Waggoner v. Knight

231 S.W. 357, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 387
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 1, 1921
DocketNo. 239-3427
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 231 S.W. 357 (Waggoner v. Knight) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waggoner v. Knight, 231 S.W. 357, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 387 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1921).

Opinion

TATUO R, P. J.

In the early part of the year 1906, Mrs. C. E. Rogers, divorced wife of J. J. Rogers, sold to Joe Terry the land here in controversy. Terry conveyed to W.

T. Waggoner, who had furnished the money for the original purchase. L. H. Mathis, attorney for Mrs. Rogers, negotiated the sale to Terry, and out of the proceeds thereof was paid by her a commission of $150. All of the purchase money was paid to Mrs. Rogers except the balance due the state, and the amount of delinquent taxes.

In the fall of 1906, Mrs. Rogers not having given possession, and rumors having gained currency to the effect that she was insane, suit was instituted by Waggoner in trespass to try title to recover the land. The cause was numbered 3067 on the docket of the court. On January 29, 1907, the case came on for trial. No appearance was made for Mrs. Rogers. Counsel for Waggoner suggested to the court that he had been advised there was some question as to her sanity. The court thereupon appointed U. H. Mathis to represent her.

Mathis answered as guardian ad litem, setting up in substance that while Mrs. Rogers was abnormal in some respects, she was, at the time of the sale of the land, sane; that she had received its full value in the trade, and it was to her interest that the trade should stand. Waggoner replied setting up the terms of the trade, and further that the money received by Mrs. Rogers, except the amount of the commission paid Mathis and a small amount expended by her for necessaries, was still on deposit in the National Bank of Wichita Falls to her credit. The prayer was for recovery of the land, or, in the alternative, for the recovery of the money paid Mrs. Rogers, and for protecting liens.

The court found that the trade was made by Terry in good faith, was just and fair, and free from fraud; that Mrs. Rogers was sane at the time she sold the land; and that she received f^ill and fair value therefor. Judgment was rendered on the findings that Waggoner recover the land. Soon thereafter Mrs. Rogers gave possession. Thus the matter stood until 1909.

In the early part of that year, J. J. Rogers and Mrs. Olga V. Knight, his daughter — also the daughter of Mrs. Rogers — filed a lunacy charge against her. Upon hearing she was adjudged a lunatic, and, following the judgment, was confined in the State Asylum. Mrs. Knight was appointed guardian of the estate, and as such received from her mother the balance of the proceeds of the sale of the land.

In February, 1911, Mrs. Knight as guardian filed this suit in the ordinary form of trespass to try title to recover the land. The cause was numbered 4030 on the docket. By amended petition upon which the case was tried, an attack was made upon the judgment in Waggoner v. Rogers in cause No. 3067. The allegations made the basis of the attack are to the effect that Mrs. Rogers was insane at the time of the sale of the land, and has been insane continuously since; tha’t Wag-goner and Terry planned together to get the land from Mrs. Rogers for less than its true value, and to that end, knowing that she was insane, procured the making of the conveyance from her to Terry; that Waggoner, by filing suit numbered 3607 and prosecuting it to judgment, endeavored to cover up the fraud practiced to get the land; that B.' H. Mathis, the guardian ad litem for Mrs. Rogers, was disqualified as such by reason of his interest in the suit. Waggoner, in reply, pleaded, among other defenses, that of res adjudicata.

The following facts constitute the basis of the plea: After the filing of the suit by Mrs. Knight as guardian, Waggoner ascertained that a clerical error had been made in entering the judgment on the minutes in Waggoner v. Rogers, cause No. 3607, in that the land, instead of being described correctly as section No. 2, was described incorrectly as section 92. He thereupon filed a motion in cause No. 3607 asking a correction of the minute entry to the end that the minutes would properly describe the land and truly reflect the judgment actually rendered. Notices were issued and served upon Mrs. Rogers, Mathis, and Mrs. Knight as guardian of [359]*359Mrs. Rogers. Mrs. Knight appeared by counsel, one of whom, M. M. Hankins, was appointed by the court to represent Mrs. Rogers as guardian ad litem. On July 18 and 19 answers to the motion were filed by the guardian and guardian ad litem, respectively, in which they pleaded limitation in bar of correcting the entry, and a general denial. They pleaded also specially the same facts in resisting the motion to correct the judgment entry as were pleaded by Mrs. Knight in this cause (No. 4943) as a basis for setting the judgment aside. The prayer following the response to the motion was, as it is in this case, that the deed and judgment be canceled and set aside. Judgment was rendered In the proceeding in which the motion was made, making the correction as prayed for. No express mention was made in the judgment of the issue of fraud raised by the special answers of the guardian and guardian ad litem. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment, but on appeal to the Supreme Court it was affirmed. 108 Tex. 328, 193 S. W. 130.

The facts set out in the foregoing statement relating to the motion to correct constitute the basis of the plea of res adjudicata set up in this cause.

Upon the trial the court instructed the jury peremptorily to find for Waggoner. The Court of Civil Appeals by a majority opinion reversed the cause and ordered it remand-er for another trial. 214 S. W. 690.

It is urged in the application for the writ that the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals should be reversed and that of the trial court affirmed, on two grounds: First, that no testimony was offered tending to raise the issue of fraud in the rendition of the judgment in cause No. 3607; second, that plaintiff in error’s plea of res adjudicata was good. If either contention is correct the trial court judgment should be affirmed.

Judge H-all in the minority opinion states as follows the fundamental question to be decided:

“Under the Texas practice, when a motion is made by plaintiff in a judgment to correct the judgment entry, and all parties have been duly served with notice of the motion, is it permissible for the defendant in the judgment to raise the issue of fraud in its rendition and ask that it be annulled?”

If such proceeding was permissible in connection with the consideration of the motion to correct, and the judgment rendered in the proceeding disposed of the issue of fraud raised by the special answers, plaintiff in error’s plea of res adjudicata was good.

It is the view of the majority of the Court of Civil Appeals that the court’s judgment upon the motion had no other effect than to merely correct the clerical error pointed out and make the judgment in cause No. 3067 speak the truth. In support of this view Coleman v. Zapp. 105 Tex. 491, 151 S. W. 1040, is cited, and the following excerpt is quoted therefrom:

“A proceeding of such character, whose only purpose is to have the judgment entry speak truly the judgment as rendered, neither asserts nor seeks the enforcement of any new right; it presents no issue between the parties except in respect to the accuracy of the record and otherwise involves the adjudication of nothing between them. It is powerless to reopen the controversy as closed and sealed by the judgment and makes no such attempt. The inquiry under it is not what judgment might or ought to have been rendered, but only what judgment was rendered; and such is the sole issue to be determined.

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231 S.W. 357, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waggoner-v-knight-texcommnapp-1921.