Webb v. Bergin

38 S.W.2d 841, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 455
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 1931
DocketNo. 1022.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 38 S.W.2d 841 (Webb v. Bergin) 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
Webb v. Bergin, 38 S.W.2d 841, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 455 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

ALEXANDER, J.

This was a suit originally instituted in the district court of Dallas county by Edward G. Bergin, as landlord, against H. B. Webb, as tenant, to recover certain rents alleged to be due by the tenant to the landlord for the use of a certain store building located in the city of Dallas, and to foreclose the landlord’s lien on certain fixtures that had been removed from the building by the tenant. The plaintiff later amended his petition making J. A. Webb a party defendant on the ground that he was claiming some interest in the fixtures. The case was removed to the district court of McLennan county on a plea of privilege. J. A. Webb held a prior mortgage on a part of the fixtures to secure the payment of .a note executed by H. B. Webb to him in the sum of $7,500, and asserted a claim against all of ' the’ fixtures under an agreement by which he claimed to have purchased the fixtures from H. B. Webb in cancellation of the $7,500 note and without notice of plaintiff’s lien. The trial court, on the verdict of a jury, rendered judgment for plaintiff against H. B. Webb for his debt in the sum of $1,000, and against both defendants foreclosing the landlord’s lien on all of the fixtures, except that part covered by the mortgage given to J. A. Webb to secure the payment of the $7,500 note. J. A. Webb appeals'.

*842 On October 31,1028, the tenant, without the consent of the landlord, removed the fixtures from the building and carried them to McLen-nan county, and, on November 1st, sold them to J. A. Webb in cancellation of his note. On the same day and before the filing of this suit in the district court to foreclose the lien, the landlord filed in the justice court in Dallas county proper affidavit and bond and secured the issuance of a distress warrant. The warrant was levied on the property in the possession of J. A. Webb in McLennan county on the same day. Upon a trial of the case now before the court, H. B. Webb, the tenant, and J. A-. Webb each filed pleas in abatement seeking to abate this suit on three grounds, as follows: (a) The justice court in Dallas had no authority to issue the distress warrant because the property, at the time of the issuance of the writ, was located in McLennan county; (b) the distress warrant was issued after the property was removed from the leased building ; (c) at the time the distress warrant was sued out, the plaintiff had not filed a petition asking for foreclosure of his landlord’s lien.

Revised Statutes, article 5239, provides in part as follows: “When any rent shall become due, or the tenant about to remove from such leased or rented buildings, or remove his property therefrom, it shall be lawful for the person to whom the rent is payable, his agent, attorney or assignee, to apply to a justice of the peace of the precinct where the building is situated for a distress warrant, which shall be issued on an affidavit and bond. * * * ” The leased building in this case was located in Dallas county, and, by the very wording of the statute, the justice of the peace in that county had the right to issue the distress warrant, regardless of where the property was located. As to the right to have the distress warrant issue after the fixtures had been removed from the leased building, the statute provides that it may issue when the debt becomes due or the tenant is about to remove from the leased or rented building or remove his property therefrom. This fixes the time when the right first accrues, but it does not require that the right be exercised the very moment it accrues. It may be exercised at any time before the lien is lost'. Under Revised Statutes, article 5238, the lien continues -so long as the tenant occupies the leased premises and for one month' thereafter. If it were necessary that the distress warrant issue before the fixtures were removed from the-building in order to preserve the lien, the thirty days provided for in the statute would be worthless. It was not necessary that the distress warrant be sued out before the fixtures were removed from the building. Neither was it necessary that the petition asking -for a foreclosure of the landlord’s lien be filed before the distress warrant was issued. The purpose of Revised Statutes, article 5239, in authorizing the issuance of the distress warrant was to provide a speedy and effective remedy by which the property could be distrained and preserved until proper proceedings could be instituted and prosecuted to effect foreclosing the lien.

Moreover, and as a complete answer to all of the above propositions, the landlord’s lien was created by the statute and existed independent of the distress warrant. If in fact the distress warrant was issued without authority, or if it was in any wise defective, the landlord nevertheless had the right to foreclose his lien by the filing of the petition in the regular way. Brown v. Collins, 77 Tex. 159, 14 S. W. 173; Templeman v. Gresham, 61 Tex. 50; Newman v. Ward (Tex. Civ. App.) 46 S. W. 868; Polk v. King, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 666, 48 S. W. 601; Crutcher v. Wolfe (Tex. Civ. App.) 269 S. W. 841; Bourcier v. Edmondson, 58 Tex. 675.

The appellee, Bergin, sued the tenant. I-I. B. Webb, within thirty days after the fixtures were removed from the leased premises and prayed for a foreclosure of his land; lord’s lien. The appellant, J. A. Webb, however, was not made a party defendant until more than ten months after the fixtures had been so removed. It is appellant’s contention that, since he was not made a party to the suit within thirty days after the removal of the fixtures from the leased premises, the landlord lost his lien. The filing of the suit by the landlord against the tenant within the-thirty-day period was sufficient to preserve the lien as to the tenant. Appellant, having purchased the property from the tenant within the thirty-day period, took the same with notice of the claim of the landlord, and the landlord, upon discovering that the appellant was claiming-an interest in the property, had the right to make the appellant a party to the suit at any time before the landlord’s claim against. him was barred by the two years’ statute of limitation. York v. Carlisle, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 269, 46 S. W. 257; Ingraham v. Rich (Tex. Civ. App.) 136 S. W. 549; American Cotton Co. v Phillips, 31 Tex. Civ. App. 79, 71 S. W. 320; Mensing Bros. & Co. v. Cardwell, 33 Tex. Civ. App. 16, 75 S. W. 347; Zapp v. Johnson, 87 Tex. 641, 30 S. W. 861; Frith v. Wright (Tex. Civ. App.) 173 S. W. 453, 456.

The appellant claims that the trial court was without jurisdiction to foreclose the lien as to him, because befofe being made a party to this suit he had filed claimant's oath and bond for the trial of right of property and thereby withdrawn the property from the jurisdiction of the court in this case. As heretofore stated, the appellee, Bergin, filed affidavit find bond in the justice court at Dallas, sued out a distress warrant, and had same levied on the property in question. J. A. Webb, in whose possession the property was found, delivered to the sheriff levying *843 the writ a claimant’s oath and bond for the trial of right of property, and secured a return of the property. The sheriff returned the claimant’s oath and bond to the district court of McLennan county. The plaintiff, in his petition in the ease at bar, thereafter made J. A. Webb a party defendant, and set up the issuance and levy of the distress warrant and the filing of the claimant’s oath and bond for the trial of the right of property.

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Bluebook (online)
38 S.W.2d 841, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webb-v-bergin-texapp-1931.