Kier v. Giles

240 S.W.2d 818, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2127
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 23, 1951
DocketNo. 12278
StatusPublished

This text of 240 S.W.2d 818 (Kier v. Giles) 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
Kier v. Giles, 240 S.W.2d 818, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2127 (Tex. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

NORVELL, Justice.

The principal relief sought by the appellants in this cause was a writ of mandamus commanding the Commissioner of the [819]*819General Land Office to reinstate the Ransom Island Lease originally executed by the Land Commissioner to the City of Aransas Pass on November 4, 1927, pursuant to authority of' House Bill No. 102, Chapter 85, Page 234, of the First Called Session of the 40th Legislature, 1927. Some time pri- or to 1927, the City of Aransas Pass had constructed a causeway to the island and the lease executed by the Land Commissioner was for a term of fifty years from and after November 3, 1927, but contained the following forfeiture clause in accordance with the wording of the statute: “If for any cause whatsoever the roads or causeways and other improvements should become unusuablé and unfit for use for a period of three years for the purpose for which the lease was granted or if the lessee should fail or refuse to keep said area open to the public for the purpose for which the lease was granted, the said lease shall be subject to forfeiture and when the Commissioner of the General Land Office is sufficiently informed of the facts which work a forfeiture he shall forfeit said lease by an entry to that effect upon the duplicate copy of the lease on file in the General Land Office, and all rights of the lessee shall terminate and the area revert to the State and become as if no lease had been granted therefor; provided, upon satisfactory showing made to the said Commissioner, by the lessee that it will restore or have restored the improvements to a usable condition within twelve months after dates of forfeiture, the said Commissioner shall upon such restoration, reinstate said lease and the lessee shall thereafter have all the rights that were formerly vested therein under the original lease.”

On September 10, 1948, Bascom Giles, Commissioner of the General Land Office declared the lease forfeited. During the month of August, 1949, some of the appellants attempted to place the causeway which had been destroyed in a usable condition, but after hearing and upon investigation the Land Commissioner refused to reinstate the lease with the result that this action was filed by appellants, who are holders of various rights under the lease as assignees of the City of Aransas Pass.

Two controlling questions are presented: First: Was the forfeiture of September 10, 1948, made in accordance with the Act of the Legislature hereinabove mentioned? Second: Was it conclusively established that the causeway, roads and grounds were restored to a usable condition within one year after September 10, 1948?

Findings of fact and conclusions of law were prepared and filed by the trial court and served as the basis for the following statement:

Ransom Island lies off the Texas Gulf Coast and is the property of the State. The acreage covered by the lease to the City of Aransas Pass was 971.12 acres of land. However, much of this area is under , water and the land subsequently assigned to appellant Ray E. Kier and others, and used for building purposes does not exceed twenty-five acres. One of the required considerations for the lease under the statute was the agreement by the City of Aran-sas Pass to maintain and improve or cause to be maintained i and improved the wharf and. roads and causeways then (1927) in existence and keep the same in a usable condition, and further improve and beautify the area so that it would be available to the public for use as a park and general vacation center.

On or about August 30, 1942, the causeway leading from the mainland to Ransom Island was washed out by a storm and remained in an unusable condition until some time during the month of July, 1945, when some of the appellants attempted to repair the causeway. However, on August 29, 1945, another storm washed out these repairs or improvements, with the result that from August, 1945, until September 10, 1948, and for a period longer than three years before the cancellation of the lease, the causeway from the mainland to Ransom Island was not in a usable condition. On September 10, 1948, Bascom Giles, Commissioner of the General Land Office of the State of Texas, forfeited said lease and entered such forfeiture on the file wrapper enclosing the duplicate copy of the lease on file in the General Land Office. Thereafter, during the month of August, 1949, some of appellants again attempted to place [820]*820the causeway in a usable condition, but failed to do so. From and after the time the causeway was washed out, in August of 1942, the roads and other improvements on Ransom Island were allowed, to deteriorate and were not repaired or restored to usable condition prior to October 19, 1949, when the Land Commissioner' refused to reinstate the lease.

On September 7, 1949, the Land Commissioner made a personal inspection of the causeway and the improvements on the island. He also held a public hearing in the City of Aransas Pass on said date for the purpose of determining whether or not the causeway and improvements had been restored to usable condition within one year from and after the daté of cancellation, that is, September 10, 1948. On October 19, 1949, the Land Commissioner having determined to refuse to reinstate the Ransom Island lease because of the failure to make a satisfactory showing of restoration as required by the terms of the lease, entered on the duplicate copy of such lease on file in the General Land Office a notation of such refusal of reinstatement, and at the same time noted thereon the forfeiture of the lease which had occurred on September 10, 1948.

The trial court found that the Land Commissioner was sufficiently informed of the facts working a forfeiture of the Ransom Island lease on September 10, 1948, and was sufficiently informed of the facts upon which he based his refusal to reinstate the Ransom Island lease on October 19, 1949. The court held that the Land Commissioner had not acted in an arbitarary, illegal, capricious or unreasonable manner in cancel-ling the^ Ransom Island lease or in refusing to reinstate the same. Judgment was rendered that appellants take nothing by their suit.

The Act of the Legislature provides that “when the Commissioner of the General Land Office is sufficiently informed of the facts which work a forfeiture he shall forfeit said lease by an entry to that effect upon the duplicate copy of the lease on file in the General Land Office, and all rights of the lessee shall terminate * * The entry of forfeiture of September 10, 1948, was made upon the file jacket or file wrapper which contained the duplicate copy of said lease, together with other papers relating to said Ransom Island lease, rather than upon tire duplicate copy. Appellants assert that as a forfeiture is involved, the provisions of the statute relating thereto must be strictly construed, and that the entry upon the file wrapper was not sufficient to satisfy the provisions of the statute.

We regard this point as having been settled adversely to appellants’ contention by the cases of Brightman v. Comanche County, 94 Tex. 599, 63 S.W. 857, and Hoefer v. Robison, 104 Tex. 159, 135 S.W. 371, 372. In the case last cited Article 4218(1) of the Revised Statutes of 1895 was involved, which directed that in case of default the Land Commissioner should cancel an application for the purchase of State Land by indorsing on the purchaser’s obligation, the words “Land Forfeited” and ■cause an entry to that effect to be made on the account kept with the purchaser.

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Related

Chambers v. Robison, Commissioner
179 S.W. 123 (Texas Supreme Court, 1915)
Brightman v. Comanche County
63 S.W. 857 (Texas Supreme Court, 1901)
Hoefer v. Robison
135 S.W. 371 (Texas Supreme Court, 1911)

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Bluebook (online)
240 S.W.2d 818, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 2127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kier-v-giles-texapp-1951.