Smallwood v. Melton

97 S.W.2d 781
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 2, 1936
DocketNo. 13413
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 97 S.W.2d 781 (Smallwood v. Melton) 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
Smallwood v. Melton, 97 S.W.2d 781 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

This suit was instituted by plaintiff, Marie V. Smallwood, in the Forty-Eighth district court of Tarrant county, Tex., against W. G. Melton for debt and against the said W. G. Melton along with other defendants, to wit, Wm. F. Melton, Mabel E. Melton, Mary Melton Hogue, and her husband Luther M. Hogue, and Bettie Joe Melton, as the only heirs at law of Mrs. Bettie Melton, deceased, for a foreclosure of a vendor’s lien securing the debt sued on.

This case is submitted to us upon an agreed statement of the nature of the pleadings and facts proved upon the trial before the court without the aid of a jury.

This agreed statement shows plaintiff sued for a balance of $1,633.73 principal, with interest thereon at 8 per cent, per annum since June 3, 1933. That the original indebtedness was for $5,500 evidenced by one note for that amount due in monthly installments of $50 each with accrued interest; that payments had been made up to June 3, 1933, leaving the amount unpaid in the sum sued for; that the debt was originally secured by a vendor’s lien on lots Nos. 17 and 18 in block No. 19 Fairmount addition to the city of Fort Worth, Tex. That the last installment payment on the note matured July 1, 1929. That the property upon which the vendor’s lien was claimed was admittedly community propertjf of W. G. Melton and his wife, Mrs. Bettie Melton, and that, subsequent to the execution of the lien, M.rs. Bettie Melton had died intestate, and that there was no administration on her estate and no necessity existed for such; that the defendants, other than W. G. Melton, constituted all of the heirs at law of Mrs. Bettie Melton, deceased, and that as such heirs they had inherited jointly the community interest in the real estate formerly owned by their mother.

The defendants pleaded the statute of limitations as against plaintiff’s claim, and the plaintiff replied with a plea that on December 4, 1933, the defendant W. G. Melton and Mabel Melton, a daughter, one of the defendants, acknowledged in writing the justness of the debt and lien and a promise by W. G. Melton to pay the debt. That the acknowledgment and promise were contained in an application and another instrument in connection therewith, for a loan from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, a federal loaning agency which we shall hereafter refer to as HOLC. The documents, in which it is claimed contained language which would defeat the plea of limitation, are as follows:

“Application for Loan.
“$1827.31
“1. The undersigned hereby applies to Flome Owners’ Loan Corporation for a loan in the amount stated above on terms provided in the Home Owners’ Loan Act of 1933 [48 Stat. 128], and represents that all statements made in this application are true, and agrees to furnish said corporation with a first lien on the property herein described, as provided in said act, if this transaction can be consummated.
“2. A plan of the property is indicated at the right, showing its location, and the full legal description of the property is as follows: Lots Seventeen (17) and Eighteen (18), Block Nineteen (19), Fair-mount Addition to the City of Fort Worth (at this point was inserted a simple sketch showing location of lots in the block and adjacent streets).
“3. The address of the property is 1935 Hurley Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas. (4 to 10 inclusive describe the house, paving, utility connections, etc., in some detail.)
“11. The total incumbrances or liens on the property are to parties and for amounts as follows: Sixteen Hundred Eighty-eight and 48.100 ($1688.48) Dollars, Marie V. Smallwood.
[783]*78312. Unpaid taxes and assessments as follows: ½ of 1932, $52.99 and all of 1933, $85.84. (13 gives age of applicant and a character reference.)
“14. I warrant the foregoing information to be true, request the consideration of this application, and agree to pay any cost actually incurred for reasonable appraisal, examination and perfecting of title, survey, recording, or other necessary expenses, such work to be done by my agent, selected by the corporation, and I agree to execute all necessary papers on their usual form as used by the corporation in connection with the transaction. (15 represents that the applicant has made no other .application for- a loan to the corporation.)
“This 4th day of December, 1933. “[Signed] W. G. Melton
“L. M. Hogue (son-in-law)
“Mabel Melton (daughter).”
“Statement of the Amount of Indebtedness.
“Home Owners’ Loan Corporation-1934-Texas. Re: Application #41-10278.
“For your information and guidance, after deducting all payments, off-sets and credits to which the obligor is entitled you are advised that the undersigned holds a balance of $1699.43, including interest up to 12-31-34, said indebtedness being as follows:
“Principal . $1633.73
“Interest. 65.76
“Attorney’s fees due.
“Insurance advanced by Mortgagee ....'.
“Amount of interest accruing each day hereafter.. 10.95 Mo.
“Said indebtedness is secured by a valid First lien, described in Transfer of V. L. Note recorded in Vol. 1036, page 205, of the Deed Records, Tarrant County, Texas.
“The Mortgagee has heretofore agreed to accept $-in bonds.
“The exact address of the Mortgagee is as follows:
“Name Marie V. Smallwood Street 1827 Hemphill Street, City of Fort • Worth, T exas.
“For your further information we state that there is now in force the following insurance:
Fire
Company or Storm Amount Expires
“Record title to said property, insofar as we are advised, stands in the name of -, -, Texas.
“Very truly yours,
“[Signed] Marie V. Smallwood, Mortgagee “By Wm. P. Smallwood, Agent.
“The above balance of indebtedness, and the character of lien securing the same is, within my knowledge, and the knowledge of each of us, correctly stated. This statement is made to induce Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to rely on the truth of the facts stated, and to induce it to make the loan for which we have severally applied.
“Witness to signature of applicants:
“[Sgd.] E. H. Wallis [Sgd.] W. G. Melton.”

It is agreed in the record that upon these pleadings and evidence, along with the agreement in the statement, the court should determine the issues.

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Bluebook (online)
97 S.W.2d 781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smallwood-v-melton-texapp-1936.