Ulmer v. Ulmer

152 S.W.2d 383, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 528
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 7, 1941
DocketNo. 8991
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 152 S.W.2d 383 (Ulmer v. Ulmer) 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
Ulmer v. Ulmer, 152 S.W.2d 383, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 528 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

BAUGH, Justice.

The trial court sustained a general demurrer to plaintiff’s petition and rendered judgment for the defendants; hence this appeal.

It is settled law that as against a general demurrer every intendment in support of the petition should be indulged, and all allegations of fact contained therein taken as true. If, when so taken, a recovery is warranted on any of the counts contained in the petition, a general demurrer should not be sustained.

While the petition is lengthy and involved, contains much repetition, reiteration, and legal conclusions, disregarding the matters which might have been subject to special exceptions, it alleges substantially the following facts:

That in 1931 plaintiff, individually and as community administratrix of the estate of herself and her deceased husband, M. B. Ulmer, owned a tract of land in the City of San Angelo, Texas, 50x90 feet, on which was located a brick building, occupied by a laundry, on which she owed three purchase money notes aggregating $3,562.50, owned by R. A. Hall; and one for $1,000 payable to J. T. Davis. That the operators of the laundry on the premises became unable to pay rent, and in 1931 turned the laundry over to plaintiff’s son, J. A. Ul-mer, and his wife, LaVenia Ulmer, one of the defendants herein, to operate. That in 1934, LaVenia Ulmer acquired title as her separate property to the laundry machinery in the building, and up to and after the death of J. A. Ulmer, in August, 1936, continued to operate the laundry.

That in August, 1932, without knowing it was a deed, and under the representations of J. A. Ulmer, her son, in whom she reposed complete trust and confidence, that it was necessary for him and LaVenia to conduct their laundry business on said premises, she executed a deed, without reading it, conveying said property to her said son, along with other property, for a recited consideration of $4,128.47 in cash, and the assumption by J. A. Ulmer of the payment of the Hall and Davis purchase money notes. That none of the recited cash consideration was paid, said deed was not intended as a conveyance of title, and it was orally agreed and promised by J. A. Ulmer that he and LaVenia were to pay the agreed rental of $100 per month each month on the Hall and Davis notes and to pay, as same accrued, all taxes on the [385]*385property. That pursuant to such agreement and understanding J. A. Ulmer and LaVenia Ulmer did, between April, 1931, and October, 1936, make payments aggregating $2,127. But that after LaVenia acquired title to the laundry machinery in 1934, which was encumbered with a purchase money lien for $9,600, she fraudulently, designedly, and by exertion of undue influence over J. A. Ulmer, in his weakened condition, induced him to divert rent payments from the Hall and Davis notes and apply same to the payment of the $9,600 debt against the machinery; to neglect to pay taxes; and to mislead and deceive his mother, plaintiff, and lull her into a sense of security by fraudulent representations and assurances that he was carrying out the trust agreement made with her, keeping the taxes paid up, and discharging as agreed the Hall and Davis notes.

That prior to the death of J. A. Ulmer, LaVenia had induced her brother-in-law, J. J. Perkins, to take over $3,000 of the $9,600 debt against the laundry machinery, and had paid off the remainder, in violation of the trust agreement, with funds to the extent of $6,200 due plaintiff as rents and which should have been paid on her Plall and Davis notes. That all of such breaches of trust and frauds upon plaintiff were committed at the instance of LaVenia Ul-mer, were not discovered, and could not in the exercise of reasonable diligence have been discovered, by the plaintiff until December, 1936, because of the full confidence and trust she reposed. in her son. That when plaintiff did undertake, after the death of her son, to ascertain the facts, LaVenia Ulmer, at the instance, with the connivance, and on the advice of J. J. Perkins, destroyed all papers, documents, and evidence relating to the various transactions, and refused to give plaintiff any information concerning same.

That after the death of J. A. Ulmer, La-Venia continued to occupy the premises, without payment of any rent, and to conduct a laundry business thereon for a period of 14 months. That as soon as plaintiff learned the facts, she filed in the office of the County Clerk of Tom Green County her notice of statutory lien for past due rents up to December 31, 1936, less credits allowed, aggregating $5,473.

That LaVenia Ulmer, in furtherance of fraudulent acts theretofore perpetrated, conspired with J. J. Perkins and induced him to purchase the Hall and Davis notes, and a note for $675 executed by J. A. Ul-mer and plaintiff to a San Angelo bank and secured by a mortgage on said property, given by J. A. Ulmer without the knowledge of plaintiff; to take advantage of plaintiff’s aged, enfeebled, and penurious condition, and used same as weapons under threats of foreclosure, to compel appellant through such fraud and duress to release her landlord’s lien for past due rents, and to convey to him said property in satisfaction of the notes he had acquired against it. Her deed, wherein she was joined by all the heirs of her deceased husband, to J. J. Perkins was attached to her petition as an exhibit, and recites, in addition to the cancellation of all of said notes, the payment to plaintiff of $3,000 cash and the assumption by Perkins of all taxes due, amounting to approximately $1,500.

We find no. allegations as to the value of the property. Tender back of the $3,000 paid by Perkins was made by offer to credit it on the amounts found by the court to be due plaintiff. She prayed for cancellation, on the grounds of fraud, duress, and breach of trust, of both deeds above described, recovery of the property, and for damages. And, in the alternative, that the defendants be declared to be trustees of said property for her use and benefit to the extent of her funds that were wrongfully used to pay for the laundry machinery instead of payment of debts against the property; that same be impressed with a trust to that extent and for damages.

We have concluded that the trial court erred in sustaining a general1 demurrer -to plaintiff’s petition. It is clear that a mere action in trespass to try title was not the only cause of action asserted, nor recovery of the property itself the only relief sought. On the contrary, the plaintiff sought to cancel the deed to her son and a later deed to Perkins, on the grounds that same were procured through misrepresentation, fraud and duress, to her injury, for which she had no adequate remedy at law. In addition, or in the alterna1 live, she sought to impress the properties involved, that is, both the land and the laundry machinery, with a constructive trust.

If the facts alleged were true, and as against a general demurrer they must be so taken, the land conveyed by plaintiff to [386]*386J. A. Ulmer in 1932 clearly became impressed with a constructive trust, under his parole agreement with plaintiff and his breach- thereof. Faville v. Robinson, 111 Tex. 48, 227 S.W. 938; Redwine v. Coleman, Tex.Civ.App., 71 S.W.2d 921; Tieman v. Dyer, Tex.Civ.App., 114 S.W.2d 669, 671; 42 Tex.Jur. §§ 49 and 50, pp. 654 and 655.

Nor does the coverture of LaVenia Ulmer from 1932 to the death of her husband, J. A. Ulmer, in 1936 afford her any defense.

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Related

Ulmer v. Ulmer
162 S.W.2d 944 (Texas Supreme Court, 1942)

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Bluebook (online)
152 S.W.2d 383, 1941 Tex. App. LEXIS 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ulmer-v-ulmer-texapp-1941.