Johnson v. Daniel Lumber Co.

249 S.W.2d 658, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2175
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided April 10, 1952·No. 4810·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinions

R. L. MURRAY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Special Ninth District Court of Montgomery County, by which judgment the court sustained a plea in abatement and dismissed the suit of the appellants, who were the plaintiffs in the trial court. The case comes before us solely on the pleadings in the trial court.

On March 3, 1951, Mrs. A. H. Johnson, joined by her husband A. H. Johnson, filed suit against Daniel Lumber Company for damages for personal injuries alleged in their petition to have been suffered by her in an automobile accident on December 16, 1947. The petition alleged various acts of negligence on the part of the ap-pellee, its servants and employees and prayed for damages for personal injuries, for the loss of Mrs. Johnson’s services to her husband, for medical and hospital bills and expenses and for damages to their automobile. The petition further alleged that “long prior to said collision and at the time of the same, and at all times since, they were still and are man and wife and that the plaintiff Mrs. A. H. Johnson has not now or at any such times had her disability of coverture removed, but is now and has during all of such times under disability of coverture by virtue of her marriage to the plaintiff A. H. Johnson.”

The appellee, defendant in the trial court, filed its plea in abatement, pleading the two-year statute of limitation and praying that the cause be abated and dismissed, because it was a suit for damages for personal injuries, filed more than two years after the cause of action accrued. It also filed an answer at the same time, subject to the plea in abatement. These instruments were filed March 24, 1951. Later, on September 19, 1951, the defendant below filed an amended plea in abatement, which was as follows:

“Now Comes Daniel Lumber Company, defendant in the above numbered and styled cause, and files this amended plea in abatement and for same would show the court as follows:

“I.

“That the plaintiff’s original petition on file herein purports to allege a claim based on an automobile accident which, according to said petition, occurred ‘on or about the 16th day of December, 1947.’ That said petition prays for a judgment against the defendant for damages covering personal injuries and property damage.

“II.

“That the petition was filed on the 3rd day of March, 1951, in the Special Ninth Judicial District Court of Texas, which is in excess of two years from the time the plaintiff’s cause of action accrued, and that same is now barred by limitations.

“HI.

“Defendant would further show that not until September 14, 1951, was the defendant apprised of the fact that the plaintiff and her husband are living together as man and wife. Her allegations in her original petition merely set out that she and her [660] Husband have been and still are man and wife. She has, therefore, shown no basis as to why said suit should not be brought by her husband, the manager of her community estate, and is incapacitated to do so as she is attempting to do in the above numbered and styled cause.

“Wherefore, premises considered, this defendant prays that the cause on file herein be abated and dismissed and that the defendant go hence with its costs without day.”

On the 29th of October, 1951, the court heard the plea in abatement and entered an order sustaining the plea and dismissing the suit.

The appellants say that the suit was not barred by the statute of limitation, because Mrs. Johnson, a married woman at all pertinent times, was under the disability of coverture and therefore under Article 5535, Vernon’s Ann.Civil Statutes of Texas, the suit was not barred. The appellants point out there was no plea of misjoinder of parties and that since Mrs. Johnson and her husband both brought the suit, she was, in effect, bringing the suit herself and the defendant waived any plea to the effect that she was not a proper party to bring the suit for personal injuries to herself and damages to the family automobile. They argue that since she was under covér-ture of marriage, the statute of limitation would never begin to run against her until such disability of coverture was removed. Appellants argue that “so long as Mrs. Johnson was under the disability of cover-ture her husband did not have to bring the suit alone to toll the statute and that both together don’t have to bring the suit so long as the case is. a personal action and her disability of coverture exists, even if it should exist 100 years.” The appellants rely upon the cases of LeSage v. Smith, Tex.Civ.App., 145 S.W.2d 308 and a group of cases headed by Johnston v. Huckens, Tex.Civ.App., 272 S.W. 245.

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

Johnson v. Daniel Lumber Co., 249 S.W.2d 658, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2175 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

249 S.W.2d 658 (Johnson v. Daniel Lumber Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Kirkpatrick v. Hurst
472 S.W.2d 295 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Weatherford v. Elizondo
52 F.R.D. 122 (S.D. Texas, 1971)
Wright v. Bida
359 S.W.2d 661 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1962)
Ellis v. City of San Antonio
341 S.W.2d 508 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Winters v. Rogers
336 S.W.2d 936 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
First National Life Insurance Company v. Vititow
323 S.W.2d 313 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1959)
Redfern v. Collins
113 F. Supp. 892 (E.D. Texas, 1953)
Johnson v. Daniel Lumber Co.
249 S.W.2d 658 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)