O'Neal v. Allison

292 S.W. 269
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 22, 1927
DocketNo. 1494.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 292 S.W. 269 (O'Neal v. Allison) 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
O'Neal v. Allison, 292 S.W. 269 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

O’QUINN, J.

Appellees sued appellants in the county court at law of Jefferson county, alleging that on May 22, 1923, they purchased of appellants a bill of furniture on the installment plan, amounting to $440.50; that on said date they made a payment of $67.50; and that on November 3, 1924, they had paid the sum of $315, leaving the amount due by them on said bill of furniture $125.50; that on said date appellee C. C. Allison’s work called him out of town; and that he made known to appellants that he was having to go out of town, giving them his address, and agreed with appellants that said furniture could be stored in appellants’ warehouse;' and that the remainder due, $125.50, might be paid in a lump sum or in installments at a later date; that, as soon as appellees left town, appellants breached their said 'agreement with appellees, and, without giving ap-pellees any notice whatever, converted said furniture and sold same, and refused to return same to appellees or to pay them any sum therefor, alleging that they had at all times been ready, willing, and able to pay said $125.50 balance due on said furniture, and prayed for judgment that, upon appellees paying to appellants said sum of $125.50, they have judgment that said furniture be returned to them, or that, in the event said furniture could not be so returned, then that they have judgment for the amount they had paid on same, $315.

Appellants answered by general demurrer, general denial, and specially denied that ap-pellees had informed them to what place they were going, or what their address would be, or that any agreement was made that the balance due on said furniture could be paid in a lump sum or in installments at a later date, but, to the contrary, that appellees agreed with appellants that payments on said furniture should be continued to be made monthly as per the original contract on the sale of same. Appellants further specially answered that, after appellees left town, and had been gone for several months, and not hearing anything from them, and not receiving any further payments on said furniture, they exercised their right under the mortgage given them by appellees at the time the furniture was bought, and repossessed themselves of said furniture left in storage in the collection of their said debt, and hence were not liable to appellees for said furniture.

The case was tried before the court without a jury, and judgment rendered for ap-pellees in the sum of $260. The case is before us on appeal.

The court, at the request of appellants, filed his findings of fact and conclusions of law. There is also in' the record a complete *270 statement of facts duly agreed to by tbe parties and 'approved by tbe court.

As shown by tbe court’s findings of fact and by tbe statement of facts, appellees, om May 22, 1923, bought a bill of fürniture from appellants, amounting to $440.50, making a payment of $67.50, leaving a balance of $393, which was to be paid in installments of $35 per month. On November 3, 1924, appellees had made payments reducing the debt to $125.50. At the date of purchase, appellee O. O. Allison executed a mortgage to appellants, containing the following clause:

“And provided further, that until default shall be made by the said mortgagor in any of the stipulations of this mortgage, it shall be lawful for him to retain possession of said goods and chattels and the use of same with proper care; but, if said mortgagor or any other person shall attempt to remove said goods and chattels from the county, or sell, or otherwise make way with them, or dispose of same, without the consent of mortgagee or its representative in writing expressed, or if said mortgagor shall fail to pay any installment as it becomes due, then all said installments unpaid shall at once become due and payable and said mortgagor or its representative shall have the right and is hereby authorized and empowered to take possession of said goods and chattels, with or without process of law, * * * said mortgagor hereby waiving any claim or action for trespass or damages on account of said taking * * * and to sell same at public or private sale, with or without notice, and after paying this indebtedness and expense, the balance, if any remains, shall be paid to the mortgagor or his assignee.”

Among other things, tbe court found:

“I find that on or about November 3, 1924, the plaintiffs, being called out of town, stored said bill of goods or furniture with the defendants, giving the defendants the address to which plaintiffs were going, but that, as soon as plaintiffs left town, defendants breached the terms of their agreement, and, without giving plaintiffs any notice whatever, sold said furniture, without complying with the law governing the sale of goods in storage.
“I find that, when plaintiffs left town on November 3, 1924, they carried with them one oil stove and rocker, aggregating the total sum of $55, and this, of course, was not stored with the defendants when plaintiffs left town.
“I find that plaintiffs have been ready, willing, .and able at all times to pay defendants the sum of $125.50 still owing defendants on said bill of goods or furniture, and that plaintiffs have gone to defendants to arrange for the payment of same, but were advised by defendants that said furniture had been put back in stock to be sold.
“I find that defendants, though often requested, failed and refused to deliver back to plaintiffs said bill of goods stored with defendants by plaintiffs, and have failed and refused to refund to plaintiffs the money paid out 'for same (less the $55 for the rocker and oil stove plaintiffs kept), to the damage of plaintiffs in the sum of $260.
“I find that, when said bill of goods was stored with defendants herein, when the plaintiffs left town, the defendants knew that said goods were merely being placed in storage, and that the plaintiffs still claim same, and still wanted same later on.
“I find that there was no legal foreclosure on the instrument executed on May 22, 1923.
“I find that plaintiffs made no payments to defendants on said goods from the time they were stored, until, to wit, on the 3d day of November, 1924, until the 8th day of April, 1925.”

Based upbn its findings; tbe court concluded that appellees were entitled to recover of appellants tbe sum of $260, that being the difference between tbe amount that appellees had paid to appellants, $315,. and the value of two certain pieces of furniture which were not stored, $55; that, when appellants repossessed themselves of the furniture and sold same, no legal procedure wa« complied with for the sale of goods in storage ; that the instrument executed by appel-lees to appellants, denominated a mortgage, was not a mortgage, because same provided that the “mortgagor or its representative shall have the right and is hereby authorized and empowered to take possession of said goods and chattels with or without process of law”; that, under said instrument executed by appellees to appellants, appellants had no right to take possession of, nor to sell, said furniture without process of law, without authority from appellees.

Appellees object to our considering appellants’ assignments of error because they were not filed in the trial court and copied in the transcript.

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Related

Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Garcia
595 S.W.2d 602 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
O'Neal v. Allison
10 S.W.2d 257 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1928)

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Bluebook (online)
292 S.W. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneal-v-allison-texapp-1927.