Marlett v. Brownfield

145 S.W.2d 636
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 29, 1940·No. No. 14141.·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

W. C. Brownfield brought this suit in the district court of Denton County, Texas, against his three sisters, Lonie Marlett, Alpha Balthrop and Ammer Kelley, and their respective husbands, for partition of 356 acres of land in that county.

Plaintiff and his three sisters are the only children of C. L. Brownfield and his deceased wife, Nancy Brownfield. All necessary allegations were made to authorize a decree partitioning the land, after proof. The controversy arose over the respective interests of the parties.

Mrs. M. J. Fortenberry, a widow, owned the land prior to her death. On August 12, 1898, she executed and delivered to C. L. Brownfield and his wife, Nancy Brownfield (the latter being grantor’s daughter), a deed purporting to convey 213 acres of the land in controversy. On the same day Mrs. Fortenberry executed her will, bequeathing to her daughter, Nancy Brownfield, 143 acres of land out of the William Fortenberry Survey, and a part of a 137-acre tract conveyed to her by Jot Gunter and others, reciting that the land so bequeathed was all of the land owned by testatrix in Denton County. The will was probated in Wise County, after Mrs. For-tenberry’s death in 1898.

On February 20, 1939, C. L. Brownfield, by deed reciting him to be a single man (his wife, Nancy Brownfield, having previously died), conveyed to his son, W. C. Brownfield, the plaintiff herein, grantor’s undivided one-half interest in 213 acres, described as in the deed from Mrs. M. J. Fortenberry, which is a part of the 356 acres in controversy.

When this suit was instituted, plaintiff and defendants owned jointly the whole 356-acre tract. Plaintiff, W. C. Brownfield, claimed one-half of the 213 acres, by virtue of the deed from his father, and an equal one-fourth interest with his sisters, the defendants, in the other one-half and in the remaining 143 acres willed by M. J. Fortenberry to their mother, Nancy Brownfield.

Defendants claimed in their pleadings that the father, C. L. Brownfield, had no interest in any part of the land and that the conveyance by him to plaintiff, W. C. Brownfield, passed no title, and that parties plaintiff and defendants owned the entire tract of 356 acres jointly in equal parts. Defendants based their contention that nothing passed under the deed from C. L. to W. C. Brownfield upon allegations that the deed from M. J. Fortenberry to “C. L. Brownfield and wife, Nancy Brownfield”, dated August 12, 1898, was a forgery, in that the original instrument, when executed, was to Nancy Brownfield (the mother of the parties to this suit) and that after the execution and delivery of the deed, it had been altered throughout, so as to show conveyance of the 213 acres to “C. L. Brownfield and wife, Nancy Brownfield”, instead of to “Nancy Brownfield”.

The case was tried to a jury; one special issue was submitted and answered. That issue involved the controversy which arose under the defendants’ allegations that the deed above mentioned had been altered since 'its execution. The jury found in response to the issue submitted against defendants’ contention of a forgery or alteration of the deed.

Upon the verdict, judgment was entered partitioning the land between- the parties, awarding to plaintiff five-eighths interest in the 213 acres and one-fourth interest in the remaining 143 acres, and to each of *638 the defendants one-fourth interest in the 143 acres and the same interest in one-half of the 213 acres. From this judgment defendants have perfected this appeal.

Defendants rely upon four assignments of error. Two and three are upon, the same point. The assignments are, in effect: (1) the location of the 143 acres decreed by the court to be owned equally by all parties is erroneously and arbitrarily located and described in the judgment without evidence to support it; (2 and 3) the court erred in not sustaining their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; and (4) the cpurt erred in awarding plaintiff' five-eighths undivided interest in the 213 acres, giving effect to the conveyance from C. L. Brownfield to plaintiff.

It is appropriate to say just here that plaintiff, the appellee, insists that this court is without jurisdiction to determine this appeal because no sufficient appeal bond was filed in the trial court, and furthermore, that even though we do have jurisdiction, we cannot consider the assignments of error presented by defendants, since there was no motion for new trial filed below, and no assignment presents fundamental error.

Referable to our jurisdiction and the sufficiency of the appeal bond, we shall give that matter no further consideration here more than to say that we disposed of the point contrary to plaintiff’s contention in response to motions filed before the cause came on for submission upon its merits. See Marlett et al. v. Brownfield, Tex.Civ.App., 140 S.W.2d 353.

Plaintiff’s contention that we cannot consider the assignments of error'because there was no motion for new trial presented is without merit. The record discloses that the judgment appealed from was entered, on the last day of the term of the district court of Denton County. This being true, and, as here, where it does not appear that the term was extended for any purpose, no motion for new trial was necessary as a prerequisite to appeal and assignments of error. Article 2232, R.C.S., and Rule 71a for district and county courts (126 Tex. vii). The authorities cited by plaintiff’s counsel are not applicable. See the above rule and the decision by our Supreme Court in Stillman v. Hirsch, 128 Tex. 359, 99 S.W.2d 270.

We shall discuss the assignments of error in reverse order to the manner in which they are presented in the brief. Our reason for doing so is obvious from what we shall say in discussing them.

By the fourth .assignment, complaint is made that the trial court awarded to plaintiff an undivided five-eighths interest in the 213-acre tract. The contention is based upon assertions that (a) plaintiff took nothing under the deed from his father, which purported to convey an undivided one-half interest in that tract, because the deed was a forgery or was altered after its execution, so as to include C. L. Brownfield as a grantee, (b) the description of the 213 acres contained in the deed from Mrs. Fortenberry to “C. L. Brownfield and wife, Nancy Brownfield” was insufficient to pass title, and (c) even if there was no alteration of the deed and it ’had been good as to description, the consideration paid for the 213 acres attempted to be conveyed was paid out of the wife’s separate property, and although the husband was named as a grantee, such record title as he took was in trust for the wife. Therefore, it is argued that the whole title in fact was in the wife, Nancy Brownfield, and at her death, plaintiff and defendants inherited the title in equal parts.

The contention that no title passed to C. L. Brownfield under the deed from Mrs. Fortenberry cannot be sustained, because the jury found upon ample testimony that C. L. Brownfield was a grantee in that deed. The uncontradicted evidence is to the effect that the change in the deed complained of by defendants was made before its delivery 'to and acceptance by the grantee.

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Marlett v. Brownfield, 145 S.W.2d 636 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

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