Overton v. Ragland

54 S.W.2d 240
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 2, 1932
DocketNo. 3894.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 54 S.W.2d 240 (Overton v. Ragland) 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
Overton v. Ragland, 54 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

HALL, C. J.

This case is before us upon a second appeal. It was tried the second time without an amendment of pleadings and upon practically the same testimony as before. For the sake of brevity, we refer to our former opinion in 44 S.W.(2d) 768, for a statement of the issues and the rules of law which in our opinion control the rights of the parties. We also made a brief summary of the testimony bearing upon the issues, and we refer to the former opinion for a full understanding of the case, to which this opinion will be little more than a supplement.

Upon the second trial the case was submitted to a jury upon special issues, and the trial resulted in a judgment canceling the restriction under which .the Raglands would have been prohibited from erecting a business house upon the lots in question.

The first three propositions are predicated upon the action of the trial judge in refusing to direct a verdict for Overton. These propositions were urged upon the first appeal where, in effect, Overton contended that the court correctly directed a verdict in his favor. For the reasons stated in the first opinion, they are overruled.

When the ease was reversed at a former •term, it was for the purpose of submitting issues to the jury for their determination: (1) Whether, in view of the changed circumstances, conditions, and surroundings, the plaintiffs were in equity entitled to have the restrictions removed as to their two lots; (2) whether there had been a waiver of the restrictions ; and (3) whether there was ever a general plan or scheme on the part of the defendant to restrict the whole of Broadway to residential purposes.

The first special issue submitted is as follows: “Do you find by a preponderance of the evidence that the changes, if any, in the vicinity of the lots in question, shown by the evidence, have rendered the said lots réason-ably unfit for residential purposes?”

Overton had requested the court to submit this issue: “Do you find that the changes, if any, shown by the evidence, have rendered the lots reasonably unfit for residential purposes?”

It will be seen that the material change the court made in submitting this issue was in restricting the changes to the vicinity of the lots in question; so the issue submitted by the court was more favorable to Overton than the one prepared and presented by him.

The second special issue is as follows: “Do you find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant Overton has knowingly permitted and acquiesced in a change, if any you find, of Broadway Street from Avenue Q to College Avenue (not including the Jackson property) from a residential street to a business street?”

This second issue is identical with one of the issues requested by the defendant Over-ton, with the exception that the court prefaced it with “do you find by a preponderance of the evidence.”

These issues are attacked by appellant upon several grounds; the principal one being that there was no pleading by plaintiff to the effect that Broadway street has changed from a residence street to a business one.

The general rule is that a litigant on appeal or writ of error may not seek a reversal for error which he himself has committed or invited, even though the error is fundamental. 3 Tex. Jur. 1031, § 731.

The appellant filed no demurrer to the appellees’ petition upon the ground that a change of conditions had not been sufficiently alleged. The allegation is: “Broadway Street is a main thoroughfare and intersects Oollege Avenue where plaintiffs’ lots of land are located and such is the main entrance into the grounds of the Texas Technological College for all traffic in and to the college and to the respective business establishments along said College Avenue.”

And they further alleged that, at the time the original deed containing the restrictive clauses was executed, Lubbock was a town of 2,000 or 3,000 people, since which time Tech. Oollege had been constructed at a cost of approximately $3,000,000, which was attended by about 2,000 pupils, and that the town had since grown to become a city. If there is any question about the sufficiency of these allegations to show a change, the appellant has waived them by not urging his demurrer, and the insufficiency of the petition cannot be raised after verdict and judgment. Southern Casualty Co. v. Morgan (Tex. Com. App.) 16 S.W.(2d) 533. ⅜

There is no objection to any testimony introduced' for the purpose of showing the change in conditions, circumstances, and surroundings since the execution of the original deed from Overton to Wheelock. Appellant not only permitted the evidence to be introduced without objection, but requested the *242 above-quoted issues, thereby inviting the error of which he now complains. It is settled that under such circumstances the party who invited the error, as in this case, cannot complain in the appellate court -because there are no pleadings authorizing the submission of such an issue. Gladys City Oil G. & Mfg. Co. v. Right of Way Oil Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 137 S. W. 171; Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Geiger, 55 Tex. Civ. App. 1, 118 S. W. 179.

Upon the issue of changes in the conditions, circumstances, and surroundings, the appellant insists -that, because there is testimony which shows that his lots still have a value of $3,000 as residence property, it does not show that they were not reasonably fit for such purposes.

The court, in the case of Johnson v. Poteet (Tex. Civ. App.) 279 S. W. 902, 905, in discussing the effect of changed conditions, quoted from Pomeroy’s Equity (3d Ed.) 2596, as follows: “The equitable jurisdiction to enforce such covenants is subject to one most important limitation. It is not absolute, but is governed by the same general rules which control -the equitable relief of specific performance of contracts. If, therefore, the restrictive covenants in deeds of lots were made with evident reference to the continuance of the existing general condition of the property and its surroundings but in the lapse of time there has been a complete change in the character of the neighborhood, so as to defeat the purposes of the covenants and to render their enforcement an inequitable and unjust burden on the owner of the lots, then the equitable relief will not be granted, and the plaintiff will be left to his remedy at law. For example, if the covenants restricted the grantees of lots to use for purposes of residence, and since their execution the whole neighborhood had ceased to be used for such purposes and had been wholly given up to business, manufacturing, and the like” — citing Clifton George Co. v. Great Southern, etc., Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 234 S. W. 705.

The record shows: That prior to 1908 appellant Overton purchased a section of land adjacent to and immediately west of the section upon which the town of Lubbock was situated. That he had plotted thereon what was known as Overton’s addition to the town. That Broadway, as shown upon the map, extended west from the town section through Overton’s section to the next section west, which latter section was used for farming purposes and continued to be a farm until about the year 1925, when Texas Technological College was established on the section lying immediately west of Overton’s section.

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Bluebook (online)
54 S.W.2d 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/overton-v-ragland-texapp-1932.