Stevenson v. Lohman

218 S.W.2d 311, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1589
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 24, 1949
DocketNo. 4571
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 218 S.W.2d 311 (Stevenson v. Lohman) 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
Stevenson v. Lohman, 218 S.W.2d 311, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1589 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

COE, Chief Justice.

This suit was originally filed by appellees, Ed F. Lohman and Henry Lohman, against Lillie Stevenson in the form of trespass to try title for the title and possession of lots Nos. 5 and 6 in Block No. 2 of the Peking Addition to the City of Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas. Thereafter Willie Hill and Mack H. Hannah, Jr., as administrator of the estate of Laura Hill, deceased, filed their petition of intervention, Hi 11 alleging in substance that on and prior to February 28, 1941, he and Laura Hill were husband and wife; that they were divorced on the 14th day of December, 1945; that in the divorce decree no provision was made for the division of the community property belonging to Laura Hill and Willie Hill, and that no property settlement had been made between them; that Laura' Hill died in Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas, on the 2nd day of July, 1946. Willie Hill alleged that ■ he and his then wife, Laura Hill, on February 28, 1941, had entered into a contract for deed with the ap-[312]*312pellees Ed Lohman and Henry Lohman whereby upon the performance of the conditions therein enumerated the said appel-lees obligated themselves to sell, deliver and convey the property herein sued for by sufficient warranty deed to Willie Hill and Laura Hill; that following the execution of such contract for deed the intervenor Hill paid or caused to be paid monthly payments as provided! for' in said contract for deed, 'and that he complied with all the other conditions, stipulations and provisions of said contract; that upon the death of Laura Hill, Lillie Stevenson, a sister of Laura Hill, and as an heir of said Laura Hill, deceased, entered into possession of said property and agreed that she would make the stipulated monthly payments under such contract and comply with other conditions and stipulations therein contained in consideration of the use and possession of such premises, and further that said Lillie Stevenson had complied with the terms and conditions of the contract for deed and had tendered to appellees sufficient sums to have paid the entire balance due on such contract for deed; that appel-lees wholly failed and refused to accept same and therefore should be estopped from claiming or asserting that such inter-venor has not complied with the terms and conditions of such contract for deed; that appellees with full knowledge of the arrangements between intervenor Hill and said Lillie Stevenson, acquiesced and ratified same and failed to notify intervenor of any dispute over compliance of such contract provisions, and by reason of their silence lulled intervenor into a sense of security and without any demand whatsoever on them to comply with the contract provisions as contained in such contract for deed until they filed this suit to cancel same and hold same of no further force and effect. In-tervenor Mack H. Hannah, Jr., as administrator of the estate of Laura Hill, deceased, alleged that he had been duly appointed and, qualified as such administrator and is now acting in that capacity and as such administrator had complied with all the terms and conditions of said contract for deed and on behalf of said estate had tendered to appellees sufficient sums to have paid the entire balance due on such contract for deed; that appellees failed and refused to accept such tender and should now be estopped from claiming or asserting that intervenor Mack H. Hannah, Jr., had not complied with the terms and conditions of such contract for deed, and further plead tender of the full balance, if any, on the said contract for deed. Thereafter appellees filed their amended petition in the form of trespass to try title to said property in which they made the inter-venors additional defendants. The case proceeded to- trial with a jury and upon its verdict judgment was 'entered for appellees for the title and possession of the property-sued for.

In answer to the Special Issues submitted, the jury found that (1) no payments, had been made on the contract in question since July 9, 1945; (2) that no tender of' the balance of the purchase price had been, made by any of the defendants before the-date of this trial; (3) that in the Fall of 1945 Willie Hill, in a conversation on the-telephone with appellee Ed Lohman, told: said Lohman that he would not make any more payments on the property in question;, (4) that the reasonable rental value upon, the property in question since July 9, 1945-to- date was $25.00 per month; (5) that appellant Willie Hill abandoned the premises in question; (6) that prior to the date-of the telephone conversation between Ed Lohman and Willie Hill in the Fall of 1945-Willie Hill was behind in the payments on his contract; (7) that Ed Lohman had not insisted upon Willlie Hill making his payments as they accrued from month to. month; (8) that in the telephone conversation between Ed Lohman and Willie Hill in the Fall of 1945, said Lohman did not offer to make a deed to Willie Hill upon his payment of the balance of the purchase price; (9) that at the time of the telephone conversation between Willi-e Hill and Ed Lohman in the Fall of 1945, Willie Hill did, not believe that Ed Lohman would not declare the contract as forfeited by reason of' the fact that prior to such date said Ed Lohman had not insisted upon Willi-e Hill’s, making his payments as same accrued.

During the trial of the case the appellant,. Mack H. Hannah, Jr., in open court, ten--[313]*313-dered to appellees the balance due under the contract of purchase, together with the accrued interest thereon, together with such amount, approximately $100, which had been paid out by the appellees for taxes and insurance, which tender was refused.

Upon judgment being entered for appel-lees for the land sued for, Mack H. Hannah, Jr., as administrator of the estate of Laura Hill, deceased, perfected appeal of this cause. The other defendants, Willie Hill and Lillie Stevenson, have failed to do so. By appellant’s point he contends that the trial court was in error in overruling his motion for instructed verdict and overruling his motion for judgment non ob-stante veredicto, and in entering judgment for appellees because of appellant’s tender of the amount due under the contract of sale extinguished the lien of appellees for the balance of the purchase money due, and further because the evidence conclusively showed that appellant and his intestate have retained possession of the premises and have never relinquished possession thereof to appellees, and there was no evidence of abandonment of the interest of the appellant’s intestate.

It was agreed on the trial of the case that the Home Agency Company, a corporation, was the common source of title. Appellees introduced in evidence a general warranty deed dated January 6, 1928 in which the Home Agency Company conveyed the property in question to Henry and Ed F. Loh-man, whom the evidence shows, were partners. They next offered in evidence a contract for deed dated February 28, 1941, in which it is recited that Ed Lohman and Henry Lohman, for a consideration of $1,550.00, in hand paid and to be paid by Willie Hill and Laura Hill, agreed to sell, deliver and convey by warranty deed the said lots to Willie and Laura Hill upon compliance with the terms of said contract. The contract recited a cash consideration of $50.00 and a balance of $1500.00 to be paid in monthly installments of $20.00 each, and provided for interest at the rate of 8% per annum on all unpaid balances of principal. The contract also provided that Willie and Laura Hill were to pay the taxes and insurance on the property. The contract further provided:

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Bluebook (online)
218 S.W.2d 311, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevenson-v-lohman-texapp-1949.