Sherman v. Sipper

129 S.W.2d 458, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 705
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 1939
DocketNo. 13895.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 129 S.W.2d 458 (Sherman v. Sipper) 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
Sherman v. Sipper, 129 S.W.2d 458, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 705 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

This is a suit in equity to rescind a contract exchanging lands by warranty deeds between the parties, and to cancel the deeds executed in consummation of the contract.

• J. W. Sipper and wife, Dollie Sipper, sued T. A. Sherman and wife, Birdie Sherman, B. T. Williams and Jewel W. Byrd, in the District Court of Cherokee County, to rescind a contract of exchange of lands, for fraud and misrepresentation of facts by the defendants, Sherman and wife. Williams and Byrd were named as defendants under allegations that they were claiming some kind of an interest in the lands which plaintiffs sought to repossess under oil and gas leases from the Sher-mans.

The petition alleges that plaintiffs were formerly the owners of 218-½ acres of land, a part of the Medford Survey, and that the Shermans represented themselves to be the owners of 49.75 acres of the Bartee League, all in Cherokee County, Texas. Both tracts of land are described by. metes and bounds in the petition and will not be further described here. That plaintiffs owed approximately $1,350 on the 218-½ acres, to the Federal Land Bank of Houston. That the Sippers and Sher-mans desired to exchange lands, the former to take the 49.75 acres in fee simple, free of incumbrances and reservations, the latter to take the 218-½ acres, with good and merchantable title, except as to the indebtedness against it, and to assume *460 , the' payment of the $1,350, or such amount as should then be owing thereon.

Allegations were made by plaintiffs to the effect that the Shermans represented they had a good and merchantable title to the small tract which they proposed to exchange, and that there were no liens, incumbrances or reservations against it that would affect the title thereof; that plaintiff, J. W. Sipper, was a person with no education, unable to read or write, and that he relied upon the representations, by Sherman as to the title, but for which representations he would not have made the trade.

The petition shows that on November 25th,, 1931, the parties made the exchange of-lands and executed warranty deeds to each other. That Sherman furnished to Sipper a partial abstract of the title to the 49.75 acre tract covering from May 25th, 1915, to November 19th, 1931, and that said partial abstract did not disclose conveyances affecting the title prior to the first date mentioned. That Sherman did not have a good and merchantable title to the tract conveyed to plaintiffs, in that, during the year 1887, Leon and H. Blum Land Company, the then owners of the land, . conveyed it to one Battle and reserved in the deed the iron ore and all mineral, rights therein. That the representations of Sherman to the Sippers, that he -had good title to the land were untrue and were material statements of fact, relied upon by plaintiffs, but for which fraud and misrepresentations they would not have entered into the contract and executed their deed of conveyance. That said false and fraudulent statements were made by the Shermans with the intent to defraud .and deceive plaintiffs as to the nature of the title to the land held by the Shermans, and as to its value.

Allegations were also made in the petition that plaintiffs did not know that the Shermans did not own a clear title to the lands proposed to be exchanged with plaintiffs, nor of the reservation of iron ore and minerals in the former conveyance by the Blum Land Company. Plaintiffs learned of the defect in the title to the land taken by them and demanded a rescission of the trade and tendered back the deed taken and asked for a reconveyance of the lands held by Sherman, and otherwise offered to do entire equity. Prayer was as indicated by our statement of the purpose of, the suit.

Defendants, Williams and Byrd, filed disclaimers and the Shermans plead general denial and special answers to the effect that the Sippers went into immediate possession of the 49.75 acres in 1931, and continuously since that time occupied and used the land, have not been evicted therefrom, and therefore should not be awarded the relief sought, either for damages for breach of the warranty in the deed, or for rescission because of defects in the title; that since the date of the exchange of lands and while plaintiffs were holding possession under the conveyance, defendants had incurred expenses of payment of back taxes on the 218-½ acres and had paid to the Federal Land Bank the indebtedness against that land, and that plaintiffs are estopped now to procure a rescission of the trade. There were further special defensive pleas of the statutes of two and four years limitations.

Plaintiffs filed supplemental pleadings in response to the answer of the Shermans, pleading a lack of knowledge of the defects in the title until just prior to the time demand was made upon defendants for rescission, and further that the Shermans had received approximately $2,000 more for leases on the 218-½ acres than was required to pay the taxes and indebtedness against the land and approximately $1,000 more than the amount received by plaintiffs from the lands in their possession. There were further allegations made that but for the fraud and misrepresentations made by the Shermans and relied upon by the plaintiffs, the latter would have received said funds and that they were damaged in the amounts shown, as a result of the wrongs of the Shermans.

Defendants, Williams and Byrd, filed disclaimers and were discharged from liability by the judgment of the trial court.

A jury trial was had and a verdict returned in response to special issues, the answers to which were substantially as follows: 1. Sherman stated to Sipper during the negotiations and before deeds were exchanged that Sherman had a clear title to the 49.75 acres of the Bartee League. 2. Sipper relied upon such representations by Sherman that his title was clear. 3. The minerals in the 49.75 acres of the Bartee League had been reserved by Leon & H. Blum Land Company prior to November 25th, 1931 (the date on which the deeds were exchanged between the parties). 4. The representations of Sher *461 man that he had a clear title to the 49.75 acres were false. 5. Sherman stated to Mrs. Dollie Sipper, during the negotiations and before the deeds were executed, that he had a clear title to the 49.75 acres. 6. Mrs. Dollie . Sipper relied upon the statements of Sherman that the title to the land was clear. 7. The representations made by Sherman to Mrs. Dollie Sipper, that he had clear title to the land, were false. 8. Sherman represented to Sipper that the minerals under the 49.75 acres would he conveyed to Sipper. 9. Sipper relied upon Sherman’s representations that the minerals would be conveyed to him. 10. The representations made by Sherman to Sipper, that the minerals under the land would be conveyed to him, were false. 11. Sipper first learned that the minerals under the land conveyed to him had been reserved, in 1935, after Sipper was summoned to court at Tyler.

The Sippers moved for judgment and the Shermans filed motion for judgment non obstante veredicto. The court heard both and entered judgment for plaintiffs on the verdict' of the jury. By the judgment entered, both deeds, that of the Sippers to the 218-½ acres of the Medford Survey, and that of the Shermans to the 49.75 acres of the Bartee Survey, were canceled, and each party was awarded title and writ of possession to the respective tracts theretofore conveyed by him. The judgment describes the tracts as in the pleadings.

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Related

Sherman v. Sipper
152 S.W.2d 319 (Texas Supreme Court, 1941)

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Bluebook (online)
129 S.W.2d 458, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sherman-v-sipper-texapp-1939.