofore conveyed by deed, which suit was dismissed by him during the June term, 1931, of court.

On May 17th, 1931, plaintiff executed a deed to R. T. Jones, conveying ½ of his ⅛⅛ interest in the 86 acres, which Jones later reconveyed to him.

In the early part of 1931, Wright platted and subdivided the entire 86 acres into blocks, and thereafter executed oil leases to divers persons to various portions of the subdivision, all of whom acquired such ' leases with notice of plaintiff’s claim of title.

On May 29th,. 1931, plaintiff sold a por-' tion of his interest in one block of Wright’s subdivision.

Wright and his co-defendants now claim title under plaintiff’s deed- to Wright, as above noted.

Plaintiff attacked the order removing his disabilities as a minor, on allegations that the same was void, for lack of jurisdiction of him in that at the 'time of that proceeding, he was a resident of Harrison County and not of Smith County, and on the further ground that it was procured by fraud on the part of T. O. Wright, in the manner above indicated.

He instituted this suit in December, 1936,. which was nearly eight years after he reached the age of majority and over six years after he took steps to disaffirm his deed, by notice to Wright, and his first suit to cancel his deed, which was later dismissed.

Following are propositions submitted in-plaintiff’s briefs, on which a reversal of the judgment is sought:

“1. Plaintiff’s petition alleging that T. O. Wright procured the execution of said deed to him by plaintiff by the exercise of fraud, intimidation and co-ercion practiced upon plaintiff by said Wright, the court erred in failing and refusing to hold that, as a matter of law, the plaintiff had the superior equitable title to said land.
“2. Plaintiff’s petition alleging that T. O. Wright procured the execution of said deed to him by plaintiff without the payment of any consideration therefor, the court erred in failing and refusing to find that, as a matter of law, the plaintiff had the superior equitable title to said land.
“3. The, court erred in holding that in order for plaintiff to recover the land conveyed by him to defendant, through fraud, intimidation and coercion and without consideration, it was necessary for plaintiff to first vacate, set aside and annul said deed so executed by him'to Wright.'
“4. In a suit to impress land with a constructive trust, only statute of limitations pertaining to actions to recover real estate are applicable.
“5. Plaintiff’s suit not being to cancel, set aside or annul the deed executed by him to T. O. Wright, but is an action to recover the land by engrafting a trust on *218 the deed so executed by him to said Wright, the court erred in holding that said suit was .barred by the four-year statute of limitations.”

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Bluebook (online)
127 S.W.2d 215, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 549, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-wright-texapp-1939.