Spears v. Bankers Mortg. Co.

191 S.W.2d 807, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 883
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 12, 1945
DocketNo. 11558.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 191 S.W.2d 807 (Spears v. Bankers Mortg. Co.) 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
Spears v. Bankers Mortg. Co., 191 S.W.2d 807, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 883 (Tex. Ct. App. 1945).

Opinion

NORVELL, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding to plaintiff below, Bankers Mortgage Company, the title and possession of two tracts of land containing 83.33 acres and 76.67 acres, respectively, both tracts being out of the Welhausen and Driscoll Sixth Subdivision of the Taft Ranch, San Patricio County, Texas.

Emma Spears and others, defendants below, bring the case here.

The trial court submitted one issue to the jury based upon the ten-year statute of limitations, Article 5510, Vernon’s Ann. Civ. Stats., which was answered unfavorably to appellants.

By their first and second points, appellants contend that the trial court erred in holding, as a matter of law, that appellee had shown a superior title to the tracts of land involved from a common source.

In view of this contention it is necessary to notice the various written instruments relied upon as establishing appellee’s title and set out certain matters relating to the history of this litigation.

On October 1, 1926, J. H. Harvey and W. B. .Ray conveyed to Philip Welhausen and M. C. Driscoll certain tracts of land aggregating a total of 14,680 acres, more or less.

Also, on October 1, 1926, Welhausen and Driscoll conveyed a tract in excess of 3000 acres of the land conveyed to them by Harvey and Ray to C. S. White and L. A. Fry. In this conveyance a vendor’s lien was retained to secure an unpaid balance of the purchase price due to Wel-hausen and Driscoll amounting to the sum of $55,760.

On November 1, 1926, Welhausen and Driscoll (out of the land they had received from Harvey and Ray but had not conveyed to White and Fry) conveyed to Ed Spears and wife, Emma Spears, the 83.33 acre tract involved in this suit. The consideration for this conveyance was a series of eleven vendor’s lien notes, the first being for the principal sum of $1333, and the remaining ten being for the sum of $700 each, aggregating a total of $8,333. One' of these notes became due and payable annually, the first on July 1, 1927, and the last on July 1, 1937. This deed contained the usual provision that: “It is distinctly understood that the vendor’s lien is hereby retained against said lands and premises until all of said notes and all interest thereon due be fully paid according to their terms, tenor, effect and reading, when this deed shall become absolute.”

*809 Also, on November 1, 1926, C. S. White and L. A. Fry (out of the land conveyed to them by Welhausen and Driscoll) conveyed to Ed Spears and wife, Emma Spears, the 76.67 acre tract here involved. The consideration was $7,677, also represented by eleven vendor’s lien notes payable to White and Fry. These notes also matured annually on July 1st of the years 1927 to 1937, inclusive. The deed likewise contained the same clause retaining a vendor’s lien, as did the deed from Welhausen and Driscoll to Spears and wife.

Although these two deeds to Ed Spears and Emma Spears were dated November 1, 1926, they were not filed for record until October 22, 1929.

On March 5, 1928, White and Fry re-conveyed to Welhausen and Driscoll the tract of land theretofore conveyed to them by the deed of October 1, 1926. The description of the property contained in this re-conveyance included the 76.67 acre tract theretofore conveyed by White and Fry to Ed and Emma Spears, and was in the form of a warranty deed, reciting as a part of the consideration the cancellation of the notes executed by White and Fry on October 1, 1926.

On April 6, 1928, Welhausen and Driscoll executed a deed conveying the property they had acquired from Harvey and Ray (with the exception of a certain tract which is not material here) to Rincon Investment Company, for a consideration of $100,000. This conveyance by its terms included both the 83.33 acre tract and the 76.67 acre tract involved in this litigation.

Also, on April 6, 1928, Rincon Investment Company entered into an agreement with Welhausen with reference to the deal or transaction whereby Rincon Investment Company acquired title to the lands described in the deed of conveyance executed by Welhausen and Driscoll on said date. This agreement contained the following provision:

“It is understood and agreed that the said conveyance to Rincon Investment Company was made subject not only to certain liens and incumbrances mentioned in such conveyances but also to the rights of various third persons with whom prior to such conveyance the said Welhausen and Driscoll had contracted and agreed to sell to such third persons various portions of the land conveyed by the deed to Rincon Investment Company, it being further agreed and understood in this connection that all of the consideration paid or to be paid by such third persons purchasing or contracting to purchase any such land shall inure to and become the property of Rincon Investment Company, and that all notes executed or to be executed by such purchasers shall either be made payable to Rincon Investment Company or shall be immediately endorsed and delivered and the liens and reserved title transferred and assigned to Rincon Investment Company.”

The transaction whereby Rincon Investment Company acquired these properties from Welhausen and Driscoll and White and Fry became the subject matter of litigation in which this court rendered two opinions. See Rincon Investment Co. v. White, Tex.Civ.App., 54 S.W.2d 1052; Id., Tex.Civ.App., 99 S.W.2d 390. The effect of this Court’s holding in the latter case was that Rincon Investment Company had acquired all right, title and interest .in and to the property formerly held by Welhausen and Driscoll and by White and Fry.

On August 30, 1937, Rincon Investment Company filed two suits against Emma Spears and the heirs at law of Ed Spears, who had died intestate prior to the time of institution of these suits. One suit referred to the 83.33 acre tract and the other to the 76.67 acre tract. Each of the petitions contained two counts; one seeking a recovery in trespass to try title upon the superior title which the Rincon Investment Company claimed to hold, and the other, or alternative count, seeking a judgment upon the notes executed by Ed and Emma Spears and foreclosure of the vendor’s lien.

On December 30, 1940, Rincon Investment Company executed a conveyance and assignment to Mortgage Land and Investment Company, which contained the following provision:

“And for the same consideration grantor has transferred, conveyed, and assigned, and does hereby transfer, convey, and assign unto Mortgage Land & Investment Company all notes, accounts, claims, dioses-in action (including claims and causes now-being sued upon) and personal property, of whatsoever description and wheresoever situated, owned by grantor or to which grantor may be or become legally or equitably entitled to, together with all liens, rights, titles, and equities in respect of all and/or personal property (wheresoever situated) existing to secure or assure payment *810 of such notes, accounts, claims, and choses in action (including claims and causes now being sued upon).”

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Bluebook (online)
191 S.W.2d 807, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 883, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spears-v-bankers-mortg-co-texapp-1945.