Murray v. Humphrey

132 S.W.2d 444
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 4, 1939
DocketNo. 5470.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 132 S.W.2d 444 (Murray v. Humphrey) 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
Murray v. Humphrey, 132 S.W.2d 444 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Justice.

Fred Humphrey, appellee, sued C. H. Murray as a surety on an alleged superse-deas bond theretofore executed and filed by Russell W. Weaver as principal with appellant and'one J. B. Apperson as sureties in an appeal from a judgment entered in a suit styled J. B. Apperson v. Russell W. Weaver et al., No. 6124 — A, then pending in the District Court of Smith County. The latter mentioned suit for brevity will be referred to as the Apperson suit. Weaver and Apperson, above mentioned, were not sued in that both at the institution of the present suit were non-residents and notoriously insolvent.

The appeal in the Apperson suit, perfected only by Weaver, was from a decree entered on October 12, 1935, in vacation, wherein the trial court overruled various pleadings and motions, including that of Weaver, to vacate the orders of that court directing the receiver to sell the property involved and the order confirming the receiver’s sale into J. R. Tolbert; and wherein the court denied Weaver, Apperson and intervenors a recovery of any interest in the property and taxed all costs against them. In this same decree as therein worded, the court “dissolved and vacated *445 a temporary injunction as against Fred Humphrey, defendant, the Kil-Tex Reclamation Plant, Inc., and J. R. Tolbert theretofore entered on the 21st day of September, 1925.” Further, the decree enjoined the plaintiff, all defendants and interven-ors from in any manner interfering with said Tolbert in his free, adverse and exclusive occupancy and use of the properties. The foregoing decree and judgment was affirmed by the Eastland Court of Civil Appeals. The opinion reported in Weaver v. Humphrey, 95 S.W.2d 720, gives briefly the details of the Apperson suit out of which arose the bond in controversy. The record in the instant cause discloses substantially the same history. The present suit was filed in Smith County and on plea of privilege removed to the District Court of Gregg County.

The cause was tried to the court who has filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court found that Humphrey had purchased the property involved in the Ap-person suit (being the same property here involved) from Tolbert, the receiver, prior to October 12, 1935; that the cause of action asserted by plaintiff (Humphrey) is one for damages to the property belonging to plaintiff 'and retained in the possession of Weaver during the pendency of the appeal by Weaver (a defendant in the Apper-son suit) wherein he had executed and filed a supersedeas bond, perfecting his appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals, upon which Murray, appellant herein, was and is a surety and liable to plaintiff in the amount of such damages sustained by plaintiff during the pendency of the appeal; that at the time of filing the bond in question Weaver took possession of 6,334.58 barrels of crude oil at $1.00 per barrel and when same was returned to Humphrey when the Apperson suit was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals there was a shortage in the amount of oil, the oil actually delivered back being $1,682.87 less in value; and likewise a dwelling house retained by Weaver had depreciated and been damaged $250 in value during the same period. Judgment was entered in favor of appellee against C. H. Murray in the sum of $1,932.87.

Various propositions under which appellant levels the principal attack upon this judgment are embraced in the statement taken from appellant’s brief, reading: “We assert there was and is no legal liability on C. H. Murray as a surety on the bond for anything other than costs of court, and when read in the light of the judgment appealed from and the- order fixing the amount of the bond is but a cost bond on appeal and is not a supersedeas bond, for the reason that it appears from the face of the proceedings that the order of October 12 is but an order refusing to vacate a receivership and refusing to set aside an order confirming a receiver’s sale, and an order dissolving a temporary restraining order and refusing a temporary injunction.”

And in this connection appellant relies upon Blankenship v. Little Motor Kar Co., Tex.Civ.App., 224 S.W. 210. And asserts that the court’s refusal to set aside and vacate the order of sale and the order confirming the sale was in its nature a negative one. That its effect was not to disturb in any way the existing relations of the respective parties to the property, and left the parties where they previously were undisturbed by the order. That no liability could accrue against a surety on the bond under such circumstances even if the receiver should have mistaken his rights and surrendered the possession to Weaver on account of such bond. And further, that “the surety could not be liable on account of the order dissolving the temporary injunction (or temporary restraining order, it not being clear which it was), in that Article 4662, R.C.S. of 1925, provides that upon the dissolution of a temporary injunction the same shall not remain in force pending an appeal unless the trial court enters an order keeping it in force; so the bond here sued on did not have the effect of keeping in force the temporary injunction, — whatever it was.” We pretermit a discussion of. the applicability of the doctrine discussed in Blankenship v. Little Motor Kar Co., supra, to the facts here. In passing, though, it is to be noted that Weaver had not sought to vacate the receivership and the order did not contain a refusal to vacate same.

The portions of the judgment of October 12th pertinent to the question whether a temporary injúnction was there dissolved reads:

“Came on to be heard * * * and the motion of the defendants Fred Humphrey and Kil-Tex Reclamation Plant, Inc., to vacate the temporary injunction heretofore issued by this court on the 21st day of September 1935. * * *
“ * * * and that the law is also with the said defendant Fred Humphrey and Kil-Tex Reclamation Plant, Inc., upon its *446 motion to dissolve, vacate and set aside the temporary injunction heretofore granted by this court on the 21st day of September A. D. 1935.”

The judgment then decrees that this temporary writ of injunction be in all things vacated, set aside and dissolved at costs of Weaver. The motion, petition or application upon which the court granted a temporary injunction and the terms of said writ of September 21, 1935, do not appear in the record. Weaver’s first amended original motion to vacate the receivership sale, etc., was filed not earlier than September 24th or 25th. From the prayer in this first amended original motion it can be concluded that Weaver was in possession of the properties at the time of its filing and of its hearing on October 12th, for in its concluding portion Weaver alleged “that J. R.

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132 S.W.2d 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-humphrey-texapp-1939.