Thomas v. Mullins

127 S.W.2d 559, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 617
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1939
DocketNo. 5001.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 127 S.W.2d 559 (Thomas v. Mullins) 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
Thomas v. Mullins, 127 S.W.2d 559, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 617 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

STOKES, Justice.

This suit was filed by appellees, J. M. Mullins and his wife, Mrs. J. M. Mullins, against John Thomas and Ray Thomas, who are' the appellants in this court, and H. L. White, H. G. Lawson and W. C. Brown. The petition alleged substantially that all of the parties mentioned, except Mrs. J. M. Mullins, were doing business as partners under the trade name of Texas Auction & Commission Company, located at Lubbock. It is alleged the plaintiff, J. M. Mullins, put $1,500 into the partnership account and that the other partners were to contribute the total sum of $4,500, the nature of the business being the purchase and sale of livestock.

It was alleged on behalf of Mrs. J. M. Mullins that she was not a member of the partnership but that she was a joint owner of an undivided one-fifth interest in the real estate owned and used by the partnership in conducting the business. The plaintiffs prayed for an accounting; for the appointment of a receiver to take charge of and conduct the business pending the litigation; for a restraining order against appellants, restraining them from collecting or receiving any of the debts or moneys due the partnership or from paying out any of the funds which, it was alleged, were in the hands of appellants. It was alleged that appellants were in complete charge and control of the accounts, moneys and books of the partnership.

Appellants answered by general demurrer and general denial and on the 19th of February, 1938, the petition was presented to the trial judge upon the application for a receiver. After a hearing on the application Dave Peters was appointed receiver, with power to take charge of the entire business, appellants being directed to turn over to the receiver all moneys on hand, together with the books and accounts. A temporary restraining order was issued against .all of the parties to the suit, restraining them from interfering with the property or hindering or molesting the receiver pending the further orders of the court.

The record shows that on the 28th of February, 1938, plaintiffs and all of the defendants, together with one I. D. Walker as intervener, appeared and announced in open court they had mutually settled and compromised all of the differences between them in the manner and form as set out and stipulated in a contract that had been executed by them, and the court entered judgment thereon in which it was recited that all of the parties, together with I. D. Walker as intervener, appeared, and the court having inspected the contract, heard the statements of the attorneys with reference thereto, and,, being of the opinion that same was fair and just .to all the parties, the contract was entered as the judgment of the court. The judgment 'recites that the rights of the parties are determined as specified in the contract, and that such procéss, in the nature of execution, order of sale, writ of possession, injunction or other remedy as may be provided by law and which may be necessary and proper fully to ef1 fectuate the terms and conditions of the contract and to provide each of the parties with a remedy or remedies to which they are entitled for its enforcement, is in all respects decreed in favor of such party or parties until the contract and all of its terms and provisions are fully, ultimately and finally enforced in favor of each and all the parties. The court costs were adjudged against J. M. Mullins, H. L. White and H. G. Lawson, for which execution was ordered to issue.

The record shows that on the 17th of March, 1938, another judgment was entered in which it is stated that the cause came on to be heard upon its merits and all parties appeared by attorneys and announced ready for trial. This judgment proceeds to adjudge and decree to the parties respectively the relief to which they appear to. be entitled under the contract signed by the parties to the suit and, in addition thereto, it is adjudged and decreed that W. C. Brown, I. D. Walker, J. M. Mullins, H. G. Lawson and H. L. White do have and recover of and from the defendants, John Thomas and Ray Thomas, the sum of $2,304.95, with six percent interest.

On the 19th of March, 1938, appellants,John and Ray Thomas, filed a motion for *561 a new trial which was overruled and they duly excepted, gave notice of appeal, and have perfected an appeal to this court.

The record is before us upon the transcript without a statement of facts and, appellants not having filed a brief, appel-lees have filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. Upon the filing of the motion by appellees, appellants, through counsel who was not connected with the case in the trial court, have filed a brief which they request us to consider in connection with, and as an answer to the motion to dismiss, and in which they suggest fundamental error in the judgment. Appellants not having filed a brief within the time provided by the rules, we are not required to go beyond a search for fundamental error, but we have considered the record and are of the opinion that fundamental error is apparent.

As will be seen from the statement we have made, two separate and distinct judgments were entered at the same term of the court, one being entered on the 19th of February, 1938, and the other on the 17th of March, 1938. Both of these judgments appear to be final in their nature. The record does not reveal any order setting aside the first judgment, nor are the two in any way related. No motion to vacate or set aside the first judgment appears in the record, nor is any reason given why the case was brought to trial the second time and the second judgment entered. The two judgments stand out in the record as final and as having been rendered upon the appearance in court of all the parties to the suit.

The rule is well settled that the entry of a second judgment in the same case is not a vacation of the first judgment and, if there is nothing to show the first judgment was vacated or set aside, the second judgment is a nullity. Black on Judgments, Vol. 1, par. 304, p. 380; Kibby et al. v. Leon, Tex.Civ.App., 241 S.W. 1064; Cooksey v. Jordan et al., 104 Tex. 618, 143 S.W. 141; Cartee v. Blacketor et al., 179 Miss. 665, 176 So. 532.

Art. 2211, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., provides that only one final judgment shall be rendered in any case except where it is otherwise specially provided by law. We know of no other statute that would permit the entry of more than one final judgment in a case of this kind. In the .case of Kibby et al. v. Leon, 'supra, the brief presented a proposition of law to the effect that the court having 'already entered an agreed final judgment disposing of all of the issues in the cause and discharging the receiver, the cause was no longer a pending suit and the court had no power to enter an additional judgment. Other propositions followed and, in disposing of the case, Justice Pleasants, speaking for the Galveston Court of Civil Appeals, said [241 S.W. 1067] : “Each of these propositions must be sustained and each presents a valid reason for holding the judgment unauthorized and void. The propositions are so elementary that their discussion and the citation of authorities are unnecessary.”

We think it cannot be questioned that the second judgment entered by the court on the 17th of March, 1938, is a nullity.

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Bluebook (online)
127 S.W.2d 559, 1939 Tex. App. LEXIS 617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-mullins-texapp-1939.