Womack v. Sharp

123 S.W.2d 681
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 2, 1938
DocketNo. 1857.
StatusPublished

This text of 123 S.W.2d 681 (Womack v. Sharp) 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
Womack v. Sharp, 123 S.W.2d 681 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

GRISSOM, Justice.

In 1925, J. R.. Sharp filed suit against H. M. Womack in trespass to try title to the following described tract of land: “Beginning at the intersection of the E.B. line of the Eastern L.W. Tinnin Survey with the original bank of Red River; Thence S. 60 West with the original bank of Red River about 1100 varas more or less to the intersection of the W.B. line of the Lyle land; Thence North about 1900 varas more or less to the bank of Red River; Thence down Red River with its meanders in an easterly direction about 950 varas more or less to the intersection of the E.B. line of the Eastern L.W. Tinnin Survey; Thence south about 1150 varas to place of beginning, containing 274 acres of land more or less.”

Sharp, in that petition', in the paragraph immediately following the above description of the land sued for, alleged as follows : “Plaintiff further shows to the court that the above described tract of land is what is commonly known as accreted land and that the same has been added to the lands of this plaintiff by the gradual recession of Red River, that on or about the - day of - — •, 1908 the north boundary of the lands now owned by plaintiff was Red River which intersected the E. B. line of the Eastern L.W. Tinnin Survey and the western boundary line of the Lyle land as above described, giving to said lands now owned by plaintiff about 1100 varas front on Red River; that since said above date Red River has gradually receded north from its old bcmk and all of said land above described is the result of a gradual accretion along the north boundary of the plaintiff’s land.”

At the conclusion of the trial of that case, judgment was rendered for the defendant Womack awarding Womack the title and possession of the above land described, alleged by plaintiff to have accreted to the Lyle and Fryar tracts since 1908. The land thus awarded to' Womack was described in the judgment exactly as in the first paragraph heretofore quoted from the description of said land in plaintiff’s petition. There was no appeal from that judgment. Said land is out of the north part of what is known in this record as the Lyle and Fryar tracts.

Thereafter, in 1930, Sharp filed another suit against Womack in trespass to try title to three tracts of land, known in this record as the Lyle, Fryar and Nations tracts. In answer to plaintiff’s petition in the 1930 suit, defendant filed a disclaimer as to the Lyle and Fryar tracts, except as to a tract of land included within plaintiff’s description of said two tracts. The part of the Lyle and Fryar tracts not disclaimed by the defendant being the land heretofore described and awarded to Wo-mack by the judgment in the 1925 suit. In connection with and in aid of defendant’s disclaimer he alleged that the portion of the Lyle and Fryar tracts not disclaimed by defendant, but expressly excepted from his disclaimer, was “out of the north part of said first and second tracts of land [the Lyle and Fryar tracts] as described in plaintiff’s said petition, and includes all the land lying south of and between the south bank of Red River, according to its present-channel and the old south bank of said River, as shown by the markings of the terrain now existing and as the same existed when the plaintiff J. R. Sharp filed *682 his said suit against this defendant in said cause No. 9731 * * hereinbefore referred to as the .1925 suit.

Defendant Womack also disclaimed title to that portion of the Nations tract described in plaintiffs petition “which lies south of the said old bank of Red River, as it existed during the year 1915 and prior to the time it changed its channel during said year and which old bank is shown by plain markings of the terrain now existing and as the same existed when the plaintiff purchased said third tract from B. P. Nations * * *."

In the 1930 suit (trial court’s docket Number 13,551), the court rendered judgment that plaintiff Sharp “take nothing by his suit, except so much of the three tracts ■of land described in plaintiff’s petition as to which the defendant disclaimed title.” It Was held that as to the 274 acre tract of laird, out of the north portion of the Lyle and Fryar tracts, excepted from the defendant’s disclaimer as to the Lyle and Fryar tracts, that the title thereto had been adjudicated by the 1925 suit and judgment for said 274 acre tract was awarded Womack. The portion of the trial court’s judgment mentioned in this paragraph was affirmed.

In the 1930 suit, the court awarded Wo-mack “all the land described as the third tract in plaintiffs petition [the Nations tract] * * * lying north of the old high cut bank of Red River as it existed during the year 1915 and prior to the time said River changed its channel during said year and which old bank of said Red River is plainly defined by the markings, of the terrain now existing and as the same existed on the 29th day of May, 1929, when the plaintiff purchased said land from B. P. Nations * * *."

The judgment in the 1930 suit fixed and determined the northern boundary of the Nations tract “as being the south cut bank of the old channel of Red River as it existed during the year 1915 and prior to the time it changed its channel.”

From said judgment plaintiff Sharp appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals where the judgment was affirmed. See Sharpe v. Womack, 73 S.W.2d 1058. A writ of error was granted by the Supreme Court. See Sharp v. Womack, 127 Tex. 357, 93 S.W.2d 712. The Supreme Court affirmed that part of the judgment awarding title to the 274 acres off the north end of the Lyle and Fryar tracts sued for by Sharp in the 1925 suit, and there alleged by Sharp to be accretions to the Lyle and Fryar tracts since 1908, to Womack. The judgment in the 1925 suit was held res adjudicata of the title to said tract. The Supreme Court held that the trial court was correct in decreeing title to be in Sharp to the land disclaimed by Womack. That court, in an opinion by Jpdge German, pointed out the fact that Womack, in the 1930 suit, had disclaimed as to all of the Lyle and Fryar tracts south of the line “beginning at the intersection of the E.B. line of the Eastern L.W. Tinnin Survey with the original bank of Red River; Thence S. 60 West with the original bank of Red River about 1100 varas more or less to the intersection of the W.B. line of the Lyle land” [page 714], and that the trial court had rendered judgment for plaintiff Sharp based on said disclaimer.

The Supreme Court held that the trial court in fixing and determining the boundary line between the land awarded plaintiff and that awarded defendant, out of the Lyle and Fryar tracts, had erred in fixing said division line “as being the South Cut Bank of the old Channel of Red River as it existed during the year 1915 and prior to the time it changed its channel.” The court said that the evidence did not show that the “cut bank” and the “original south bank” of Red River were the same — that the cut bank along which the boundary line between plaintiff and defendant, as to the Lyle and- Fryar tracts, was so fixed was south some 200 varas to 350 varas from the line “beginning at the intersection of the E.B. line of the eastern L.W.

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Related

Sharp v. Womack
93 S.W.2d 712 (Texas Supreme Court, 1936)
Sharpe v. Womack
73 S.W.2d 1058 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)

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123 S.W.2d 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/womack-v-sharp-texapp-1938.