Penney v. Woody

147 S.W. 872, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 523
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 16, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 147 S.W. 872 (Penney v. Woody) 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
Penney v. Woody, 147 S.W. 872, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 523 (Tex. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinions

GRAHAM, C. J.

This case originated in the justice court of precinct No. 1, Lubbock county, by J. C. Woody and J. W. Carter suing R. W. Heim and wife as immediate warrantors to certain lots in the town of Lubbock; Heim and wife vouched in as parties defendant R. E. Penney as their immediate warrantor and prayed a recovery. A trial in the justice court resulted in judgment in favor of plaintiffs against Heim and wife, and also in favor of Heim and wife against R. E. Penney, on their respective warranties; Heim and wife, as well as Penney, appealed to the county court of Lubbock county, where judgment was rendered in favor of J. O. Woody and J. W. Carter against R. W. BCeim and wife on their warranty 'for the sum of $173, with interest and costs, and in favor of R. AV. Heim and wife against R. E. Penney on his warranty for $140, with interests and costs, from which judgment Heim and wife and Penney have appealed to this court.

The record shows that prior to July 11, 1891, F. E. Wheelock owned lots 11, 12, and 13 in block 82 in the town of Lubbock, in Lubbock county, Tex., and that on that day, by general warranty deed, Wheelock conveyed said lots to U. G. Moore for a valuable consideration paid, and the deed was properly filed for record on July 13, 1891, and was duly recorded in the deed records for Lubbock county. That on March 5, 1907, F. E. Wheelock, by general warranty deed, conveyed the same property to W. B. Powell for a cash consideration paid, and the deed was properly filed for record on the same day and was duly recorded in the deed records for Lubbock county. That on February la, 1908, W. B. Powell, by general warranty deed, conveyed the same property to R. E. Penney for a cash consideration paid, and the deed was duly filed and recorded in the deed records for Lubbock county. That on February 12, 1908, R. E. Penney, by general warranty deed, conveyed the same property to Mrs. Caudie Heim (wife of R. W. Heim) for a cash consideration paid, and the deed was duly filed and recorded in the deed records for Lubbock county. That on December 10, 1908, R. W. Heim and wife, by gen *873 eral warranty deed, conveyed the same property to J. 0. Woody and J. W. Garter, for a cash consideration paid, and the deed was duly filed and recorded in the deed records for Lubbock county. That, before J. C. Woody and J. W. Carter purchased the property from Heim and wife, an abstract of title was furnished, but that through the fault of the abstracter the abstract failed to show the conveyance from P. E. Wheelock to U. G. Moore, and neither Garter nor Woody had any actual notice of said conveyance until as indicated below. That some time after J. C. Woody and J. W. Carter had paid for said lands and placed their deed of record, they contracted to sell the same to a third person, and, as a means of closing said sale, caused the abstract of title to the lands to be brought down to that date, when for the first time the deed from E. E. Wheelock to U. G. Moore appeared in the abstract, and, because of said deed showing a superior outstanding title to the property in said Moore, the proposed purchasers declined to take the property, and the contract of sale was not consummated; on learning of the outstanding title, Woody and Carter sought to get Heim to refund the purchase price of the lots, and, failing in this, they procured P. E. Wheelock to pay to them the amount he was due on his warranty to Powell, and then sued Heim and wife for the difference between the amount received from Wheelock and the amount they had paid for the property, and their judgment against Heim represents this difference, and the judgment in favor of Heim and wife against R. E. Penney represents the amount paid by them to Penney for the property, after deducting the sum Wheel-ock had paid Woody and Carter. In making the settlement with Wheelock, neither Wheel-ock nor Woody nor Carter consulted in any way with Powell, Penney, Heim and wife, nor did either Powell, Penney, or Heim or his wife in any way consent to said settlement, and in said settlement Woody and Carter agreed to release said Wheelock on his warranty.

The record shows that no part of the property has ever been in the actual manual possession of any person, and was not at the time of the trial of this case below, but it shows that U. G. Moore paid taxes on- the property for the year 1910 and had rendered same for taxes for the year 1911, and in his deposition taken by plaintiffs below he claims title and asserts the right of possession to the property.

[1] On the trial below, appellant Penney pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court, on the ground that the suit involved title to land and insisted that for this reason the district court of Lubbock county alone had jurisdiction of the subject-matter involved in the litigation, and, as this contention was overruled by the trial court, this proposition is brought before us. on a proper assignment of error, and in support of this contention we are cited to article 5, § 8, of the Constitution, to subdivision 4 of article 1098, Sayles’ Annotated Civil Statutes, as well as to a number of decisions, among them the case of Dauenhauer v. Devine, 51 Tex. 480, 32 Am. Rep. 627, all of which' we have carefully read, and we are unable to concur in the contention made by appellant and think the trial court had jurisdiction of the cause of action sued on, and in support of our conclusion we cite Williams v. Truitt et al., 1 White & W. Civ. Cas. Ct. App. § 519; Patrick v. Laprelle, 40 S. W. 552; McGregor v. Tabor, 26 S. W. 443; and Crawford v. Sandridge, 75 Tex. 383, 12 S. W. 853.

In the trial court Penney pleaded and urged accord and satisfaction growing out of the settlement made by Woody and Carter with Wheelock; and appellants Heim and wife insist that the judgment below is not supported by the evidence and is contrary thereto for the reason that appellee, having settled with Wheelock without the acquiescence or consent of other warrantors, has no. right of recovery against any of them.

[2] We have had no little difficulty in reaching a conclusion satisfactory to ourselves on this issue under the law, and as we construe the various decisions cited in briefs, of appellants, as well as those of appellees,, the question presented has not been decided in any of the cases cited, nor have we found a case, as we construe it, in which the question presented has been authoritatively decided by the courts of this state.

After mature deliberation, however, we have reached the conclusion that the case of Hollingsworth v. Mexia, 14 Tex. Civ. App. 363, 37 S. W. 455, announces correct principles and declares the true relations existing between the warrantors and warrantees in conveyances of land, and, if so, it appears to us; that when appellees elected to look to Wheel-ock under their warranty from I-Ieim and wife, and to make a settlement with him, without either Powell, Penney, or Heim and wife being parties or consenting thereto, as a matter of law, all other warrantors were released from all further liability for the reason that but one recovery could legally be had by the person evicted.

The ease of Alvord v. Waggoner, 88 Tex. 615, 32 S. W. 872, as well as that of Hollingsworth v. Mexia, 14 Tex. Civ. App. 363, 37 S. W.

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Bluebook (online)
147 S.W. 872, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/penney-v-woody-texapp-1912.