Ludtke v. Houston Lumber & Building Co.

5 S.W.2d 802
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 24, 1928
DocketNo. 1658.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 5 S.W.2d 802 (Ludtke v. Houston Lumber & Building Co.) 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
Ludtke v. Houston Lumber & Building Co., 5 S.W.2d 802 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

O’QUINN, J.

. Appellant was plaintiff in the court below, and sued appellee in trespass to try title to two acres of land situated on the north side of Buffalo bayou in the city of Houston, being a part of the Harris and Wilson two-league grant in Harris county.

The defendant, appellant, answered by general demurrer, general denial, and plea of not guilty. It also impleaded its warrantors, Frank B. Browne, Hugh Bridges, and J. S. Walker, and by cross-action sued plaintiff in trespass to try title for the land described in plaintiff’s petition.

The impleaded defendants answered by general demurrer and general denial.

At the close of the evidence the court instructed the jury to return a verdict for defendant, which was done, and judgment duly entered. Motion for a new trial was overruled, and Ludtke has appealed. All other parties were dismissed from the suit.

Appellee objects to our considering appellant’s brief, and has filed a motion to strike same on the grounds: (a) That appellant has failed to file briefs in the trial court and in this court within the time and in the manner prescribed by law and the rules for appeals ; (b) that, although the transcript and statement of facts herein were filed in the Court of Civil Appeals for the First supreme judicial district at Galveston on August 24, 1927, no briefs were filed by appellant in the district court nor in the Court of Civil Appeals, but that, on January 23, 1928, appellant submitted to the attorney for appellee a carbon copy of a typewritten brief, said copy being so poorly and badly written as to make it practically illegible, in violation of appellate rule 37; (c) that said brief consisted of 52 pages, and did not have on its fly leaves any index pointing to any of the matters named in rule 35 for Courts of Civil Appeals, nor did it contain any list of cases cited, as required by said rule; (d) that said brief contained many pages typewritten in single space, in violation of rule 34; (e) that, the cause having been set for submission in the Court of Civil Appeals on February 6, 1928, appellee’s attorney did not have time to properly prepare a reply to said *803 brief, as contemplated by article 2283, Revised Civil Statutes.

Appellant bas filed a sworn answer to the motion to strike out his brief, and says that, on January 23, 1928, his counsel delivered a copy of his brief, together with the transcript and statement of facts, to counsel for appellee; that that was fourteen days before the date for submission; that at said time he requested counsel for appellee to waive the filing of briefs in the trial court, but counsel for appellee would not agree to such waiver, and objected to the copy of the brief furnished him as being hard to read, and that thereupon they furnished him with another copy “as good as either of the copies filed” in the appellate court; that January 30, 1928, after the brief, transcript, and statement of facts were delivered to counsel for appellee, he returned all of same to counsel for appellant, saying that he did not have time to prepare his reply brief; that at said time counsel for appellant suggested to counsel for appellee that, if he considered the time too short for the preparation of his brief, they file a joint motion for a reasonable postponement of the submission of the case, to which suggestion counsel for appel-lee would not agree. In their answer to the motion to strike the brief, counsel for appellant say:

“Counsel for appellant prepared their brief in this case just as early as they could do so, and give necessary attention to their other business. They had a heavy docket to dispose of, both in the trial courts and in the appellate courts during the fall of the past year, and a number of briefs to write in other cases on appeal .which were older than the case at bar; that they have done their best to brief the case so as to clearly and succinctly present to this court and to opposing counsel their contentions in the case.”

They further answered that;

“After a number of years’ experience in active practice in both'trial and appellate courts, counsel for appellant have found it impracticable to file copies of briefs in the trial courts, as provided by article 2283, and that it was the custom of attorneys of the Harris county bar not to raise any question as to the filing of briefs in the trial court except in rare instances.”

They further answered that they had prepared an index to their brief as required by the rules. They also suggest that the errors complained of in their brief are fundamental, and should be considered as such.

The transcript and statement of facts were filed in the Court of Civil Appeals at Galveston on August 24, 1927. When the Supreme Court equalized the dockets of the several Courts of Civil Appeals December 15, 1927, this ease, with others, was transferred to this, the Beaumont, Court of Civil Appeals. This court, on January 12, 1928, set the case for submission on February 6, 1928. At that date no briefs for appellant had been filed. They were filed January 26, 1928. It appears that on January 23, 1928, appellant’s counsel furnished counsel for appellee with a carbon copy of their brief, which, omitting the day delivered and the day of submission, left twelve days in which to prepare and file a reply brief. The objections to the appellant’s brief have been set out above in stating the grounds alleged for striking out same. It was admittedly deficient in not having any index. The brief contains fourteen propositions, based upon two assignments of error, and consists of 52 typewritten pages on long or legal length paper. Many pages are single spaced, in violation of rule 34, and we think the criticism as to its physical condition is not without reason. While the briefs were not filed in the trial court nor in this court in ■ compliance with the statutes and rules regulating the filing of briefs, yet, under the decisions, this would not justify striking out the briefs if they were filed in such time as to allow appellee a reasonably sufficient time in which to prepare and file his reply brief. We do not believe that under the circumstances we can say that such was done. Counsel for appellant say that they could not sooner px-epare their brief and give “necessary attention to their other business.” It is but fair to say that counsel for appellee was also required to give time to other matters at the time that appellant’s brief was presented to him with but twelve days remaining before submission, for he says so, and he told counsel for appellant that he would not have time to prepare a reply brief. The case had been pending in the appellate court from August 24, 1927, and appellee was entitled to have his case submitted, and was not required to undergo further delay in the determination of his rights, because of the tardiness of his adversary in getting ready for submission. We think the motion to strike out appellant’s brief should be sustained, and the brief is stricken accordingly.

Appellant says that his assignments present fundamental error, and therefore should be considered. One of the assignments complains that the court erred in instructing a verdict for defendant, and the other that the court eixed in excluding certain testimony. Neither of these assignments present error apparent upon the face of the record, and therefore cannot be considered as fundamental error. Therefore, as no er

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

Related

Kuklies v. Reinert
256 S.W.2d 435 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 S.W.2d 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ludtke-v-houston-lumber-building-co-texapp-1928.