Union Central Life Ins. Co. v. Williams

99 S.W.2d 319
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 16, 1936
DocketNo. 4657
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 99 S.W.2d 319 (Union Central Life Ins. Co. v. Williams) 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
Union Central Life Ins. Co. v. Williams, 99 S.W.2d 319 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

MARTIN, Justice.

Appellant sued appellee for a balance alleged to be due upon a note of $3,000, secured by a trust deed upon 105 acres of land in Missouri, purchased by appellee, and payment of said note assumed in the deed to him. A sale of said land under said trust deed was alleged, and the sale price of $1,506 credited upon said note, leaving a deficiency of $2,221.60, which, together with the interest and attorneys’ fees, was sued for.

Appellee answered that appellant in January, 1935, was threatening to sell said land, and appellee went from Amarillo, Tex., to Poplar Bluff, Mo., “to investigate and determine his rights and to make some disposition of the claims of the said Union Central Life Insurance Company.

“That at said time W. P. Renner was the agent and employee of the said plaintiff located in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, whose particular duty and authority for and on behalf of his principal, Union Central Life Insurance Company, was to look after large land holdings of the said plaintiff in said locality, to arrange foreclosure sales under its deeds of trust and to make collections for said plaintiff and do each and every act incident to the management and handling of the plaintiff’s business concerning the particular land described in plaintiff’s petition as well as all other lands in said locality. That in all the matters hereinafter set out the said W. P. Renner was acting as the agent of the plaintiff within his authority as such agent, doing what he was employed by said plaintiff to do and was in the course of his employment as such agent of said company.

“That upon arriving in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, this defendant sent his son, D. O. [320]*320Williams, to discuss and to settle with the plaintiff through its agent, W. p. Renner, the debt against the lands described in plaintiff's petition. That thereupon W. P. Ren-ner, acting as agent as hereinafter set forth, did state to said D. O. Williams.

“ ‘That he go tell his Daddy not to worry, there is no danger of the plaintiff suing him for any deficiency. That it was the purpose of the company to bid the land in at the cheapest price they could but that such bidding was a mere matter of form and it did not make any difference what the land sold for, that it was the desire of the company to hold the sheriff’s commission down as much as they could in said sale. That he should go tell his Daddy not to worry that the plaintiff was not going to sue him.’”

His petition then proceeds to make allegations that he did not bid at said sale; that appellant was enabled to buy said land cheaply; that it was worth $7,500; and that but for said fraud and wrong would have brought sufficient to pay his debt in full. He finally alleged: “Plaintiff would further show, your Honor, that if he, the said W. P. Renner, was not in fact the. agent of the said Union Central Life Insurance Company, acting within his authority as such agent in all of the above and foregoing transactions set out, that nevertheless he was an employee of said company and clothed by said plaintiff with the apparent and ostensible authority to do and to say each and every act and word that he did do and say, and that this defendant did believe, by reason of said ostensible authority and apparent authority that the said W. P. Ren-ner was the agent of said company, acting within his authority as such, and, therefore, the said plaintiff ought, in equity and good conscience, to be estopped to assert that the said W. P. Renner was not acting within his authority, and of this your defendant prays judgment of the Court.”

To this answer appellant urged a general and numerous special exceptions, all overruled. His second assignment of error is as follows: “The court erred in overruling and not sustaining plaintiff’s special exceptions to defendant’s first amended original answer. (Paragraphs II to X, Plaintiff’s First Amended Motion for New Trial, Tr. 65.)”

The assignment is multifarious and will, not be considered.

“Accordingly an assignment that the court erred in overruling demurrers or special exceptions, where there were several of such demurrers and exceptions, or an assignment that the court erred in overruling a general demurrer and special exceptions, where there were several special exceptions, is not entitled to consideration.” 3 Tex.Jur. p. 858.

It is claimed in substance that a general demurrer should have been sustained because no facts are alleged in said answer showing either express, implied, or apparent authority in Renner as agent to make the aforesaid contract or any representations respecting such matter that would bind appellant, and that at most only conclusions are pleaded.

One of the most recent expressions on this subject is found in 3 C. J. S., Agency, p. 244, and is as follows: “It is necessary and sufficient, in an action by a third person to charge the principal with liability for the act of his agent, either to plead the act as that of the principal, without averring or disclosing the agency, or to allege that it was authorized or ratified by him. To withstand a general demurrer, the pleading need not allege the particular manner in which authority to act as agent was conferred.”

Again, in 2 Tex.Jur. pp. 634, 635: “One who relies upon an agent being authorized, whether expressly or impliedly, should plead the facts relating thereto; but a general allegation of agency is usually sufficient on general demurrer. * * * Where fraud of the agent is alleged, the plaintiff must malee averments connecting' the agent with the principal; it is not sufficient to allege that the agent made the misrepresentations; the petition must show that the -agent was acting in a representative capacity. It is sufficient to allege generally the authority of the agent; it is not necessary to go further and allege probative facts by which plaintiff expects to establish such authority.”

See, also, Lewis v. Alexander, 51 Tex. 578; Beckham v. Clayton (Tex.Civ.App.) 262 S.W. 840; Bergere v. Parker (Tex.Civ.App.) 170 S.W. 808; Fite v. Thweatt, 46 Ga.App. 82, 166 S.E. 682; 21 C.J. p. 142, § 145(b); 19 R.C.L. p. 670, § 485.

Under this particular record, and without giving indorsement to the rule quoted above in all cases regardless of their facts, we [321]*321hold here that appellee’s answer as against a general demurrer was sufficient.

A general view of the case may be had from the following special issues, all answered favorably to appellee:

“Do you find, from the preponderance of the evidence, that W. P. Renner stated to D. O. Williams that the plaintiff would not take a deficiency judgment against the defendant, W. S. Williams, if the plaintiff got the land in question at the sale thereof to be held on January 21, 1935?
“Do you find, from the preponderance of the evidence, that W. P. Renner, in making such statement, if he did make it, made same for the purpose of keeping the defendant from bidding on the land in question at the sale thereof on January 21, 1935?
“Do you find, from the preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant would have bid for said land a price sufficiently high to have paid the indebtedness held by the plaintiff, had such statement, if any, not been made by said Renner ?

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99 S.W.2d 319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-central-life-ins-co-v-williams-texapp-1936.