Sweetwater Cotton Oil Co. v. Birge-Forbes & Co.

160 S.W. 1125, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 820
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 15, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 160 S.W. 1125 (Sweetwater Cotton Oil Co. v. Birge-Forbes & 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
Sweetwater Cotton Oil Co. v. Birge-Forbes & Co., 160 S.W. 1125, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 820 (Tex. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

RAINEY, O. J.

Appellees sued the Sweet-water Cotton Oil Company to recover the sum of $5,056.21 and to foreclose a lien. Plaintiffs alleged: That they leased the oil and cotton gin plant of appellants, including machinery, fixtures, etc. That said plant needed repairs, which plaintiffs agreed to make, and for which appellants agreed to pay. That said lease was to continue for the term of ten months and provided that at the end of said term for a renewal at the option of plaintiffs, and the same was renewed. That plaintiffs made necessary repairs by putting in new machinery, etc., and took the necessary steps to fix and secure a mechanic’s, contractor’s, and materialman’s lien, and after the renewal they made additional necessary improvements, etc. They further alleged that said oil company was largely indebted and insolvent and had ceased operating its plant, and a receiver was appointed to take charge thereof and who duly qualified August 21, 1910. On April 10, 1911, appellant National Bank of Commerce, of Kansas City, Mo., with leave of the trial court, filed a plea of intervention alleging in substance that on November 1, 1904, said oil company had executed and delivered to the St. Louis *1126 Union Trust Company, of St. Louis, Mo., a corporation, as trustee its deed of trust by tbe terms of which said bank acquired a lien upon the property and assets of the oil company to secure to said bank the payment of 50 bonds for the sum of $1,000 each, bearing interest, and that the same had been duly recorded. That said oil company had made default, and upon the request of said bank the said trustee had advertised the property for sale according to the terms thereof, and during said time the said trustee applied to the United States Circuit Court, Northern district of Texas, for the appointment of a receiver, which was granted August 12, 1910, and the receiver shortly thereafter qualified and took possession of said property and on December 6, 1910, in pursuance of said deed of trust and the law of Texas, sold said property at public auction for cash to P. D. Whiting for the use and benefit of appellant bank, and said Whiting, acting for appellant bank, sold said property to James Newman, who purchased in good faith. That said bank would be subjected to great loss, etc., if said Dorsett retained possession of the property as receiver, and that said bank was to execute bond and make deposit to prevent loss or damage, and asked that said receiver be discharged and the property turned over to said Newman upon said bank making the deposit, and that said deposit be held subject to such orders, final judgment, and decrees as might be made in the case, and for all special and general relief.

On April 11, 1911, upon hearing the plea of intervention, it was ordered that the bank deposit with the clerk of the court $8,000; that the costs of the receivership in the case of the St. Louis Union Trust Company against the oil company be allowed to the receiver, Thomas Trammell, and attorney’s fees amounting to about $700 and the cost of the receivership in this court hereinafter to be ascertained shall be paid out of said deposit; and that the balance of said deposit be held subject to the orders to be made in the case, provided no part shall be used to pay any claim hereinafter filed in this cause; and it was further ordered that the property be turned over to Newman by the receiver, Moore O. Dorsett, and that he make final report to the court.

On April 14, 1911, Dorsett, as receiver, filed report in which he reported that he had delivered said property to Newman. On the date last aforesaid appellees filed their amended original petition, upon which they went to trial, setting out virtually the same items as in the original petition, charging a conversion of said property by said bank, and that it was entitled to collect out of the fund in court the full amount of its debt.

The bank answered, alleging the indebtedness to it by the oil company of $50,000, its lien by trust deed, the purchase| by Whiting, the conveyance to Newman, and confirmation of the sale and delivery of said property to Newman by judgment of the court of date April 11, 1911, and the superiority of its lien over appellees’ claim.

The oil company answered by general demurrer and general denial and controverting by affidavit the verified account of appellees attached to their third amended original petition. On the 2d of December, 1912, appellees filed in the trial court their first supplemental petition in which, among other things, they charged the appellant bank with systematic attempt to conceal the property of appellant cotton oil company and appropriated it to the bank’s use, with fraudulently having a receiver appointed by the federal court and causing a federal receiver to be placed in charge of the property of appellant cotton oil company, and in defiance of the receivership of the court below causing the property in question to be sold and the bank under its alleged deed of trust and afterwards selling to Newman, which they alleged was done to defraud appellees. Appellant bank on the same day filed its first supplemental answer, including general demurrer, general denial, and special answer denying in substance the conversion of any part of the property in question or any attempt to defraud the appellees, that the sale of the property by the trustee was legally made; that the receivership in the federal court was only in aid of said sale, was authorized by the said deed of trust, and was only for the purpose of preserving the property until it could be sold. It further alleged in said supplemental answer that the sale of the property made by" said trustee to satisfy appellant bank’s indebtedness was expressly ratified and confirmed by said court after the property in question had been sold and was in the possession of the receiver of this court, and that the action of this court in so ratifying and confirming said sale finally determined the rights of the parties and prayed that it be discharged with its costs. The cause was tried before a jury upon special issues submitted by the court at the request of appellees. Upon said special issues the jury made a finding of facts in which the jury found for the appellees in the sum of $5,153.79. Upon motion of appellees the court rendered judgment against appellant Sweetwater Cotton Oil Company for the amount of the verdict and directed that the same be paid out of the fund deposited in court by appellant national bank. Prior to the rendition of said judgment, appellant bank filed its motion for judgment on the facts found by the jury directing the money deposit in court to be paid to it and that it recover its cost. From the judgment of the court, the bank has appealed.

The appellant bank complains of the action of the court in not directing the jury to return a verdict for it and submits the following proposition: “The trial court having jurisdiction of the property and the parties, and the court having jurisdiction to cause the *1127

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 S.W. 1125, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sweetwater-cotton-oil-co-v-birge-forbes-co-texapp-1913.