SOUTHERN TITLE GUARANTY COMPANY v. Prendergast

478 S.W.2d 806, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2625
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 23, 1972
Docket577
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 478 S.W.2d 806 (SOUTHERN TITLE GUARANTY COMPANY v. Prendergast) 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
SOUTHERN TITLE GUARANTY COMPANY v. Prendergast, 478 S.W.2d 806, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2625 (Tex. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinions

TUNKS, Chief Justice.

On February 17, 1964, the appellant, Southern Title Guaranty Company, Inc. issued to appellees, Vincent Prendergast and wife, Leola Prendergast, a policy of title insurance covering a 22 acre tract of land the Prendergasts had just bought. In July of 1965 when the Prendergasts undertook to sell the property to another person another title guaranty company refused to issue a title policy because of an outstanding undivided 10% interest in one Theresa Krug Matlage. The Prendergasts thereupon filed suit against appellants on the title policy. The first trial of this case resulted in the withdrawal of the case from the jury, on appellant’s motion, and rendition of judgment for appellant. In Prendergast v. Southern Title Guaranty Company, 454 S.W.2d 803 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston (14th Dist.) 1970, writ ref’d n.r.e.), [808]*808this Court reversed that judgment and remanded the case for another trial. The second trial, before a jury, resulted in a judgment for appellees. This appeal is from that latter judgment.

The Prendergasts paid $10,233 for the property in question in 1964. That was the amount of the title policy issued by Southern Title Guaranty Co. In July of 1965 the Prendergasts entered into a contract to sell the property to one Milner for $25,000. In that contract Milner required a title policy to be issued by another title guaranty company. That title company discovered the outstanding 10% undivided interest in Mrs. Matlage and declined to issue the requested policy for that reason. Because of the inability of the Prendergasts to furnish the required title policy the sale to Milner was not consummated. This suit was filed by the Prendergasts against Southern Title Guaranty Co. to recover, under the terms of their title guaranty policy, for their loss occasioned by the partial failure of their title.

The trial court submitted four special issues to the jury. In response to those issues the jury found: 1. The 22 acres, in July of 1965, before the discovery of the outstanding interest of Mrs. Matlage, had a market value of $25,000. 2. Such property, in July of 1965, after the discovery of such outstanding interest, had a market value of $10,200. 3. The outstanding interest of Mrs. Matlage was a proximate cause of the termination of the Milner contract. 4. The Prendergasts were damaged $14,800 by the termination of the Mil-ner contract.

On that verdict the court rendered judgment for the Prendergasts for $10,233, the maximum liability provided by the title policy issued by Southern Title Guaranty Company.

Many of the appellant’s points of error and much of the argument in its brief are complaints referable to matters decided by this Court in the former appeal of this case. We decline to discuss further those matters. Such points are overruled.

The principal question involved in this appeal concerns the proper measure of damages by which to measure the Prender-gasts’ recovery under the title policy. The policy limits the liability of the insurer to the “actual monetary loss of assured” not to exceed $10,233. It provides that if there is established an outstanding interest in “less than the whole of the property, then the liability of the company shall be only such part of the whole liability limited above as shall bear the ratio to the whole liability that the adverse interest, claim or right established may bear to the whole property, such ratio to be based on respective values determinable as of the date of this policy.” Similar language was discussed and construed in Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation v. McKee, 354 S.W.2d 401, 405 (Tex.Civ.App.-Fort Worth 1962, no writ). If that quoted language of the policy were applicable here the amount of the Prendergasts’ recovery would be that sum which bore to $10,233 the same ratio as the value of the outstanding 10% interest bore to the value of the whole property. In the McKee case the opinion left some doubt as to whether the values to be determined in establishing such ratios should be values at the date of the policy or at the date that the outstanding interest was established. The language of the policy here, however, eliminates that doubt because it specifically recites that such values are “determinable as of the date of this policy.”

The above quoted language of the policy establishing the formula for computing the insurer’s liability where there is a loss of title to less than the whole of the property is applicable to the situation where an outstanding title to a physically identifiable segment of the property in question is established. It is not applicable where an outstanding partial right to the whole property is established. Thus, where an outstanding pipeline easement, not limited to specific boundaries within the insured property, was established, the policy provision [809]*809for proportionate payment was not applicable. Shaver v. National Title & Abstract Co., 361 S.W.2d 867 (Tex.Sup.1962). In this case, where the outstanding interest was a 10% ownership of the whole property and was not limited to any physically identifiable segment of the property, the proportionate payment provision is not applicable.

In .this title policy the title company agreed first to insure the Prender-gasts against “actual loss”, not to exceed $10,233, sustained by them because of the defect in the title they acquired and also agreed to defend any suit or proceeding against them callenging their title. The Prendergasts have elected to proceed against the title company to recover their loss although no suit or proceeding has been filed against them challenging their title. Thus the plaintiffs are limited in this suit to recover their actual loss shown by them to have resulted from the defect in their title. Their actual loss was the difference between what they paid for the land and what it was worth at the date of their purchase with its defective title. George v. Hesse, 100 Tex. 44, 93 S.W. 107 (1906). See Frey v. Martin, 469 S.W.2d 316 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1971, writ ref’d n. r. e.). The special issues submitted by the trial court did not elicit answers that would establish the proper measure of damages recoverable by the plaintiffs. The jury’s answers 1 and 2 listed above were answers that related to the “benefit of the bargain” measure of damages. Such measure is applicable to a suit based on fraud in a transaction involving real estate. V.T. C.A., Tex.Bus. & Comm.Code Ann. Sec. 27.01 (1968). It is not applicable to a suit for damages involving title insurance. American Title Insurance Company v. Byrd, 384 S.W.2d 683 (Tex.Sup.1964).

The theory upon which the trial court submitted the special issues, to which the jury gave the answers listed as 3 and 4 above, is not entirely clear. Apparently the plaintiffs contended that they were entitled to damages represented by their loss of profits in the sale to Milner. There may be a situation wherein one suing for damages for breach of a contract to sell realty may be entitled to recover for loss of profits in a contemplated resale of the property.

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SOUTHERN TITLE GUARANTY COMPANY v. Prendergast
478 S.W.2d 806 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1972)

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Bluebook (online)
478 S.W.2d 806, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-title-guaranty-company-v-prendergast-texapp-1972.