Knox v. Lyarels

155 S.W.2d 435
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 26, 1941
DocketNo. 2172
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 155 S.W.2d 435 (Knox v. Lyarels) 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
Knox v. Lyarels, 155 S.W.2d 435 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

FUNDERBURK, Justice.

F. C. A. Lyarels et al., in addition to other capacities, brought this suit as Trustees of' five local lodges in Dallas against Will G. Knox, Receiver of the Grand Lodge of Colored Knights of Pythias of Texas, seeking primarily to recover title and possession of certain described property in Dallas, Texas, upon which is situated the State Pythian Temple built by said Grand Lodge of Colored Knights of Pythias of Texas. Through their officers and trustees duly authorized, five Knights of Pythias Lodges (colored) on May 25, 1911, conveyed a certain lot of land to the said Grand Lodge by general warranty deed. Contemporaneously the parties to the deed executed a separate written agreement showing, among other things, the real consideration for said conveyance. By the agreement, which was duly acknowledged for record, it appears that in addition to the conveyance of the land the grantors executed to the grantee several $400 notes, aggregating $2,000 as a contribution to the cost of erecting said Temple. The real consideration for the deed and notes was, in substance, recited in the agreement as follows: The Grand Lodge promised to construct and complete within four years upon the land conveyed, or upon other suitable site, a State Pythian Temple to cost not less than $20,000 and to properly furnish and equip at its own expense a lodge room therein for said local lodges and certain “Courts of Calanthe * * * with chairs, stations, seating apparatus, linoleum, water cooler, cuspidors, electric lights, windows frosted where necessary, toilet paper, etc.” Further, -the instrument declared that said lodge “has granted and conveyed and does by these presents grant and convey unto the said local lodges composing said Second Parties hereto and unto the following named Courts of Calanthe, to-wit, Pride of Dallas No. 125, Leading Star No. 145, Western Beauty No. 6, Queen of Thelma No. 1 and Golden Rule No. 171, each an easement right in and to the use of proper and sufficient lodge room in said State Pythian Temple to be constructed as herein indicated, all of said lodges composing said Second Parties and said Courts of Calanthe to have the use of one and the same lodge room.” The obligation of the Grand Lodge, except as to, local lodges, if any, failing to pay their several $400' notes, was “to deliver over to said Parties of the Second Part and said Courts of Calanthe said lodge room in said Temple on the date of the completion thereof for their permanent use and meeting place, so long as said Grand Lodge remains located in the City of Dallas and 'remains [437]*437the owner of said property and building.” The agreement provided that the Grand Lodge might sell the lot, in which event it promised to re-invest the proceeds in another “lot or lots equally well located in the City and County of Dallas, Texas, and thereupon erect the aforesaid State Pythi-an Temple within the time above indicated in accordance with the provisions and conditions of this contract.”

With further reference to the lodge room for said local lodges, the agreement provided “that the aforesaid Temple and building to be erected as herein indicated, or at least a part thereof, is to be used as the home or headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Colored Knights of Pythias of Texas, and that the respective local lodges constituting the Second Parties hereto and said Courts of Calanthe are to be furnished with proper and reasonable lodge room and place of meeting in said building free of charge, as aforesaid; and in the event said Grand Lodge removes from the City of Dallas or for any reason ceases to use said State Pythian Temple for lodge purposes, or sells the same, and in any such event, it hereby agrees to refund to the aforesaid lodges composing the Second Parties hereto the respective amounts of money by each paid to said Grand Lodge on said notes aforesaid, and to cancel and return said notes to the makers thereof, and also to pay in addition thereto each of said local lodges * * in equal portions an amount equal to the value of the above described lot this day conveyed to said Party of the First Part at the time of its sale by the said Grand Lodge.”

Relative to the nature of the estate conveyed by the deed, said agreement provided “that nothing herein contained shall be construed to in any wise interfere or affect the perfect unconditional right of the Party of the First Part hereto to execute a good and sufficient general warranty deed conveying the fee simple title of the above described lot this day conveyed to it by said Second Parties to any purchaser or purchasers to whom it may elect to sell same as aforesaid; and the purchaser or purchasers thereof shall in no wise be required, obligated or bound to look to the application of the proceeds of the sale of said lot, or to follow the purchase money paid to said Party of the First Part for said lot to see that the same be reinvested in another lot or tract of land, it being understood that the deed this day executed and delivered to said Party of the First Part by the said Second Parties hereto conveys a fee simple title to said land free from any obligation and encumbrances whatsoever. The said Grand Lodge of Colored Knights of Pythias further agrees that in the event it sells or demolishes the old hall before it is ready to commence the construction of the proposed temple to provide a meeting place for said local lodges free of charge until the beginning of the erection of the said Pythian Temple.”

Before beginning the construction of the Temple, the Grand Lodge sold the land conveyed to it by said local lodges for $17,500 and reinvested the proceeds in another lot upon which the Temple was built and said lodge room for the local lodges furnished as provided by the terms of the contract.

The Grand Lodge having become insolvent, its charter was, on or about November 22, 1939, adjudged to be forfeited, and Will G. Knox, the defendant, was appointed the receiver. Since said date, the Temple building has not been used for lodge purposes of the Grand Lodge.

The plaintiffs’ petition is very lengthy (28 pages of the transcript, exclusive of exhibits) and, other than asserting claim to the land on the theory that the Grand Lodge had held it in trust for said local lodges which was terminated by the forfeiture of the charter of the Grand Lodge, is difficult to construe. The trial court rendered judgment on the theory that the hereinbefore described agreement made, as said before, at the time the deed was executed constituted a trust agreement having the effect under the facts stated of rendering the Grand Lodge liable to pay the local lodges the $400 each represented by said notes in addition to $12,000 and $6,000 subsequently contributed to the construction of said Temple, the same as the amount represented by said notes, plus also the $17,500 for which the land described in the deed was sold and proceeds used in the purchase of the lot in suit. Further, it appears that the agreement, held to create a trust, had the effect, as also held, of an express equitable lien on the property to secure payment of the total sum due, aggregating $37,500. The judgment so declared and provided a foreclosure of said lien.

In our opinion, the written agreement made contemporaneously with the execution of said deed, given by the local lodges to the Grand Lodge and alleged by [438]*438the plaintiffs to be a trust agreement was not a trust agreement and did not have the effect of impressing a trust upon the land conveyed, or upon the land in suit (purchased with the proceeds of the sale of the land conveyed) or upon the money paid upon the several $400 notes executed by the local lodges to the Grand Lodge.

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Related

Young v. Rudd
226 S.W.2d 469 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1950)
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217 S.W.2d 55 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1948)

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Bluebook (online)
155 S.W.2d 435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knox-v-lyarels-texapp-1941.