Ragan v. Mosher

225 S.W.2d 438, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1830
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 17, 1949
DocketNo. 12137
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 225 S.W.2d 438 (Ragan v. Mosher) 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
Ragan v. Mosher, 225 S.W.2d 438, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1830 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

MONTEITH, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the district court of Harris County denying an application for an injunction brought by appellants, Cooper K. Ragan and wife and Wood Johnson seeking to restrain appel-lees, W. E. Mosher and wife, from erecting a garage apartment on property in Or-mond Place Addition to the City of Plouston adjoining the Ragan property.

Appellants alleged that Cooper K. Ragan and his wife owned and occupied Lot 5,. [439]*439Block 9 of Ormond Place Addition; that appellant Wood Johnson owned and occupied Lot 6 in Block 9 of said Addition. That appellee, William E. Mosher and wife owned and occupied Lot 4 in Block 9 of said Ormond Place Addition. They alleged that they had purchased said property subject to the restrictions that not more than one residence should be erected on the lot purchased, that no building except for residence purposes, garage or servants room necessary to be used in connection with the residence -should be erected on said Lot, and that said restrictions were in full force, but that appellees, in direct violation of the restrictions in the deed under which they held title, had erected a two story garage apartment at the rear of their home on said Lot 4 in Block 9 of said Ormond Place Addition.

Appellees in their answer, alleged that appellant Cooper K. Ragan was estopped from asserting the validity of the building restrictions relied upon by them because' he had breached the provision of the restrictions in question by using the improvements on their property for a duplex, apartment rather than a ■ single residence dwelling and that appellant Wood Johnson was estopped from asserting the validity of the restrictions relied upon by him because he had not objected to the violation •of said building restrictions by other owners in the Ormond Addition on Banks Street who had constructed duplex and garage apartments in the block on which their property was located; that the neighborhood in which they lived had changed from the purposes for .which the building restrictions were first enacted and that the addition was no longer used by the owners of the property therein for single residence buildings alone.

In a trial of the case upon its merits, a jury, in answer to special issues submitted found in effect, among- other facts, that the restrictions contained in the deed under which appellees held said Lot 4 in Block 9, prohibited the erection.of living quarters over a garage to be occupied by a tenant but that, priorato the institution, of. .this action, there^had, been a general acquies-cence_úja_the — eiection and use of living qaartejs over garages .for. .tenant„puxp.QSes qn, lots located in Ormond Place. Addition, [and that appellees relied upon such acquiescence when they proceeded to build living quarters over their garage for tenant purposes.! The jury found that appellants had generally waived the enforcement of restrictions against the building and use of living quarters over garages on lots located in Ormond Place Addition, but in answer to special issue No. 5, they found that the defendants did not rely upon such waiver when they proceeded to build the living quarters over the garage for tenant purposes. They found that before appellees erected the improvements'in question there had been an abandonment generally in Or-mond Place Addition in restrictions against the erection and use of living quarters over the garage for tenant purposes, and that the appellees relied upon such abandonment when they proceeded to build the living quarters above the garage for tenant purposes. They found that appellants did not suffer any substantial damage by the erection and use of the living quarters over the garage for tenant purposes upon their premises.

Judgment was entered denying all relief sought by appellants.

Appellants rely on seven points of alleged error. They assign error in the refusal of the court to instruct the jury to return an instructed judgment for them for the alleged reason that the evidence was undisputed that appellees had violated the restrictions in Ormond Place Addition which were in full force and effect. Under ' their points of appeal Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6, appellants contend that the trial court erred in submitting special issues Nos. 2, 4, 6 and 7, which inquire as to whether there had been a waiver or abandonment of the restrictions against the building and use of living quarters over garages on lots in Or-mond Place Addition, for the alleged reason that said issues were not supported by pleading and were contrary to any evidence in the case. They also contend that ther.e is a material conflict of the findings of the jury in response to special issues No. 3 and 5.

[440]*440The controlling question presented 'in the appeal is whether the verdict of the jury is supported by the evidence.

It was stipulated by the parties that Or-mond Place Addition was placed on the market under a general plan to restrict the addition to the building of private residences, and that all deeds made to purchasers of lots therein including the deed to Lots 4, 5, and 6 in Block 9, contained the fallowing restrictions and covenants:

“Not more than one residence shall be erected on said lot and it shall front in a southerly direction on Banks Avenue.

“No buildings, except for residence purposes, garage, servant room, etc., necessary to be used in connection with the residence shall be erected on said lot, and the vendee herein specifically agrees never to erect any building, including the porches on said residence, nearer to any of the property lines than-five (5) feet nor nearer to the street on which the residence shall face than twenty-five (25) feet.

“It is expressly stipulated and agreed that these restrictions and reservations shall run with the land and be binding upon the grantee his heirs, executors and’ administrators, and upon any future owners during the life of this Grantor and shall remain in full force and effect for twenty-one years after the date of the death of this Grantor; furthermore, these restrictions and reservations are made for the benefit of any and all persons who now may own, or who may hereafter own property in Ormond Place, and such persons are specifically given the right to enforce these restrictions and reservations.”

It was stipulated by the parties that the promoters of Ormond Place by general plan or scheme subjected all tenants of the lots therein to the same restrictions as found in the deed to Lot 5 in Block 9. That said restrictions were for the benefit of all owners in the entire addition; that at'the time of the erection and construction of the garage apartment by appellees they intended and now intend, unless prohibited by an injunction, to use the living quarters over the garage for tenant purposes and to receive rents from the occupants thereof.

Appellants, Cooper K. Ragan and wife have owned and occupied Lot 5 in Block 9 as their homestead since 1943 and appellant Wood Johnson has owne’d and occupied Lot 6 of said Block continuously since 1928. It is undisputed that appellees acquired said Lot 4 of said Block 9 with full knowledge of the restrictions relied on by appellants. That Lot 6 owned by appellant Johnson is the easternmost lot in the block. It adjoins Lot 5 owned by the Ragans. It is undisputed that appellees did not consult appellants prior to the time they proceeded to construct the garage apartment.

The record presents much evidence by both parties relating to whether or not the restrictions in question had been waived.

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

Related

Martin v. Moore
562 S.W.2d 274 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1978)
First State Bank of Corpus Christi v. James
471 S.W.2d 868 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Stout v. Rhodes
373 S.W.2d 94 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1963)
Barham v. Reames
366 S.W.2d 257 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1963)
Wald v. West MacGregor Protective Association
332 S.W.2d 338 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Eakens v. Garrison
278 S.W.2d 510 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Etter v. Von Sternberg
244 S.W.2d 321 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 S.W.2d 438, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ragan-v-mosher-texapp-1949.