Kitten v. Vaughn

397 S.W.2d 530, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 8, 1965
Docket11346
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 397 S.W.2d 530 (Kitten v. Vaughn) 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
Kitten v. Vaughn, 397 S.W.2d 530, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

HUGHES, Justice.

Clovis L. Vaughn, appellee, sued J. B. Kitten and wife, Helen M. Kitten, appellants, on a promissory note executed by them, dated March 26, 1964, in the principal sum of $25,000.00, bearing interest at the rate of 10% per annum, and containing a 10% attorney’s fee clause. This note was given for $25,000.00 in cash borrowed by appellants from appellee.

Appellant, Mrs. Helen M. Kitten pled her coverture as a defense to recovery on the note.

Both appellants pled an offset of $15,000.00, and prayed for a credit on the note in this sum.

Other defenses were pled by appellants, but since they are not briefed they will not be discussed.

We will first dispose of the contention of Mrs. Kitten that since she was a married woman when she executed the note to ap-pellee that she is not liable thereon in the absence of evidence that the note was executed or its proceeds used for the benefit of her separate estate, or that such note or its proceeds were used for necessaries furnished to her or her children, or that her disabilities of coverture had been removed prior to the execution of the note. None of these circumstances was shown.

Appellants cite many cases to support this contention, all of which were decided before or involved transactions occurring before the amendment by the Legislature in 1963 of Art. 4626, and the repeal in the same year of Art. 4623, Vernon’s Ann.Tex. Civ.St. 1

With respect to the changes made in the law by these enactments, appellants say: “By amending Art. 4626, V.A.C.S., 58th Legislature, merely the procedural requirements to enable a married woman to act as a sole trader for the benefit of her separate estate, was changed. A careful reading of H.B. 403, indicates no intention on the part of the Legislature to make a community debt binding upon the separate estate of the wife or any intention to subject the wife to personal liability for such community debts.”

With this statement, we are in complete disagreement. If accepted, it would leave, for all practical purposes, the law unchanged by the legislation enacted by the Legislature in 1963. We cannot attribute to the Legislature the intention of doing a useless act, or the intention to appease the militant leaders in an historical effort to obtain greater freedom and more rights for married women by passing a law which in form purported to advance their status towards equality with other persons sui juris but in fact made no change in their status. We are forbidden in this regard by the plain language of amended Art. 4626, which we quote:

“A married woman shall have the same powers and capacity as if she were a feme sole, in her own name, to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, and all her separate property, her personal earnings and the revenues from her separate estate which is not exempt from execution under the laws of Texas shall thereafter be subject to her debts and be liable therefor, and her contracts and obligations shall be binding on her.”

Art. 4623, V.T.C.S. which was repealed by H.B. 403, [f. n. 1] read as follows:

“Neither the separate property of the husband nor the community property other than the personal earnings of the *532 wife and the revenues from her separate property shall be subject to the payment of debts contracted by the wife except those contracted for necessaries furnished her or her children.”

These two enactments by the Legislature, 2 one positive and one negative, make it crystal clear that the Legislature has removed all impediments previously existing to the power and authority of a married woman to contract, and to bind her separate estate, and to sue and be sued, by reason of her status as a married woman.

We enforce the legislative will so plainly expressed. We hold that Mrs. Kitten’s plea of coverture is not valid, and that she is liable on the note which she executed.

Appellants’ claim to a $15,000.00 offset arises from a collateral contract between appellee and his son and their respective wives as purchasers and appellants as sellers whereby purchasers agreed to buy from appellants their ranch in Bastrop County for a total consideration of $295,000.00, which contract contained these pertinent provisions:

“It is agreed by the Seller and the Purchaser that the Purchaser must obtain a loan of at least $160,000.00, with the property being conveyed being the only security for said loan. Therefore this contract is conditioned upon the Purchaser obtaining a loan for at least $160,000.00, interest at a rate of not more than ^/¿%, to be repaid over a period of thirty (30) years. If a loan is not obtained by the Purchaser on such terms, then this contract shall not be binding upon the Purchaser, and Purchaser shall have the option to cancel the contract and to have returned to the Purchaser all escrow funds; and neither party shall have any right for damages or specific performance against the other party. * * *
Purchaser is hereby depositing with W. W. Patterson, Trustee, as earnest money, the sum of $15,000.00 which is presently in the form of a check but which shall be deposited in a bank or savings and loan association of the Trustee’s choice in Austin, Texas, in case the Purchaser requests said check to be deposited. Said earnest money, if deposited, shall be applied upon the cash consideration in case this transaction is consummated, but if the transaction is not consummated then said earnest money is to be returned to the Purchaser in case the Seller defaults and the Purchaser is not in default, even though the Purchaser may desire to pursue any remedies for damages or specific performance that the Purchaser may have.
If the Purchaser defaults in carrying out this contract and Seller is not in default, then it is agreed that said $15,000.00 shall be forfeited by the Purchaser to the Seller as full liquidated damages and the sole damages owned by the Purchaser to the Seller for such default, and the Seller shall not have any further remedies in connection with this transaction; or the Seller may, under such circumstances, at the Seller’s option, agree that said earnest money be returned to the Purchaser and the Seller shall then have the right to enforce any remedies for damages or specific performance through proper courts situated in the State of Texas.”

It is undisputed that appellee tried, but failed, to obtain a loan on the property of $160,000.00; however, a life insurance corn- *533 pany offered to make a loan on the property of $100,000.00.

By trial amendment, appellants offered to accept “The proceeds of whatever loan (appellee) might be able to obtain on the Kitten ranch” and to accept “A second vendor’s lien note upon such terms at such rate of interest and for such amount as would be, when coupled with the interest rate, amount and repayment terms of the first lien loan, equal to a total loan of One Hundred Sixty Thousand ($160,000.00) Dollars at five and one-half (5j4'%) percent interest, repayable over a period of (30) years.”

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Bluebook (online)
397 S.W.2d 530, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kitten-v-vaughn-texapp-1965.