Pearce v. Heyman

158 S.W. 242, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1249
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 4, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 158 S.W. 242 (Pearce v. Heyman) 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
Pearce v. Heyman, 158 S.W. 242, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1249 (Tex. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

MOURSUND, J.

Georgia O. Pearce and her husband, Lawson W. Pearce, sued Julius Hey-man, Joe Heyman, California Bradford and husband, Buell Bradford, Mrs. H. B. Palmer, Ethel, Essie, and Anson Palmer, minors, Mrs. Florentine Palmer, H. B. Palmer, Burton Palmer, and J. B. Harrison, in trespass to try title to recover 1,215.7 acres of land, damages, and rents. In addition-to the usual allegations, it was alleged that said Georgia O. Pearce was, before her- marriage, Georgia O. Heyman, and was the only child and heir of George Heyman, deceased, who died intestate in 1884; that said lands were the separate property of said George Heyman, acquired before his marriage to California Henderson, who is the mother of Georgia O. Pearce, and who was at -the time of the trial the wife of Buell Bradford. Defendants answered by pleas of not guilty, pleas of limitation of three and five years, and pleaded that plaintiffs were estopped from claiming the land, and for cause alleged: “First. Because in a suit in trespass'to try title to the lands owned or claimed by George Heyman, deceased, father of defendant, Georgia O. Pearce, filed in this honorable court, on the 14th day of March A. D. 1893, by Mrs. Callie Bradford, mother of defendant, Georgia O. Pearce, while said Georgia O. Pearce was yet a minor, against-Edward Heyman, an agreed judgment was rendered in said cause on the 16th day of April A. D. 1894, vesting title to said lands in Callie Bradford and Georgia O. Heyman, her, minor daughter, now Georgia O. Pearce, in equal undivided shares. Second. On the 26th day of August A. D. 1901, Georgia O.-Pearce, joined by her husband, Lawson W. Pearce, plaintiffs, conveyed by deed to defendants Buell Bradford and California Bradford an undivided one-half (½) interest in and to 225.7 acres of land, being, as recited' in said deed, ‘My interest inherited from my father, George Heyman, deceased,’ etc., which said deed was on the 10th day of September A. D. 1901, recorded in the Deed Records of Atascosa county, in volume W No. 1, at pages 547, 548, and 549.” Plaintiffs, by supplemental petition, excepted to defendants’ plea' of estoppel, and denied that in said suit the respective shares or interests of said Callie Bradford and Georgia O. Heyman, a minor, were litigated, alleging that said Callie Bradford in said suit' attempted to act for herself and also as guardian of said minor, and' in violation of her plain duty as guardian fraudulently attempted, by said decree, to deprive her ward of one-half of her estate, and. said purported decree is not binding as against said minor, because she in fact owned' said entire estate at said time; that before the signing of said deed said Buell Bradford' and California Bradford represented to plaintiffs that said Georgia O. Pearce only owned a ha.lf interest in the land therein mentioned which representation was false, as said Brad *243 ford and wife knew, and was made with intent to deceive and defraud plaintiffs, and induced plaintiffs to sign said deed in ignorance of their rights, and under a mistake of the facts; that plaintiffs own the lands described in their petition as tenants in common with the other defendants, except as in such petition mentioned, the particular tracts and interests claimed to be owned by plaintiff being there particularly described. Defendants, by supplemental answer, excepted' to' plaintiffs’ allegations contained in the supplemental petition, on the ground that same constituted an attempt to change or alter the force and effect of the judgment, the same being the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, and all parties being before the court. Defendants also denied that they were tenants in common with plaintiffs of any lands described in plaintiffs’ petition, and pleaded an agreed verbal partition, and denied that fraud was practiced by Bradford and wife. The court instructed a verdict, for defendants, and, judgment being entered, plaintiffs appealed.

The first and second assignments are based upon the refusal of the court to permit oral evidence to explain what land was litigated and what the issues were in suit No. 479, Oallie Bradford et al. v. Edward Heyman, the judgment in such case having been introduced in evidence by defendants, it being contended by plaintiffs that said judgment was vague, uncertain, and of doubtful meaning, and it being shown that the papers in said case had been lost. The purpose of such testimony was to show that Oal-lie Bradford and Georgia O. Heyman, now Georgia O. Pearce, were not adverse parties in said suit, and their respective rights and interests in said lands were not litigated in said suit. The judgment referred to reads as follows: “No. 479. Callie Bradford et al. v. Edward Heyman. April 16, 1894. In District Court, Atascosa County. This cause coming on for trial, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that the parties plaintiffs and defendant having entered into a written agreement as follows: That Callie Bradford take one-half of the land sued for in her right, namely, 106% acres, and that she take, as guardian of her minor child, Georgia O. Heyman, one half of the land, namely, 106% acres, and that the 106% acres of land sued for be vested in Callie Bradford absolutely as her own, and the other half, 106% acres of land, that she holds as guardian of her minor child, and that plaintiffs pay all costs in this behalf expended (that is, that Callie Bradford pay one half of the costs, and that she pay the other half out of the estate of her minor child, Georgia O. Heyman)—it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that all the right, title, and interest in the land described in plaintiffs’ petition held by Edward Heyman, defendant in this suit, be divested out of the defendant Edward Hey-man, and invested in Callie Bradford, namely, 106% acres of land be absolutely vested in Oallie Bradford in her own right, and 106% acres of land described in plaintiffs’ petition be vested in Callie Bradford, as guardian of her minor child, Georgia O. Heyman. It is further ordered that the officers of this court have judgment against Callie Bradford for one half their costs and as guardian, her minor child, the other half, and for which execution may issue, and that this cause be dismissed.”

Few decrees can be found as remarkable as the one now being considered. Apparently Oallie Bradford litigated the title with Edward Heyman for herself and as guardian of her minor daughter, and having obtained an agreement for a recovery, proceeded to litigate for herself individually, with herself as guardian of her minor daughter, regarding the interests to be awarded to each in the recovery. There is nothing in the judgment indicating any character of pleadings making an issue between the mother and her daughter, no appointment of a guardian ad litem for the daughter, but simply an agreed judgment, in which the mother represented both herself and her. daughter. Then to render matters more incomprehensible, for some reason it wa.s deemed proper to wind up the decree with a statement that the case was dismissed. The recitals of the judgment demonstrate the impossibility of there having been any jurisdiction of the person of the minor for the purpose' of decreeing a recovery against such minor in favor of the guardian, and therefore the judgment was void. Dunn v. Taylor, 42 Tex. Civ. App. 247, 94 S. W. 347; Sandoval v. Rosser, 86 Tex. 682, 26 S. W. 933.

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Bluebook (online)
158 S.W. 242, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pearce-v-heyman-texapp-1913.