Walker v. Barrow

464 S.W.2d 480, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2969
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 18, 1971
DocketNo. 15673
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 464 S.W.2d 480 (Walker v. Barrow) 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
Walker v. Barrow, 464 S.W.2d 480, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2969 (Tex. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

BELL, Chief Justice.

This is a trespass to try title suit brought by appellee to recover title and possession of the following described tract of land:

“All of Lot 6 of the Subdivision M of Kohfeldt’s Resubdivision of the Hamlet Ferguson Survey, Abstract 63, containing ten acres, more or less, as recorded in Volume 245, pages 283-290 of the Deed Records of Galveston County, Texas.”

The property is also sometimes described as: “All of Block 142 and all of Block 143 of Kohfeldt’s Second Addition to Texas City, containing ten acres, more or less, [482]*482located in Galveston County, Texas.” The lot contained about ten acres.

Appellee was appointed receiver by the 151st District Court of Harris County with authority to sell the land and divide the proceeds among the heirs of R. S. Wootton. He was given specific authority to take possession and to file any necessary suit to recover possession and title. Suit was filed in the District Court of Galveston County May 4, 1967, against appellant. Appellee relied on the record title in the Wootton heirs and appellant asserted title acquired by virtue of the ten year statute of limitation.

The jury found in response to Special Issue No. 1 that appellant had had peaceable adverse possession, cultivating, using or enjoying same for a period of ten consecutive years or longer prior to the filing of this suit on May 4, 1967. The other issue submitted was a rental issue and is not material to a disposition of this appeal.

The trial court granted appellee’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, it being determined there was no evidence to support the jury’s answer to Special Issue No. 1, and that appellee had established record title in the Wootton heirs.

In determining whether there was evidence of probative force to support the jury’s answers we must view the evidence most favorably to the answers and consider only the evidence that supports them. If so viewing the evidence the reasonable mind could reach the conclusion reached by the jury, a court may not disregard those answers and render judgment contrary to them.

The tract of land lies in the form of a square. It is situated in Texas City. It is bounded on the west by a drainage ditch, on the north by 3rd Avenue N., which is a shell road, on the east by 21st Street (this street is also referred to as 31st Street), an asphalt street, and on the south by 1st Avenue N., a shell road. For many years prior to 1955 or 1956 the land had been unused. In 1955 it was covered with high brush and bloodweed. Around the edges were embankments of dirt, estimated in the record to be about four feet high. Appellant’s home is immediately across 1st Avenue N. from the tract involved. It was stipulated that appellant purchased this home August 28, 1955.

Appellant testified he previously worked for Union Carbide. In 1954 he got acid in his lung. In 1956 he had a heart attack. He first got interested in the property when he got sick. In 1956 he put some horses on it. When asked if he had the property fenced, he replied, “Yes, I went over and I tried to find out who the property belonged to. Nobody could tell me. They told me it had been laying out for years. I couldn’t find anything about it so I went out there, I figured if it belonged to someone, they would come contact me, I could make some agreement with them.”

Appellant was asked if he put a fence up all at once or over a period of time. He stated, “I checked it over. At first you couldn’t get in to fence it, it was so grown up, I don’t know what they call them, kind of willow bushes that grow seven or eight foot tall * * * there were places you couldn’t even walk your horse in there, horses would get hung up in the brush, so I fenced the majority of it when I got the way cleared out.” The first fence was of two strands of barbed wire strung on posts about 18 feet apart. He didn’t get all of the weeds and heavy brush cleared until after Carla. (Carla, the storm, occurred in September, 1961.) Appellant was sick and worked on it as long as he could manage. He started installation of the fence in 1956. Appellant was asked the following question by his counsel and gave the following answer:

“Q When you started using the property after you discovered no one was using it, claiming it, so far as you know, did you move on the property with the intention of making it your own?
[483]*483“A Yes, I was unable to find out who it belonged to other than the Wootton Estate. I was unable to contact anyone in the Wootton Estate.”

Appellant did not contact the taxing authorities until after he got a letter about the property from Neugent & Lilienstern, attorneys in Texas City. This letter was received in 1965. Another letter was received from Mr. Barrow in 1966. After receiving the first letter he checked with the appropriate taxing authorities. Taxes had never been paid. Since he has claimed the property he has paid some taxes to the County. In 1956 he moved three horses on the property. Also he had some cows and chickens. He completed mowing the tract after Carla. He built a windbreak or stall for horses. He drilled a water well in 1956. He had a hand pump and later an electric pump. There was an old bath tub used as a water trough. 31st Street, or 21st Street, was opened in 1963 or 1964. There was, prior to this a fence along the east side of the tract toward 31st Street. He put a chain link gate in the fence in 1968. Prior to that there was a wire gap. He put the stalls on the property in 1956. He built an electric fence after Carla. He has planted trees, coastal Bermuda grass and Johnson grass.

Appellant’s counsel asked these questions and appellant gave the following answers:

“Q Has anyone ever come to you in person and made a claim with reference to ownership of the property. * * *?
“A. No, sir.
“Q And that is from the time you first commenced claiming ownership in 1956 to the present?
“A Yes.”

On cross-examination he testified he left Carbide in 1956 when he had a heart attack. The following questions were asked and answers given:

“Q And you testified that when you first started in that if the owner had come out there, or you were figuring if somebody came out there, you would make some kind of agreement with him?
“A Yes, I believe I would have, if he had a deed or something showing he was owner of that property.
“Q Thank you, sir. This was back in ’56, ’57?
“A Yes, sir back in ’56 when I started using it.”

Where there were the mounds of dirt along the road ditches the fences were behind the dirt. The fence would be hard to see unless you walked out on the property. You could see some of the posts over the dirt when on the road. The first fence was 3 or 4 feet high. The dirt was about 4 feet high. An electric fence was put up after Carla.

Appellant’s county tax rendition sheet for 1967 listed his home as the only property owned or claimed by him.

Appellant testified he did not think that he discussed with Mr. Lilienstern the possibility of a lease. He said he could have but he did not remember it, because it was too far back and he wasn’t going to swear he did or did not.

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576 S.W.2d 362 (Texas Supreme Court, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
464 S.W.2d 480, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-barrow-texapp-1971.