Langston v. Hoenig

494 S.W.2d 615, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2716
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 1973
DocketNo. 17383
StatusPublished

This text of 494 S.W.2d 615 (Langston v. Hoenig) 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
Langston v. Hoenig, 494 S.W.2d 615, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2716 (Tex. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

LANGDON, Justice.

This suit was brought by Janie Adwell Hoenig, J. V. Adwell, and Sarah Adwell Brown, joined at the time of trial by B. B. Adwell, individually and as administrator of the Estate of Bessie Adwell, deceased, Burl Adwell and David Adwell (the latter a minor, acting by and through his duly appointed guardian ad litem) to recover money invested by Bessie Adwell, prior to her death in a business venture with Robert Cecil Langston.

W. V. Adwell was married to Bessie Adwell. They had one child, B. B. Adwell, and five grandchildren, Janie Adwell Hoe-nig, J. V. Adwell, Sarah Adwell Brown, Burl Adwell and David Adwell, being all of the children of B. B. Adwell. W. V. Adwell and Bessie Adwell are both dead, he having died March 8, 1966, and she having died March 31, 1970. The appellees herein are B. B. Adwell, the only child, and all of the five grandchildren of W. V. Adwell and Bessie Adwell. All of the appellees, including B. B. Adwell, are remaindermen of a life estate created by the will of W. V. Adwell and the appellee B. B. Adwell is also the sole devisee and heir at law of Bessie Adwell and Administrator with Will Annexed of her estate. By their suit the appellees seek to recover $120,000.00 which Bessie Adwell invested in a partnership with the appellant, Robert C. Langston, subsequent to the death of her husband, W. V. Adwell.

W. V. Adwell left a valid written will dated March 18, 1965, which was admitted to probate in the County Court of Tarrant [617]*617County, Texas, by order dated March 28, 1966.

Upon the death of W. V. Adwell, March 8, 1966, Bessie Adwell became the life tenant of the community interest of W. V. Adwell. The remainder interest in the es-ate of W. V. Adwell vested on his death in his only child, B. B. Adwell, and all of the five grandchildren of W. V. and Bessie Adwell equally, subject only to the life tenancy of Bessie Adwell.

Bessie Adwell left a will dated July 19, 1967, which was admitted to probate by order of the County Court of Tarrant County, Texas, on June 4, 1970. B. B. Adwell, appointed by the same order as Administrator with Will Annexed of the Estate of Bessie Adwell, has duly qualified, and is acting as such at this time. The will of Bessie Adwell disposed only of one piece of property and had no residuary clause, thus causing the balance of her estate to pass to B. B. Adwell by intestacy. B. B. Adwell joins herein as Administrator with Will Annexed of the Estate of Bessie Adwell by trial amendment pursuant to a Plea in Abatement by appellant.

As early as July, 1969, Bessie Adwell began a program of withdrawing savings accounts and selling stock, which savings accounts and stock were inventoried in the estate of W. V. Adwell, and constituted part of Bessie Adwell’s life estate created by his will. The proceeds of the savings accounts and stock sale amounted to $120,-000.00. The proceeds of the stock sale of $82,680.00 were admittedly used to purchase three lots of land in Arlington, Texas, in August and September, 1969, title to which was taken in the names of Bessie Adwell and R. C. Langston, and the balance remaining after such land purchases of $43,-577.09 was deposited in a bank account at Arlington Bank and Trust, Arlington, Texas, under the name “L-A Warehouse and Storage”. Bessie Adwell also deposited into this “U-A Warehouse and Storage” account the sum of $37,320.00, which was part of the proceeds from withdrawal of all of the First National Bank in Arlington savings accounts left on the death of W. V. Adwell and which was part of the life estate. This account, when added to the $82,-680.00 received from sale of the First National Bank in Arlington stock on July 15, 1969, totaled $120,000.00.

On September 17, 1969, Bessie Adwell and R. C. Langston signed an agreement for a proposed partnership to be entered into between them for the purpose of “performing and carrying on a business of storage and warehousing for any and all kinds of personal property”. The agreement required a contribution in cash and/or property by Bessie Adwell of $120,000.00 and required no cash contribution by R. C. Langston. The agreement contemplated that Langston would operate the warehouse, for which he would receive not only $800.00 per month salary, but half the profit remaining thereafter.

Almost $40,000.00 of the $120,000.00 converted to cash by Bessie Adwell was used to purchase the three lots in Arlington. The balance, of over $80,000.00, was used in the fall of 1969 to construct a warehouse on the three lots and to pay Lang-ston for his efforts in connection with clearing the land annd supervising the construction. Langston drew $200.00 a week for his efforts and his family was paid at least $2,325.00 in addition to that.

In early 1970, it became apparent that the $120,000.00 loan was not sufficient to complete the construction of the warehouse and allow normal operations to begin pursuant to the agreement of September 17, 1969. Negotiations for another loan to be made by R. C. Langston and Bessie Adwell for an additional $25,000.-00 were in process at the time of her death on March 31, 1970. No loan was ever obtained and the warehouse was never opened and Langston never operated it as was contemplated by the agreement.

After the death of Bessie Adwell, and up to the time of Langston’s deposition in this cause on May 18, 1971, no attempt had [618]*618been made by Langston to open and operate the warehouse. Since that time, attempts have been made, but the warehouse has never operated at a profit, and construction is still not completed.

This cause of action was filed January 19, 1971, to recover from R. C. Langston the interest in the life estate created by the will of W. V. Adwell which Bessie Ad-well loaned to the partnership venture of L-A Warehouse and Storage, which interest vested in them upon the death of W. V. Adwell on March 8, 1966, subject only to the right of Bessie Adwell to use such interest for and during her lifetime. It is undisputed that Bessie Adwell had the right and the authority to sell the stock and to convert the savings account to generate the cash with which to enter the joint venture in question. Under her husband’s will she had the right to invest and reinvest such proceeds for and during her natural lifetime.

This cause was tried to the court without a jury. The court construed the instrument of September 17, 1969, to mean that the loan of $120,000.00 made by Bessie Adwell was due and payable by R. C. Langston in a lump sum upon the death of Bessie Ad-well. The trial court rendered judgment for appellees against appellant for the sum of $120,000.00 with interest thereon from the date of judgment at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum, for all costs of suit, and awarded the guardian ad litem a fee to be charged as part of the costs of suit. The court made twenty-nine (29) findings of fact and six (6) conclusions of law, all of which were incorporated into its judgment.

This appeal is from that judgment based upon fifty-three (53) points of error.

We reverse and render.

As we read and interpret the record before us the contention of the appellees that the loan of $120,000.00 made by Bessie Ad-well to the warehouse venture was due and payable by R. C. Langston in a lump sum upon her death was upheld by the trial court and the contention of the appellant Lang-ston that repayment of the loan was to be made from net profits over a period of time was rejected. Having carefully reviewed the record in its entirety we have concluded that the court erred in so holding.

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Bluebook (online)
494 S.W.2d 615, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langston-v-hoenig-texapp-1973.