Sheats v. King

152 S.W.2d 456, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 547
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 29, 1941
DocketNo. 2343
StatusPublished

This text of 152 S.W.2d 456 (Sheats v. King) 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
Sheats v. King, 152 S.W.2d 456, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 547 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

RICE, Chief Justice.

This suit was brought in the district court of Kaufman county by George King, in his capacity as guardian of the estate of Guy Jacobs, non compos mentis, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, against Sam Sheats, hereinafter referred to as defendant, seeking recovery on a vendor’s lien and deed of trust note, together with foreclosure of said liens on a tract of land hereinafter referred to. Mary Ellen Sheats, a widow, hereinafter styled intervener, filed her plea of intervention, claiming the land in controversy as a homestead.

Trial was had to a jury, and at the conclusion of the evidence, and acting under instructions from the court, the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for the amount sued for and for foreclosure; and in favor of plaintiff and against intervener to the effect that she was estopped to claim the land in controversy as her homestead, and foreclosing the above-mentioned liens as against her and removing the cloud cast on the title to said land by intervener’s claims.

Judgment was rendered by the court on the instructed verdict returned by the jury as, against both defendant and intervener, from which judgment intervener alone appeals.

Plaintiff pleaded that, the note sued on was executed by the defendant and delivered to Robert C. Jacobs, guardian of the estate of Guy Jacobs, non compos mentis, in the sum of $750; and that of even,date therewith, the defendant, for the purpose of better securing the payment of said note, executed and delivered to Tom Jacobs, as trustee, a deed of trust on and covering a tract of 112.76 acres of land situate in Kaufman county; that both said note and deed of trust recited that said guardian had advanced the sum of money represented by said note to the defendant’s grantors as part of the purchase price of the real estate described in the deed of trust and conveyed to the defendant by deed of conveyance of even date therewith, executed by Georgia May Griffith and others; and that such guardian was subrogated to the rights and liens of the grantors in said deed; that on the resignation of Robert C. Jacobs as said guardian, the plaintiff George King was appointed guardian of the estate of said Guy.Jacobs by proper orders of the probate court of Kaufman county, and duly qualified according to law; that default having been made in the payment of the interest due on said note, the same was declared due and payable.

The defendant Sam Sheats answered by general demurrer and general denial.

The intervener pleaded that she was the surviving widow of W. A. Sheats, who departed this life intestate in the year 1930 in Kaufman county, no administration having been had upon his estate, there being no necessity therefor; that about forty-five years prior to the institution of this suit, she and her said husband, during their cover-ture, acquired title to the tract of land in controversy, and lived on, used and claimed the same as their homestead until the death of her husband; and ’that after his death she had continued to reside on, use and claim said land as her homestead to the date of the trial of this case. Intervener further pleaded that on the 25th day of August, 1927, she and 'her husband, being desirous of borrowing some money, executed an instrument in form of a deed of conveyance, conveying to their son, Ben Sheats, the land in controversy; that on or about September 21, 1929, intervener and her said husband executed what purported to be a conveyance of the land in controversy to their said son, Ben Sheats, to correct an error in description in the deed above mentioned, and that the consideration of $100 recited in said conveyance was not in fact paid and that no consideration was paid by grantee therefor; that thereafter, on October 11, 1929, the said Ben Sheats executed a deed of conveyance to E. S. Parks, a son-in-law of intervener, conveying the land in controversy, and reciting as part of the consideration therefor the execution of four notes for $137.50 each, payable to Georgia May Griffith and others; that no consideration was in fact paid by Parks to Ben Sheats for said land, and that the sole purpose of said deed was to obtain a pretended loan of $550, which Ben Sheats claimed to have owed the payees mentioned in said notes; that on or about October 11, 1932, the said E. S. Parks delivered to F. M. Griffith, as trustee, a deed of trust covering the land in controversy, for -the [458]*458purpose of better securing the payment of the above-described notes; that thereafter, on the Sth of May, 1936, the said F. M. Griffith, as trustee, pretended to sell said land and executed a pretended trustee’s deed to the said Georgia May Griffith and others, conveying to them the tract of land in controversy; and that thereafter the said Georgia May Griffith and others executed a pretended deed conveying to defendant Sam Sheats the land in controversy, which conveyance recited a consideration of $750 paid and the execution by said defendant of a note for $750, being the note described in plaintiff’s petition; and that of even date therewith defendant executed a deed of trust covering the land in controversy, to Tom Jacobs, trustee, for the purpose of securing the payment of said note.

Intervener alleged that each and all of the above-mentioned transactions were simulated and were subterfuges for the purpose of securing loans upon intervener’s homestead, and were null and void; that each of the parties to each of the instruments above mentioned had actual notice and knowledge that the land in controversy was at all times occupied, used and claimed as a homestead by intervener and her husband until his death; and that since the latter’s death intervener had continuously been in possession of said land, claiming it as her homestead. She prayed judgment that plaintiff take nothing, and that each and all the above-mentioned instruments be declared void.

Plaintiff answered by supplemental petition, alleging acts and conduct of W. A. Sheats and intervener by way of estoppel; and specially pleaded that intervener, although knowing that her son, Sam Sheats, was borrowing from plaintiff the sum of money evidenced by the note sued on and that he was giving as security therefor the deed of trust sought to be foreclosed in this suit, made no claim to such property as a homestead, and that plaintiff, relying upon the acts and conduct of intervener and the instruments executed by intervener and her husband, and without notice or knowledge of any claim on the part of intervener, advanced to Sam Sheats the sum of money herein sued for, and accepted his note and deed-of trust as security therefor.

Appellant’s sole assignment of error is that the court erred in giving a peremptory instruction to the jury to return a verdict in favor of plaintiff against the intervener, and in support thereof, urges that no title to the land in controversy was shown in Sam Sheats, hence no valid deed of trust could be given to him thereon; and that the evidence introduced on the trial raised issues of fact that should have been submitted to the jury for its determination.

We overrule this assignment. While the deed from Georgia May Griffith and others to Sam Sheats is not set forth in the statement of facts, we are of the opinion that the execution and delivery, and recording of such deed is amply supported by the evidence. It is recited in the statement of facts that the vendor’s lien note introduced in evidence is “the same vendor’s lien note described in deed of said date from Georgia May Griffith et al to Sam Sheats, recorded in Vol.

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Bluebook (online)
152 S.W.2d 456, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sheats-v-king-texapp-1941.