Mills v. Vinson

342 S.W.2d 33, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1874
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 15, 1960
Docket7258
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 342 S.W.2d 33 (Mills v. Vinson) 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
Mills v. Vinson, 342 S.W.2d 33, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1874 (Tex. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

*34 PER CURIAM.

Mack Vinson, Jr., and wife, and his mother, Mrs. Nina Vinson, as plaintiffs, sued Mrs. Willie Mills and other defendants numbering over three hundred, in trespass to try title to 131.6 acres of land in the Settoon Survey in Rusk County, Texas, and also plead the 10 and 25 year statutes of limitation.

One hundred and eight defendants were personally served and appeared in person and by counsel. 3 defendants were personally served and were represented by guardian at litem. 23 defendants who were personally served defaulted. 17 defendants who were personally served filed disclaimers. 85 defendants or the heirs, or unknown heirs, of those cited by publication appeared by counsel or in person. 85 defendants, or the heirs, or the unknown heirs, of those cited by publication were represented by an attorney ad litem appointed by the court.

Some of the answering defendants also filed a cross-action for title and possession of the lands and the remainder of the answering defendants answered by a denial or a plea of not guilty, or both.

Plaintiffs-appellees, Mack Vinson and Mrs. Nina Vinson, disclaimed any interest in lands described in certain of the appellants’ cross-action which were not included within the description of the lands contained in their first amended original petition.

Longview National Bank, brought into the case by the cross-action of certain named appellants, answered by plea of intervention specially alleging title to one-half non-participating royalty interest in the north 100 acres of the lands described in the cross-action, general denial and plea of not guilty. The bank claimed under a non-participating royalty conveyance executed by the appellees Vinsons in the year 1936.

Trial was to a jury upon special issues. The issues and explanatory instructions given to the jury, and the answers of the jury to the issues submitted were as follows :

“Special Issue No. 1:
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiffs or those under whom they claim, either in person or through tenant or tenants, have held peaceable and adverse possession of the land in controversy in this suit, cultivating, using, or enjoying the same for any consecutive period of ten years from January 1, 1902, and prior to the 1st day of May, 1958?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
“Answer: Yes.
“In connection with the above and foregoing Special Issue No. 1 and Special Issue No. 1 only, you are instructed that if you believe from a preponderance of the evidence that Mack Vinson, Sr., went into possession and occupied the tract of land involved in this controversy as an heir of Malachi Vinson, his possession would be presumed to have been in the right of the common title and not adverse to the other heirs of Malachi Vinson, his co-tenants, unless and until he repudiated the title of his co-tenants to any interest in the tract of land in controversy and after such repudiation held the same adversely to the title of said co-tenants, if you find he did so, and until he, Mack Vinson, Sr., either in person or through Mack Vinson, Jr., acting for him, or until Mrs. Nina Vinson, or Mack Vinson, Jr., after the demise of Mack Vinson, Sr., gave notice of such repudiation and adverse claim, if any, to said co-tenants. Co-tenancy or tenancy in common means where two or more parties own undivided interest in the same tract or tracts of land. It was not necessary *35 for the said Mack Vinson, Sr., during his life time, and for plaintiffs herein after the demise of Mack Vinson, Sr., to give actual notice of said co-tenants of such repudiation and adverse holding, if any, hut such notice may be presumed by the jury to have been brought home to the cotenants if the jury finds from a preponderance of the evidence that the adverse occupancy, if any, and the claim of title, if any, on the part of the said Mack Vinson, Sr., and plaintiffs herein, was open, notorious, exclusive and unequivocal for such a length of time as to be inconsistent with the existence of title in such co-tenants and of such notoriety as to constitute notice to the defendants and those under whom they claim title, the inference of notice being one of fact to be determined by the jury.
“Special Issue No. 2:
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiffs or those under whom they claim either in person or through tenant or tenants, have held peaceable and adverse possession of the land in controversy in this suit, cultivating, using, or enjoying the same for any consecutive period of ten years from September 5, 1919, and prior to the 1st day of May, 1958 ?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
“Answer: Yes.”

The trial court entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs Vinsons for the title and possession of the 131.6 acres of land sued for, (and the bank for its above described royalty interest) except for a 2.4 acre strip awarded to certain appellants on their cross-action. The numerous named appellants have appealed. Appellants’ points 1 through 11, inch, are grouped together in appellants’ brief and relate to the following contentions: That there was no evidence to support the verdict and the jury’s answers to Special Issues Nos. 1 and 2; that the verdict, and the verdict as a whole, and the jury’s answers to special issues Nos. 1 and' 2 were against the overwhelming weight of the evidence; that the trial court erred in submitting special issues Nos. - 1 and 2 because same were not raised by the evidence; and that the trial court erred in overruling appellants’ motions for instructed verdict and for judgment non obstante veredicto.

There are many decisions of our Texas Supreme Court with respect to the consideration of “no evidence”, “insufficient evidence” and “against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence” points. An excellent discussion of these matters is contained in an article in the April, 1960 issue of the Texas Law Review (38 Texas L.Rev. 362) by Justice Calvert of the Texas Supreme Court, entitled “ ‘No Evidence’ and ‘Insufficient Evidence’ Points of Error.” With respect to the “No evidence” matters we quote from said article in part as follows:

“2. Quantity and Quality of the Evidence.
“ ‘No evidence’ points must, and may only be sustained when the record discloses one of the following situations: (a) a complete absence of evidence of a vital fact; (b) the court is barred by rules of law or of evidence from giving weight to the only evidence offered to prove a vital fact; (c) the evidence offered to prove a vital fact is no more than a mere scintilla; (d) the evidence establishes conclusively the opposite of the vital fact.
“(a). There is no need here to elaborate on the first of the situations. A complete absence of evidence, either direct or circumstantial, of a vital fact simply adds up to a ‘no evidence’ situation and the duty of the appellate court to sustain the point is clear.
* ⅜ *
“(b) The second situation poses only law questions.

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Bluebook (online)
342 S.W.2d 33, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 1874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-vinson-texapp-1960.