Ragsdale v. Langford

358 S.W.2d 936, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2584
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 1962
Docket10977
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 358 S.W.2d 936 (Ragsdale v. Langford) 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
Ragsdale v. Langford, 358 S.W.2d 936, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2584 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

RICHARDS, Justice.

H. B. Langford et ux., appellees, brought an action for damages against James Rags-dale et ux., appellants, for breach of' a covenant against encumbrances in a general warranty deed conveying the title to certain business premises in the City of Killeen, Texas, to appellees. At the time of the execution of the deed by appellants there was an outstanding unrecorded lease upon a building which formed a part of the conveyed premises for an unexpired term of approximately 5½ years which had been executed by James Ragsdale as lessor to one Tom Ragsdale as lessee. Shortly after Langford had taken possession of the premises under the deed, he was advised by appellant James Ragsdale of the outstanding lease to Tom Ragsdale, whereupon ap-pellees filed this suit.

The case was tried before a jury, which found in answer to a special issue that the reasonable rental value of the building under lease to Tom Ragsdale was $100.00 per month for the five year period from March, 1959. The Trial Court rendered judgment in favor of appellees for the sum of $5,-700.00 with 6% interest from date of judgment, the amount of the judgment being’ based upon the jury’s finding of $100.00 rental value per month for a period o.f five years less the amount of $300.00, the amount *938 payable under the lease at $5.00 per month for the same period. After motion for new trial filed by appellants had been overruled, this appeal was perfected.

Appellants’ appeal is based on four points of error, which, in summary, are (1) that the monthly rental value of the leased premises was not the proper measure of damages; (2) that the verdict is not supported by the evidence since there was no evidence that the premises or the improvements were or were not of uniform class, grade or value and no evidence as to the value of the improvements compared with the value of the land or of the value of the improvements under lease compared with the value of the unleased improvements and '(3) that appellee Langford was not qualified as a witness to testify as to the rental value of the premises which had been previously leased to Tom Ragsdale.

The statutory covenant against encumbrances provided by Art. 1297, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., is intended to protect a grantee against rights or interests of and in third persons which, although consistent with the fee being in the grantor at the time the conveyance is executed, diminish the value of the estate conveyed. Such a covenant is one of indemnity providing compensation for damages arising from the outstanding right or interest of a third person which is breached upon the execution and delivery of the deed. City of Beaumont v. Moore, 146 Tex. 46, 202 S.W.2d 448, 453.

The measure of damages in a suit for breach of warranty is governed by the rule applicable to partial failure of title, that the damages will bear the same proportion to the whole purchase money as the value of the part to which the title fails bears to the whole premises estimated at the price paid. City of Beaumont v. Moore, supra; Hynes v. Packard, 92 Tex. 44, 45 S.W. 562; 15 Tex.Jur.2d, “Covenants”, Sec. 80.

Where property is purchased for rental purposes and there is an outstanding lease which constitutes a breach of the covenant against encumbrances, the measure of damages is the value of the use of the premises which is ordinarily the rental value during the remainder of the unexpired term of the lease. 21 C.J.S. Covenants § 145 c.

The Trial Court submitted the following Special Issue to the jury:

“What do you find from a preponderance of the evidence to be the reasonable rental value of the paint shop in question, per month, for the five year period from March of 1959?”

to which the jury answered “$100.00”. No written objection to the submission of the issue having been made, such objection was waived. Rule 72, Texas Rules Civ.Proce-dure. Nor did appellants request the submission of any other special issue upon the question of damages. Since appellants failed to object to the submitted issue on damages and failed to request further issues, they cannot now complain of the issue as submitted by the Trial Court or the failure of the Trial Court to submit additional issues. Rule 279, T.R.C.P.; Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Pepper, 134 Tex. 360, 135 S.W.2d 79, 85.

Appellants complain that the verdict of the jury is not supported by the evidence since there was no evidence that the premises or improvements were or were not of uniform class, grade or value and there was no evidence of the value of the improvements compared with the value of the land or of the value of the improvements under lease compared with the value of the unleased improvements is untenable. Under the uncontradicted evidence the premises in question consisted of a tract of land upon which buildings had been erected which were occupied by different commer *939 cial businesses, namely, a cafe, a radio shop, a furniture store, a welding shop, a wheel aligning shop and a paint shop, the rentals of which were computed upon various bases. Therefore, there was no necessity of proof that the premises in question were of a uniform class and grade unless the premises had been sold upon an acreage basis at a certain price per acre and title having failed to a certain number of acres it would be necessary in a recovery of damages of the breach of title to show that all of the acres were of equal value.

Where, however, as in the instant case, there is a disproportionate value as to different parts of the premises conveyed, the true measure of damages, if there was a failure of title to any portion of the land, would be the actual value of the particular lot or parcel to which there was a failure of title, which value would be ascertained by its relative value compared with the balance of the land assuming the price agreed upon by the parties as the value of the whole. Raines v. Calloway, 27 Tex. 678, 685; Mayer & Schmidt v. Wooten, 46 Tex.Civ.App. 327, 102 S.W. 423, 427, no writ history.

The transcript of the record fails to show that appellants’ counsel made any objection in writing to the special issue submitted by the Court. However, appellants’ fifth ground of their Motion for New Trial was that the Court erred in submitting the requested special issue “over the objection of Defendants” because the monthly rental value of the ground leased to Tom Rags-dale was not the proper measure of damages, if any. If we are to assume that appellants had made the proper written objection to the special issue as required by Rule 72, T.R.C.P., and that such objection was inadvertently omitted from the tran-' script, this would not avail appellants.

In Whitson Company, Inc. v. Bluff Creek Oil Co., 156 Tex. 139, 293 S.W.2d 488, 493, the Court held as follows:

“No instructions were requested regarding the factors which the jury might consider in measuring market value. The only objection made by it to the special issue submitting market value * * * was this: ‘Because said! issue does not inquire as to the proper measure of damages.’ That general objection cannot be considered.

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Bluebook (online)
358 S.W.2d 936, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ragsdale-v-langford-texapp-1962.