Morrison v. Neely

239 S.W. 661, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 592
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 4, 1922
DocketNo. 9094.
StatusPublished

This text of 239 S.W. 661 (Morrison v. Neely) 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
Morrison v. Neely, 239 S.W. 661, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 592 (Tex. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, J.

Bryon B. Byrne instituted this suit to recover three sections of land in Culberson county, or, in the alternative, to recover damages on a bond for title which had theretofore been given to him' by Morris on and Hastings, as principals, and signed by W. H. Neely and wife, L. U. I. Neely, and A. L. Wood as sureties. Byrne recovered a judgment for the land, and of that judgment no. complaint has been made in this court. W. H. Neely recovered a judgment over against Morrison and Hastings on a cross-action for the sum of $2,412.-20, and from that judgment on the cross-action Morrison and Hastings have prosecuted this appeal.

At a prior term of this court a judgment *662 was rendered affirming the judgment from which the appeal wgs prosecuted. In so doing we refused to consider three assignments of error presented by appellants, for the reason that they presented the complaint that the judgment was erroneous because unsupported by the evidence.

The case was tried before the court without a jury, and the trial judge filed findings of fact upon which the judgment was predicated. This court refused to consider those three assignments presented in appellants’ brief for the reason that they presented an attack on the judgment as not being supported by the evidence, instead of an attack on the findings of fact, upon which the judgment was based. The conclusion so reached by this court was based upon such authorities as City Loan & Trust Co. v. Sterner, 57 Tex. Civ. App. 517, 124 S. W. 207; Best v. Kirkendall (Tex. Civ. App.) 107 S. W. 932; S. A. & A. P. Ry. Co. v. Bowles, 88 Tex. 634, 32 S. W. 880. The remaining two assignments were overruled, and the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. But a writ of error was granted by the Supreme Court, and the conclusion reached by this court not to consider the three assignments first mentioned was reversed, and the cause has been remanded to this court, with instructions to consider and determine those three assignments of error.

It will be unnecessary to set out in .this opinion a full statement of the nature of the issues involved and of the facts bearing upon those issues, since the same appear in the opinion of the Supreme Court, which has been published in 231 S. W. 728.

The opinion filed by this court on the former hearing (214 S. W. 586) will now be withdrawn, and all of the assignments of error will be discussed.

As shown in the opinion of the Supreme Court, W. H. Neely, being indebted in divers and sundry amounts and being unable to discharge those debts, contracted and agreed with Morrison and Hastings to deed to them eleven sections of land, a portion of which was covered by a deed of trust in consideration of the undertaking of the grantees to dispose of the land and out of the proceeds to pay Neely’s debts and to pay themselves a commission for their services, the remainder of such proceeds to be turned over to Neely. Pursuant to that agreement, Morrison and Hastings executed a note for the sum of $3,000, secured by a mortgage lien upon eight sections, of the land, and out of the proceeds of the note paid off and discharged numerous items of indebtedness which Neely owed. Thereafter, Morrison and Hastings contracted and agreed to trade all eleven sections of the land to Byron B. Byrne for an auto garage, with accessories, repair shop, a lot of material on hand, and two new and two secondhand automobiles, all of the reasonable value of $4,-000, Byrne to assume the payment of the $3,-000 which Morrison and Hastings had placed upon the eight sections of land. The consummation of that contract was delayed by reason of the fact that there was an incum-brance against the garage for $2,000 which prevented Byrne from conveying a clear title to it. In order to consummate the trade Morrison and Hastings, without the knowledge or consent of Neely, executed their personal obligation to the holder of the $2,000 indebtedness owing by Byrne, and in that manner secured1 a release of the lien against the garage. Thereupon Morrison and Hastings, without the knowledge or consent of Neely, took charge of the garage and operated it for several months, awaiting the payment by Byrne of the $2,000 indebtedness formerly secured by a mortgage on the garage. The operation of the garage was at considerable loss to Morrison and Hastings. In the meantime they disposed of some of the automobiles which were in stock at the time they took over the garage. During that period Morrison and Hastings paid other debts of Neely’s amounting to $750. Morrison and Hastings then proposed to Byrne that, if he would pay, or arrange to have paid, his $2,000 indebtedness, for which they had become sureties, they would turn back to hint the garage. Thereupon Byrne procured his mother to advance the money to pay off the $2,000 indebtedness which was then owing to the bank, and Morrison and Hastings conveyed to her eight sections of the land and turned back to Byrne the garage, Byrne’s mother assuming the payment of the $3,000 now outstanding against the eight sections which had been given by Morrison and Hastings, as above noted. At the same time Morrison and Hastings also delivered to Byrne the bond for title to the other three sections of land for which Byrne recovered title in this suit.

The action of Morrison and Hastings in taking over and operating the garage, selling some of the automobiles, etc., and then turning the same back to Byrne and deeding eight sections of the land to his mother and delivering to him bond for title to the other three sections was all without the consent or knowledge of Neely, although Neely did consent and agree for the exchange of the land in consideration of the garage property, upon condition that Byrne should convey the garage free of incumbrance.

The trial court charged Morrison and Hastings with the value of the garage at the tim'e they took it over, which was $4,000, also with the amount realized on the mortgage they gave on the land to secure the money to pay off Neely’s debts, and credited them with all debts paid plus $1,0(X> commission for their services. The balance remaining after deducting such credits from. *663 the debits was the amount for which judgment was rendered in favor of Neely against Morrison and Hastings.

Prior to the agreement between Neely and Morrison and Hastings for the latter to take over the land and dispose of the same for the purpose of discharging Neely’s debts, Neely had executed a conveyance to three sections of the land to one O. E. Spruill for other lands to be conveyed to him by Spruill in exchange therefor, and had entered into a contract to convey four sections of the land to one T. R. Witten in exchange for land to be deeded to Neely by Witten, situated in Ward county, but the trial court found that the trade with Spruill failed bn account of a prior vendor’s lien being foreclosed on the land which Spruill had agreed to give to Neely. The trial court further found that the trade with Witten also failed on account of the failure of Witten’s title to the land which he had agreed to give to Neely in the exchange.

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Related

San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Co. v. Bowles
32 S.W. 880 (Texas Supreme Court, 1895)
City Loan & Trust Co. v. Sterner
124 S.W. 207 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1909)
Morrison v. Neely
214 S.W. 586 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1919)
Morrison v. Neely
231 S.W. 728 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
239 S.W. 661, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrison-v-neely-texapp-1922.