Jones v. Sun Oil Co.

145 S.W.2d 615
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 1, 1940·No. No. 3724·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

O’QUINN, Justice.

We gather from the record the following: On July 16, 1930, Mrs. Addie Walker, a widow, who alleged that she then resided in Hardin County, Texas, filed her application in the County Court of Hardin County, Texas, to be appointed guardian of the persons and estates of her four minor children, to-wit: L. C. Overstreet, Woodrow Overstreet, each of whom was then over fourteen years of age, and Edith Overstreet and Ferguson Overstreet. The two minors over fourteen years of age, L. C. and Woodrow Overstreet, filed their written waiver of citation and personal service on July 16, 1930, and made choice of their mother, Mrs. Addie Walker, as guardian of their persons and estates.

On August 27, 1930, A. L. Bevil, County Judge of said Hardin County, by written order, which is duly recorded in the minutes of the court, duly appointed Mrs. Addie Walker guardian of the persons and estates of said minors, to-wit: L. C. Overstreet, Woodrow Overstreet, Edith Overstreet, and Ferguson Overstreet.

The application of Mrs. Addie Walker to be appointed guardian, the waiver of her two older children, L. C. Overstreet and Woodrow Overstreet, and the court’s order appointing Mrs. Walker guardian, are the only original papers to be found. All proceedings, orders and decrees, except those mentioned above, were lost or misplaced before being entered of record in the minutes of the court. Even the judge’s docket was lost. A. L. Bevil was judge of the court at that time, and was so continuously thereafter until his attention was called to the fact that all the proceedings, except the three papers above mentioned, were lost or misplaced, and had not been recorded in the- minutes of the court when, on January 21, 1937, on his own motion, he made his order, nunc pro tunc, to supply, protect and preserve the proceedings, records, orders, judgments and decrees that were actually made and transacted in the county court in said guardianship proceedings while he was the judge presiding of such court. This nunc pro tunc order is in the transcript but as it occupies fifteen full pages, it will not be copied herein. Suffice it to say that it contains a full recitation óf all the facts that would pertain to such matter, and full copies of all papers, applications, orders, and decrees necessary to the proceedings in the court.

As disclosed by the order nunc pro tunc, the land described therein was sold by the guardian, Mrs. Addie Walker, under order of the court and O. O. Overstreet became the purchaser. Appellees are claiming under her guardian’s deed conveying same.

This is a suit filed by appellants in the County Court of Hardin County, February 3, 1938, to set aside all the orders, judgments and decrees had in the guardianship proceedings, and to cancel and annul the nunc pro tunc entries and orders, and that all proceedings in the guardianship matter be abated and held without authority for want of venue in the court to hear and determine same.

Appellees answered. The cause was tried to a jury, but at the conclusion of the evidence the court instructed a verdict for appellees, which was duly returned and judgment entered in their favor, from which judgment appellants appealed to the district court of Hardin County, Texas.

In the district court, appellees filed their amended answer in which they specially challenged the jurisdiction of the court and asserted that the court was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter for in that appellants originally filed their suit in the County Court of Hardin County, Texas, wherein they sought to set aside, cancel and annul all of the proceedings had in the guardianship proceedings in said court involving the land here in question, and seeking to cancel and annul the deed of Mrs. Walker, the guardian of the minors, to the land involved, which directly brought the title to the land in question into litiga[617] tion, and so, in effect, was a suit in trespass to try title of which the county court did not have jurisdiction, and since this suit in the district court was on an appeal from the county court, the district court had only the jurisdiction that existed in the county court, and as the county court had no jurisdiction, so the district court was without jurisdiction, and the suit should be dismissed. After their plea to the jurisdiction, appellees answered by general denial and a plea of the four years’ statute of limitation.

On trial in the -district court, the court sustained the plea to the jurisdiction of the court, and dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction in the court to hear same. This appeal is from that judgment.

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

Jones v. Sun Oil Co., 145 S.W.2d 615 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

145 S.W.2d 615 (Jones v. Sun Oil Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Murray v. Murray
1959 OK 188 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1959)
McGinnis v. McGinnis
257 S.W.2d 786 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)
Jones v. Sun Oil Co.
153 S.W.2d 571 (Texas Supreme Court, 1941)
Nymon v. Eggert
154 S.W.2d 157 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1941)