Rollins v. O'Farrel

13 S.W. 1021, 77 Tex. 90, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1066
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 29, 1890
DocketNo. 6408
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 13 S.W. 1021 (Rollins v. O'Farrel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rollins v. O'Farrel, 13 S.W. 1021, 77 Tex. 90, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1066 (Tex. 1890).

Opinion

COLLARD, Judge.

—On June 26,1883, A. C. O’Farrel, a married man and head of a family, having no homestead, purchased of J. T. Spears a piece of land in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas, fronting 100 feet to the east on Dixon Street and running back 315 feet west, Cummings Street being on the south. The residence was on the east end of the lot fronting on Dixon Street, and at the time of the purchase there were on the west end a barn, a bath house, and a cistern house, all enclosed in one fence and all used in connection with the homestead residence, there being a fence dividing the barn, the bath house, and cistern from the residence part of the place. At the time of O’Farr el’s purchase he said he was buying it for a homestead for himself and family, and he immediately moved on the premises with his family, where he remained until August, 1886, when he died, and his widow and children have since occupied it. Shortly after O’Farrel moved on the place he converted the barn into a residence and moved it so as to front on Cummings Street; he also moved the bath house and the cistern house, attaching two rooms to them so they ■could be used as a dwelling. The barn dwelling has five rooms, three down,stairs and two upstairs, and has dormer windows. A new but a smaller barn with a buggy house was built for use on the property not in controversy.' One fence encloses all the property; there is a high board fence ■separating the tenant houses from the residence proper, and a light fence between the two tenant houses. After the houses were so moved and ■changed, O’Farrel rented them, when tenants could be found, up to his ■death.

It was in proof that O’Farrel had the barn and other houses changed into dwellings with the intention to make them more valuable, and in •order to sell them and have them moved off the place if a purchaser ■could be found. Before the change he had been using the ground as a horse and cow lot, and his stock partner suggested to him the change so that the houses could be rented for enough to pay for the keeping of their ■saddle hprses at the livery stable. It was also in proof that he several times, about the time when plaintiff’s abstract of judgment was filed for record and afterwards, offered the tenant houses for sale, but required the, purchaser in all cases to move them from the land, and that he always claimed the whole of the ground as his homestead; and it was also proved that these houses were to be used as such temporarily—that they were upon a stone foundation, not let in the ground, and so placed that they could be easily moved.

On November 6, 1885, plaintiff R. S. Rollins recovered judgment in i;he District Court of Cooke County against A. C. O’Farrel and others [93]*93for $26,289, costs, etc., an abstract of which was made, indexed, and. duly recorded in the record kept for such purposes in the office of the-county clerk of Cooke County on the 17th day of November, 1885. On June 8, 1886, execution issued, and on the 14th of same month was. levied on the 115 feet of land including the -tenant houses in controversy, which was in due course sold and deed made to plaintiff July 6, 1886. Plaintiff on this title sued for the land on September 6, 1886, nearly one month after the death of O’Farrel. The trial by jury resulted in verdict and judgment for defendants, q,nd plaintiff has appealed.

The first error assigned is that the court erred in refusing to strike out the testimony of John Walker as to the size and condition of his homestead, as shown by bill of exceptions No. 1. Walker’s homestead was on the north of the O’Farrel place, was out of the same block, and was the-same size as the one claimed by defendants. He answered questions as. to such relative positions and size of the two places, the place of his residence and some out houses on his premises, there being no objections made. It was this evidence that plaintiff moved to exclude. The court, it seems, had already of its own motion excluded it, and stated to the jury that it had nothing to do with the case, and hence he declined to exclude it again. This is the trial judge’s view of it as shown by an explanation attached by him as a part of the bill of exceptions. We take-it the explanation destroys the exception, and that there is in fact no exception to the testimony, and no cause to complain.

Appellant makes one proposition under his second and third assignments of error without copying or stating the substance of the assignments. The proposition is as follows:

“Appellant’s rights in the land in controversy having attached at the date of the registration of the abstract of the judgment against O’Far-rel under which the land was sold, the court should have plainly told the jury the effect of that registration and the date of it in his charge/’

An examination of the court’s charge plainly shows that the court assumed that there was such lien; in fact he told the jury to find for plaintiff under his title if there was or had been an abandonment as claimed. It was unnecessary to analyze the title and state the particulars that made it a good title. The charge gave plaintiff the land in case it had been abandoned at any time.

The first clause of the charge instructs the jury that plaintiff’s judgment, execution, levy, and sheriff’s deed established plaintiff’s title to the land in suit if the same was never any part of the homestead, and in such case to find for him.

In the second clause he instructs them as follows: “The land in controversy was purchased by A. 0. O’Farrel from J. T. Spears, and at the same time and as a part of the same transaction he purchased the land on which the defendants reside and on which are situated their dwelling [94]*94"house and some out buildings, and it is for you to determine from the -evidence whether O’Farrel and his wife used the land in controversy as a •part of their homestead. If they did, you will find for the defendants, ■unless you believe from the evidence that the said O’Farrel abandoned the same as a part of his homestead. A homestead in a town or city may ■consist of one or more lots; it is not necessary that they be in the same -enclosure, nor need they be used for any special purpose; they may be used for gardens, lots, or for any purpose necessary to the enjoyment of the premises as a home for the family.” And then the charge proceeds in the third paragraph as follows:

“If you find that the land in controversy was ever a part of the homestead of O’Farrel and wife, then you will determine whether the same has been abandoned as such. In ascertaining whether or not it has been abandoned as a homestead you will look to all the evidence in the case—the uses to which the property is put, the character of the improvements upon the same, as well as all of the other testimony-—and if, from all the testimony, it clearly appears that the same was permanently abandoned by said O’Farrel in his lifetime as his homestead, you will find for the plaintiff; but if you find that the abandonment of said premises, if any, was only temporary and without a fixed intention on the part of said O’Farrel to permanently abandon it as a part of his homestead, you will find for the defendants. The owner of a homestead may temporarily rent the same or any part of it, and if he do so in good faith, with no intention of permanently abandoning the same, he will not thereby lose his homestead right; ■but if he erect a building upon a portion of his homestead for the purpose of permanently and continuously renting it, and with a fixed intention to never again use it for homestead purposes, he thereby forfeits his homestead rights in the same.

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Bluebook (online)
13 S.W. 1021, 77 Tex. 90, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1066, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rollins-v-ofarrel-tex-1890.