Parker v. Boyles

197 S.W.2d 842, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 759
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 7, 1946
DocketNo. 11810.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 197 S.W.2d 842 (Parker v. Boyles) 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
Parker v. Boyles, 197 S.W.2d 842, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 759 (Tex. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

Appellant, in her dual-capacity as ad-ministratrix of the respective wills of her maternal grandfather, C. H. Blount, and of her mother, Ruthe Blount Hunt (she being termed appellants in the briefs), in her trial petition in this suit (her third amended one, filed herein on November 1, 1945) sought against the appellees, Boyles and Billingsley, a firm of lawyers, and against the other appellees subsidiarily, the outright cancellation of a contract her mother, during her lifetime, had made with them for their legal services as such attorneys, to be rendered to herself individually and to her as the then independent executrix of her father’s estate, which had been evidenced by two complementary writings between herself in such two capacities and those attorneys, one a letter dated October 6, 1938, the other a deed dated August 23, 1939, copies of which documents are hereto attached as Exhibits 1 and 2, and made parts hereof.

While her detailed averments included two formal counts in trespass to try title to recover lands, alleged to have become affected by the contract, essentially her whole cause of action for such cancellation as against all parties so sued was predicated upon her extended averments to the effect that the two writings composing it, .and therefore the contract so declared upon, had been procured from appellant’s mother through fraud, misrepresentation, and concealment upon the part of the two appel-lee-attorneys, practiced by them upon her mother, hence the whole engagement on her part to them had been rendered void and not binding upon either hercelf, individually, or her father’s estate; she did *844 not seek damages, nor an accounting of any sort, but rather prayed — in the main — for an absolute nullification of the deed, removal of clouds from the title to the properties and holdings affected, together with straight out- recoveries against the appel-lees of all amounts they had collected as such claimed attorneys’ fees, with interest, et cetera.

Appellees answered, with relation to the counts in trespass to try title, not guilty, general denials, and the three year statute of limitation; and in answer to the third count, general denial and special answers and denials, with affirmative allegations of ratification and estoppel, and an affirmative allegation that there had never been any accounting, or request for an accounting, as between Mrs. Hunt and appellees, Boy-les and Billingsley; that appellees had never required of Mrs. Hunt, or her estate, any accounting of the property in appellants’ possession, or of the proceeds .thereof, and offered, in the event of a mutual and reciprocal accounting, an adjustment of any balance in accordance with any order entered by the court. Appel-lees further pled the two and four year statutes of limitation, Rev.St.1925, arts. 5526, 5529.

The cause was heard by the court and a jury throughout the presentation in full of the evidence for both sides, whereupon they each — respectively—moved for an instructed verdict in their own behalf, and ■no other relief; thereupon the court dismissed the jury, decided the whole cause independently, and rendered its judgment, setting out therein its findings of both fact and law. ,

In all material substance, such judgment and findings were as follows:

"The court determined and announced in cfpen court that there was no issuable fact to be submitted to the jury, and withdrew the case from the consideration of the jury and discharged the jury, and on said 8th day of February, 1946, the Court announced in open court that the Court was of the opinion that under the undisputed evidence, plaintiff was, as a matter of law, not entitled to recover against the defendants, or any of them, except as .hereinafter expressly provided, and that, under the undisputed evidence, the Court found and here now finds as undisputed facts, as follows :
“(a) That under the undisputed evidence, the letter from Ruthe Blount Hunt to Bruce Billingsley, dated October 6, 1938, is a valid, enforceable contract, affecting her separate property rights and her expectancy in property constituting her separate estate and entered into at a time when Ruthe Blount Hunt not only represented herself to be; but actually was, permanently separated from, her husband and had been so separated from him for a long period of time prior to October 6, 1938, on which date a divorce suit was then pending by the said Ruthe Blount Hunt against her said husband; and the deed of conveyance from Ruthe Blount Hunt, individually, and as the Independent Executrix of C. H. Blount, deceased, to Edward S. Boyles and Bruce Billingsley,, dated August 23, 1939, is a valid deed of conveyance to the said Boyles and Bill-ingsley of an undivided one-fourth interest in and to all the property therein described, which was her separate estate, and which deed was made at a time when Ruthe Blount Hunt not only represented herself to be, but actually was, permanently separated from her husband, and at the time a divorce suit by her against her said husband was pending, when actual trial of such suit was imminent and only some 14 days before trial of such suit was had, resulting in a divorce being granted to her against her said husband.
“(b) That under the undisputed evidence, the relationship of attorney and client between Ruthe Blount Hunt, on the one hand, and the defendants, Edward S. Boyles and Bruce Billingsley, on the other hand, was created by the letter from Ruthe Blount Hunt to Bruce Billingsley, dated October 6, 1938, and that such relationship had never existed prior to the date of such instrument.
“(c) That under the undisputed evidence there was no fraud, concealment, or misrepresentation, of any kind by the defendants, Boyles.and Billingsley, in connection either with the letter agreement *845 of October 6, 1938, or the deed of conveyance of August 23, 1939, and that the same were fairly entered into and executed for valuable considerations, and without any vestige of mistake, fraud, or any other improper conduct.
“(d) That, undei- the undisputed evidence, the letter agreement of October 6, 1938, and the deed of conveyance of August 23, 1939, and all of the terms and provisions thereof were fully ratified and confirmed by Ruthe Blount Hunt during her lifetime at times both when she was permanently separated from her husband and while she was a feme sole, and that said instruments and their terms and provisions were in all respects ratified and confirmed by the plaintiff in this suit.
“(e) That, under the undisputed evidence, the services contemplated to be performed by the defendants, Edward S. Boyles and Bruce Billingsley, under the letter agreement of October 6, 1938, and the deed of conveyance of August 23, 1939, were in all respects performed by said defendants, Boyles and Billingsley, up to the date of the termination of their services by Ruthe Blount Hunt, and that such termination by her unlawfully prevented further performance by them of any remaining service or services.
“(f) That, under the undisputed evidence, there was no failure of consideration, total or partial, for the letter agreement of October 6, 1938, or the deed of conveyance of August 23, 1939.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Herschel P. Cashin v. Barbara Parker
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001
In Re Polybutylene Plumbing Litigation
23 S.W.3d 428 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Adkins v. Hoechst Celanese Corp.
23 S.W.3d 428 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Archer v. Griffith
390 S.W.2d 735 (Texas Supreme Court, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 S.W.2d 842, 1946 Tex. App. LEXIS 759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-boyles-texapp-1946.