Northcutt v. Hume

212 S.W. 157, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 619
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 28, 1919
DocketNo. 73-2835
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 212 S.W. 157 (Northcutt v. Hume) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northcutt v. Hume, 212 S.W. 157, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 619 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1919).

Opinion

MONTGOMERX, P.- J.

This is a suit to recover damages for breach of warranty of tilKfto land. Northcutt and wife owned certain lands and personal property situated near Wildorado in Oldham, county, Tex., and H. E. Hume owned two tracts of land in Hale county, Tex., of 160 acres each, one known as the Stringfellow pre-emption, and the other near Hale Center, which we will designate as the Hale Center tract. The parties named agreed upon an exchange of these properties. The agreement was that Hume was to convey to Northcutt the two tracts in Hale county, and that Northcutt was to convey to Hume his land near Wil-dorado, and also to deliver to Hume certain personal property. Northcutt owed certain sums of money which it was necessary for him to repay before the trade could be closed, and Hume agreed to lend Northcutt [158]*158$2,600 with which to pay his debts, the same to be secured by a deed of trust on the Hale county property. The trade was closed by Northcutt and wife conveying to Hume the .land near Wildorado and delivering the personal property, the conveyance reciting a consideration of $8,000 cash, and by Hume conveying the two tracts in Hale county to Northcutt by warranty deed, reciting a cash consideration of $8,000. Northcutt executed to Hume a note for $1,000, and secured same by deed of trust on the Stringfellow 160-acre pre-emption, and also executed to Hume another note for $1,600, which was secured by a deed of trust on the Hale Center' tract This- transaction occurred on July 23, 1912.

Both the notes above referred to were by Hume transferred to the Canadian Oil & Gas Company, a corporation in which Hume was interested.

The notes having matured, the corporation caused the trustee to advertise the lands for sale as provided by the deeds of trust.

This suit was instituted by Northcutt to enjoin the sale under the deeds of trust, and both Hume and the corporation were made parties defendant. Northcutt alleged that the title to 89½ acres of land, a part of the Stringfellow pre-emption, had failed, in that same 'was covered by other and older valid grants. He further alleged that two tracts in Hale county had been conveyed to him by Hume by a warranty deed, and that the consideration for said conveyance was $8,-000, and that of said sum he paid Hume $6,400, and for the balance executed two promissory notes secured by deed of trust. Plaintiff Northcutt further alleged facts showing that Hume had no title to the 89½ acres of the Stringfellow pre-emption, and that it was adversely owned and occupied when the deed to him was executed. He alleged that the price paid for said land was $25 per acre. Certain other allegations with reference to the ownership of the notes of the Canadian Oil & Gas Company were made which it is not necessary to set out. Plaintiff prayed that the sale of the lands under the deeds of trust be enjoined, and that he recover against Hume $2,230, and that the same be credited on the notes, and for other relief. Hume denied that the title to any part of the land had failed, and alleged that the transaction was an exchange of property, and that no price per acre, or otherwise, was agreed upon by the parties, and that the recited consideration of $8,000 was written into the deed at the request of North-cutt. The proof showed an exchange of property, and that no definite value was fixed upon either the property conveyed by Hume or by Northcutt, and that the recitation of the consideration recited in the deed was placed therein at Northcutt’s instance. Northcutt testified that this sum was his estimate of the value of the property, and that he had requested that the deed should recite this consideration. There was evidence as to the value of the property conveyed by Northcutt to Hume, but none as to the value of the land conveyed by Hume to Northcutt, and no evidence as to the value of that portion of the land to which the title failed as compared with the remainder of the land. The evidence was sufficient to authorize a finding that Hume had no title to a portion of the Stringfellow pre-emption. The trial court gave the jury a peremptory charge to find for the defendants. Northcutt appealed, and the judgment was by the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. 174 S. W. 974.

Opinion.

There seems to be no doubt that the evidence was sufficient to show that Hume had no title to a part of the Stringfellow preemption at the time he made the conveyance and warranted the title. The Court of Civil Appeals in its opinion assumes this fact. The judgment of the trial court was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals because in its opinion the pleading and the evidence were both insufficient to furnish facts from which the amount recoverable could be determined. The Court of Civil Appeals held that the burden was on the plaintiff Northcutt both to plead and prove the value of all the land conveyed and warranted by Hume at the time of the conveyance, and also the proportional part of said value represented by the land to which the title failed, and that the plaintiff North-cutt, having failed to discharge this burden, was not entitled to recover anything.

[1, 2] The trial court overruled all exceptions to the petition, thus holding it sufficient, and no error was on appeal assigned to this ruling. We think under these circumstances that we should treat the petition as if no objection to its sufficiency had been made. The petition alleges that the price paid for all the land was $8,000, and that the price paid for the land to which the title failed was $25 per acre. This allegation, we think, sufficient to admit evidence showing the price paid for all the land, whether paid in money or property, and the proportional part of such price represented by the land lost.

The serious question in the case is whether there was any evidence upon which judgment for the plaintiff could be predicated.

There was no evidence of the value of 'the two tracts of land conveyed by Hume to Northcutt unless the recital in the deed of the consideration of $8,000 or the value of the property given in exchange therefor constitutes such evidence.

[3,4] The recitals in each of the deeds of $8,000 as a consideration, although placed therein at Northcutt’s suggestion, is [159]*159some evidence of the value put upon the property exchanged.

In the case of White v. Street, 67 Tex. 179, 2 S. W. 530, it is said:

“The deed recites that sum as the consideration paid. Of that deed the defendant was the maker; it speaks his words, and, in an action against him upon his warranty, would be of itself evidence sufficient to authorize a judgment against him for the sum stated to be the consideration, with interest on it, if the breach of warranty was shown. It would be the right, however, of the defendant to show that the true consideration was not stated, and to show what it in fact was, but the burden, in this respect, would be upon him. It is unimportant whether the consideration was paid in money or in other lands, in so far as the recital of the value of the consideration is to be deemed evidence against the maker of the deed reciting the consideration. The consideration may have been recited at the suggestion of the person who wrote the deed, but this does not militate against its truthfulness. It is not to be presumed that the maker of a warranty deed would willingly permit a consideration to be recited which was greater than that actually paid.”

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Bluebook (online)
212 S.W. 157, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northcutt-v-hume-texcommnapp-1919.