Thompson v. Whitfield

203 S.W.2d 268, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 971
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 9, 1947
DocketNo. 6273
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 203 S.W.2d 268 (Thompson v. Whitfield) 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
Thompson v. Whitfield, 203 S.W.2d 268, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 971 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

HARVEY, Justice.

Alma Thompson sued Mrs. Julia N. Whitfield, and others, in the district court of Panola County, Texas, for an equitable partition of 38 acres of land of the Sihon House Survey. The case was tried before the court without a jury, and from a judgment awarding him one-half the surface and one-fourth the minerals in fee, subject to sales made by him, with remainder of the surface during the life of Mrs. Whitfield, but denying the partition as sought, he has perfected this appeal. On a cross-action by Mrs. Whitfield for $750 as consideration for the land in question sold by her to Alma Thompson, the court denied a recovery on the theory that such action was prematurely brought.

The several points assigned as error relate to one question which in substance was the refusal of the trial court to apply the principle of equitable partition in this suit. Appellees take the position that the trial court ruled correctly because they were not co-tenants with appellant, had no right of possession, the 38 acre tract was not a part of or adjacent to the other tracts involved in the partition sought to be made, and for the additional reason that Alma Thompson knew that his vendor, Mrs. Julia N. Whitfield, owned only a one-half interest in the tract at the time he purchased it from her, which was all the interest that passed to him under her deed, and under such a state of facts he. was not entitled to the relief sought by him under the¡ doctrine ,of equitable partition.

Mrs. Julia N. Whitfield sold to Alma Thompson by warranty deed the 38 acres in question on February 1, 1942, reserving one-half of tha minerals. The deed recited a consideration of $380, payable $30 in cash and the balance :to be paid in seven yearly installments of one 500 pound bale of cotton, middling grade or better, and seven-eighths inch staple. The land covered by the deed was community property of Mrs. Whitfield and her deceased husband, under the terms of whose will all of his community interest in their property was devised to Mrs. .Whitfield for life, with remainder to their six children. On the trial of this suit it was shown that there were about 700 acres of land in Panola County still owned by the community estate of Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield, consisting of a number of scattered tracts. It was agreed by the parties to the suit that all of such lands, including the 38 acre tract, was of uniform value as to the surface, and the evidence established that the value of the minerals under the 38 acre tract, subject to an outstanding oil lease, was $125 per acre, and the value of the minerals under other community lands in the county, aggregating about 671 acres, ranged in value from $50 to $125 per acre. The trial court found that the value of the one-half interest of Mrs. Whitfield in such community lands exceeded [270]*270in value the one-half interest of her children in the surface of the 38 acre tract plus their one-fourth interest in the minerals thereunder.

The doctrine of equitable partition is firmly embedded in our jurisprudence. Its just, sound and salutary principle, simply stated, is that where one tenant in common has conveyed a specific part of a tract of land which does not exceed in value the interest of such tenant in common in the whole tract, so that the co-tenant or tenants not joining in the conveyance were not prejudiced or damaged thereby, equity in adjusting the respective rights of the parties will uphold the conveyance. Differently stated, the grantee of a specific part of a tract by one of the co-tenants of such entire tract has the right to have the whole property and all interested parties brought into a partition proceeding for the purpose of determining whether or not in adjusting the equities of all the parties he shall be entitled to receive from his grantor’s interest therein the specific parcel embraced in the conveyance to him. Simpson-Fell Oil Co. v. Stanolind Oil & Gas Co., 136 Tex. 158, 125 S.W.2d 263; Furrh v. Winston, 66 Tex. 521, 1 S.W. 527; Germany v. Turner, 132 Tex. 491, 123 S. W.2d-874. As a prerequisite to the right of equitable partition, the parties against whom the remedy is sought must be joint owners of the estate sought to be partitioned. We are not apprised of any case which extends the doctrine to other and distinct lands from the tract involved in the partition; that is, that announces a rule that a grantee of a specific part of land held in common by his grantor with others can require the co-tenants of his grantor to resort to different lands owned by them and such grantor in an adjustment of their equities in order that the conveyance to him might be upheld. In the case of Furrh v. Winston, supra, relied upon by appellant, the 6 acre tract in controversy was ificluded in one large body of 2,160 acres, consisting of six contiguous tracts, in which the parties were co-tenants. In addition, all the parties involved in the partition that was sought held under the same source of title, Mary E. Waskom. The court applied the doctrine of equitable partition and set apart to the purchaser from one of the tenants in common the specific tract sold to him. Findlay v. State, 113 Tex. 30, 250 S.W. 651, 655 cited by appellant, is quite distinguishable from the instant case. The court’s decision therein was predicated upon the fact that the non-conveying tenant in common, the State of Texas, which was plaintiff in the trial court, elected to ratify the sales made by the other tenants in common, so pleaded in its petition, and sought to obtain its undivided interest out of remaining unsold lands. This is indicated by the following paragraph from a precedent cited in that opinion:

“ ‘Where one tenant in common conveys a certain portion of the common property by description, the others may, by ratifying the sale, charge the former with the proceeds of the sale, and, without making the vendees parties to the action, sue for a partition of the remainder.’ ”

In the same opinion, the court gave approval to the principle of law as presented to the court by one of the parties to the suit, and couched in the following language;

“ ‘Partition is applicable only to a common ownership, where each has a partial title to every part of the lánd. It therefore has no application to a case where the separate parcels are separately owned.’ ” We include this last excerpt by reason of observations we shall make with reference to the case of Broom v. Pearson, Tex.Civ. App., 180 S.W. 895, 898, by this court. Ap-pellees stress the latter case, wherein the factual situation is different to that which we have under consideration, but with the logic of which we are in entire accord. The pertinent part of the opinion is as follows :
“The purchaser from Mary L. Hamilton cannot claim subrogation to any rights she might have held regarding other and different tracts of land. Let -us suppose that after the sale of the Hamilton tract to Cameron the Davis children, while still holding and claiming all of the 300 acres, had brought suit against the purchaser for their interest. Could the latter defend by [271]*271saying that the! Davis children held other lands owned by his grantor, and compel them to resort to those lands for satisfaction? We know of no instance where the courts have gone that far in protecting the purchaser of specific portions from a tenant in common. The most such a purchaser could claim would be to have the land purchased set apart to him in the division sought, provided that could be done without injury to the Davis children.

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203 S.W.2d 268, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-whitfield-texapp-1947.