Jones v. McClatchey

38 S.W.2d 113, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 368
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1931
DocketNo. 3508.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 38 S.W.2d 113 (Jones v. McClatchey) 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
Jones v. McClatchey, 38 S.W.2d 113, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 368 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

RANDOLPH, J.

This suit was filed by J. A. McClatchey, as plaintiff, against W. A. and J. H. Bacon and J. O. Jones, as defendants, and the parties will hereinafter be styled as in the trial court.

The plaintiff’s suit was to recover the purchase price paid by him to defendants for 32.32 acres of land alleged to be a part of section 11, in block D-2, in Lubbock county, Tex., which the plaintiff claimed had been conveyed to him by the defendants at a time when they did not own it, and therefore he had paid them for property that he did not receive title to.

H. D. Beal intervened in the suit, claiming that he had previously conveyed said land to the defendants by warranty deed.

On trial of the ease, the court submitted two issues to the jury, which, after giving explanatory paragraphs and definitions, were as follows:

“Special Issue No. One: Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the true boundary line between Sections 10 and 11 is the line testified to by surveyor A. L. Harris?
“If your answer to the above special issue is in the affirmative, then you need not answer the following special issue, but if it is in the negative, then please answer this following special issue:
“Special Issue No. Two: Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the true boundary line between Sections 10 and 11 is located on the three mounds a few feet east of the old fence line pointed out by the defendant J. O. Jones to the plaintiff J. A. Mc-Clatchey?”

The jury answered the first issue in the affirmative, and, following the instructions of the court, did not answer the second. The court thereupon rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendants for the sum of $1,784.70.

Following the holding of this court in the ease of Parkinson v. Sears, 290 S. W. 556, and in the case of J. A. McClatchey v. A. W. Worsham (No. 3297) (not for publication) we hold that the jury’s finding that the I-Iarris line between the two sections is the true boundary line, and we will not again discuss that question.

The plaintiff, in his petition, alleged in substance as follows: That on August 2,1920, he purchased from the appellants Bacon, Jones, and Bacon the west half of section 10, block D-2, containing 320 acres of land, and paid and agreed to pay appellants $35 per acre for and did in fact pay a portion of said purchase price at the time and executed his notes for the balance, which have since been paid. That prior thereto appellants had sold and conveyed to A. W. Worsham by warranty deed' the east half of section 10, containing 320 acres. That, in the negotiations between -appellee and appellants relative to the sale to -appellee of the west half of section 10, the appellants represented that they were selling him 320 acres of land. That in the negotiations leading up to his purchase of said tract of land, he talked with appellant J. O. Jones, who was acting for himself and the other appellants, and who took appellee out and pointed out the stakes and mounds indicating the boundaries, and represented to him that they were selling him the land located inside of said boundaries, and that said corners and boundaries were correctly and truly marked on the ground for said-west half of section 10. That appellee was not familiar with and did not know where the true corners of said 320 acres of land' were actually located on the ground, and relied solely upon the representations of the said J. O. Jones, and believed his statements pertaining thereto. 1-Ie further alleged that he did not know at the time that there was any shortage in the acreage thereof or that there was any controversy in the vicinity between the owners of adjoining tracts of land relative to true location of lines, boundaries, -and corners, etc. That subsequent to the time of his purchasing he ascertained that there was some doubt - and uncertainty as to-the true location of the boundaries and acreage of said tract of land, and in 1927 and 1928 finally ascertained where the true boundaries were. That in truth and in fact *114 the west line of the 320 acres of land he purchased from' appellants was located about 102 varas east of the line as pointed out to him by Jones, and by reason thereof he has lost 32.32 acres of land. That the tract of land so pointed out to him by J. 0. Jones overlapped onto section 11, which lies immediately west of section 10, to the extent of 32.32 acres. That appellee was the owner of said section 11. Appellee prayed that he recover as against appellants the amount of purchase money he had paid to them for said 32.32 acres of'land.

Defendants and intervener filed an answer consisting of a general demurrer, general denial, and then further alleged, in substance, as follows: That the said Bacon, Jones and Bacon had theretofore, on August 2, 1920, sold to the appellee 320 acres of land, which said tract was pointed out to him, and its boundaries and corners, being then fixed and marked on the ground, were also pointed out to him, they having been theretofore placed by the county surveyor of the county; that the northwest and southwest corners and the middle point of the west boundary of said tract of land were so pointed out by J. O. Jones- as being slightly to the eastward of a fence then standing between the pastures of McClatchey and of the said Bacon, Jones, and Bacon. They further alleged that, if the true west boundary line of section 10 was not at the places so marked and designated and pointed out to appellee, nevertheless they were the owners of said land lying eastward of said fence, including the 320 acres so pointed out by appellants, having acquired it from intervener Beal; that the deed of conveyance to appellee was intended to convey him all the land within the 320 acres so pointed out to him, and if it did not by its terms so convey said land to said appellee, thereafter-wards in a suit brought by appellee against A. W. Worsham, in which said suit these same appellants were parties defendant, judgment was rendered reforming the deed theretofore made to appellee so as to include the very land that had been pointed out to him; and that judgment had been rendered in such suit reforming said deed and fixing its west boundary line at the stakes and mounds just east of the'old fence between McClatchey’s pasture and that of the defendants and appellants herein; that the old fence had been standing for about eighteen years and had been during all of said time recognized, maintained, and claimed as being on or quite near the boundary between said sections 10 and 11; that the appellee at the time of his purchase and at all times during his ownership of • section 11 had recognized the fence as being on or within a few feet of the boundary line, and knew or by the exercise of ordinary diligence .'could have known that said fence had been standing at that position for a great many years, and that appellants had also recognized said fence as being on or near the line.

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Bluebook (online)
38 S.W.2d 113, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-mcclatchey-texapp-1931.