Taylor v. Herrin

127 S.W.2d 945, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 634
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 30, 1939
DocketNo. 10753.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 127 S.W.2d 945 (Taylor v. Herrin) 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
Taylor v. Herrin, 127 S.W.2d 945, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 634 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

Defendants in error on December 23, 1936, brought this suit in trespass to try title to a 56-acre tract of land in Trinity County against plaintiffs in error. The case was tried without a jury, and the result was a judgment for defendants in error. At plaintiffs in error’s request the court made findings of fact and conclusions of law. The substance of the facts found by the court is as follows:

On November 15, 1920, defendant in error Fannie P. Herrin (nee Warner), who was then a feme sole, owned the land in controversy, and on that date made the following contract with her brother-in-law (the husband of a sister), L. R. Bell:

“The State of Texas,\ “County of Trinity. J
“Know All Men by These Presents: That, Whereas, L. R. Bell of said County and State has this day executed and delivered to Fannie P. Warner of the County aforesaid his eight certain promissory notes for the sum of Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars each, due on or before December 1, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 and 1928 being the consideration given for a certain tract of land-hereinafter described:
“Now, therefore, I, the said Fannie P. Warner, in consideration of the premises hereby acknowledge myself bound to convey to the said L. R. Bell upon the payment of said notes being well and truly made by delivering to the said L. R. Bell, or his assigns a good and sufficient general warranty deed conveying in fee simple the following' described tract of land situated in the County of Trinity and State of Texas, and described by metes and bounds as follows : (The description is omitted as having no bearing on this appeal).
“Witness my hand this 15th day of November, A. D. 1920.
“Fannie P. Warner. “(Duly Acknowledged)”

The first four of the series described in the foregoing were paid off, but on April 24, 1931 (at which time Mrs. Herrin had become a married woman), the remaining four notes were unpaid, which, together with the unpaid interest thereon, amounted to $961.92, and such unpaid principal and interest was then renewed and extended, together with the vendor’s lien securing the payment of such notes. This extension ágreement was duly recorded; the contract of sale was never recorded, and plaintiffs in error saw it for the first time at the trial.

After the contract of sale was executed and delivered to L. R. Bell, he went into possession of the 56 acres of land, and used and cultivated them, and paid taxes on them. Then, on January 6, 1934, defendant in error, Trinity State Bank, caused a writ of attachment to be levied on such land as the property of L. R. Bell; and thereafter, on September 12, 1935, judgment was rendered in favor of the Bank and against Bell for $11,049.74, and for foreclosure of the Bank’s attachment lien theretofore acquired on the 56 acres by levy of the writ, and the land was bought in by the Bank at such foreclosure sale on November 5, 1935, for $750. And the sheriff’s deed to the Bank was recorded forthwith.

On February 16, 1934, which was after the Bank’s writ of attachment had been levied thereon, L. R. Bell and wife executed a deed of conveyance to Mrs. Her-rin to two certain lots in the town of Trinity, on which they resided, and which was their homestead. This deed recited that it was given in consideration of the cancellation of the four notes which had theretofore been renewed and extended. The court found, however, that this deed was caused to be recorded by L. R. Bell, and after being recorded was returned to him from the county clerk’s office, and remained in his possession until July or August of 1936, when it was delivered to Mrs. Herrin by her sister, Mrs. Bell. And Mrs. Herrin, joined by her husband, on February. 13, 1937, reconveyed the two lots to Bell ancl wife, and it was recited in the reconveyance that said two lots had been conveyed to Mrs. Herrin without her knowledge or consent, and without consideration. On August 26, 1936, the Bank deeded the property to plaintiff in error, Lee Taylor, who has remained in its possession ever since.

*947 The court filed the following conclusions of law:

“1. That contract for the sale of the land sued for, executed by Fannie P. Warner (Now Fannie P. Herrin), conveyed no title to L. R. Bell, but only gave him the right to have a deed executed by him when the contract of sale was executed.
“2. The deed from L. R. Bell and wife to Fannie P. Herrin, purporting to convey to her two lots in the Town of Trinity in payment and cancellation of the notes then held by her against L. R. Bell, and the lien against the land sued for herein, was not delivered to Mrs. Herrin, was not accepted by her, and did not bind her in any way. She was not estopped from claiming that the notes held by her against L. R. Bell had not been paid.
“3. The • sheriff’s deed to Trinity State Bank conveyed no title to Trinity State Bank.
“4. Lee Taylor received no title by the deed from Trinity State Bank. He was not an innocent purchaser without notice of the title of Fannie P. Herrin.
“5. Fannie P. Herrin has the right to recover the title to the tract of land sued for against Trinity State Bank and Lee Taylor.”

Plaintiffs in error do not contest the findings of fact made by the court. Their complaint is against the court’s conclusion to the effect that no title of any kind passed to Bell under the contract of sale of November IS, 1920, and also against the conclusion that the interest of Bell was not of a character that was subject to execution.

We agree with both of plaintiffs in error’s contentions. The contract of sale of November 15, 1920, was valid and enforceable, and therefore vested Bell with an equitable title to the 56 acres. As was said by the court in Leeson v. City of Houston, 1922, Tex.Com.App. 243 S.W. 485, 488:

“By the great weight of authority it is now held that, although the legal title does not pass to the vendee under a contract of sale until actual delivery of a deed to the property still the vendee under such contract of purchase, especially where he goes into possession of the property, is invested with the equitable title from the date of the contract, or in any event, from the date he takes possession, and any. increment, advantage, or enhancement to the property inures to his benefit, and any detriment, depreciation, or loss thereto without fault of either party must be borne by him. * * * ”
“ ‘Since equity regards that as done which ought to be done, the rule is well established that where a valid, and therefore enforceable, contract for the sale of land has been made, the land becomes the property of the vendee from the execution of the contract. Consequently, as is stated in the above opinion, the great weight of authority supports the proposition that the destruction of buildings upon the land, or any deterioration of the property, between the time of the execution of such contract and the time fixed for the completion thereof, must be the loss of the vendee, and not of the vendor.’ ”

See also Alworth v. Ellison, Tex.Civ.App., Eastland, 27 S.W.2d 639

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Bluebook (online)
127 S.W.2d 945, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-herrin-texapp-1939.