Yoast v. Yoast

620 S.W.2d 223, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 4018
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 30, 1981·No. No. 1405·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

SUMMERS, Chief Justice.

This is a trespass to try title suit and action for judicial partition. Lovell Yoast and his wife, Martha, sued his mother, Clara Yoast, brother and sister-in-law, Ernest and Betty Jo Yoast, claiming title to a portion of a 442.94-acre tract of land located in Bastrop County. Plaintiffs Lovell and Martha Yoast claimed title to 102.45 acres of the tract under three separate gift deeds plus an additional 160 acres by adverse possession. The mother, son and daughter-in-law answered by a claim of not guilty and by way of general denial.

Trial was to the court which ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. A judgment captioned “Order of the Court” was rendered on October 10, 1979, decreeing that the plaintiffs were entitled to recover title to and possession of 262.45 acres of land out of the larger 442.94-acre tract, 102.45 acres by conveyance and 160 acres by adverse possession. The trial court, in its judgment, then proceeded to appoint a surveyor to segregate a total of 262.45 acres from the larger tract which acreage was “... to be awarded in a subsequent judgment of the court.” On November 1, 1979, the court entered a “Final Judgment” granting plaintiffs possession of two specific tracts of land described in the judgment by metes and bounds totaling 262.45 acres.

PRELIMINARY MOTIONS

Before proceeding to the merits of the appeal, we are faced with two motions included in appellee’s brief. While we consider it in poor form to present motions to [226] this court in such a manner,1 we will indulge our discretion in this instance since the motions relate to our jurisdiction to consider the appeal and the appellate record before us.

Appellees’ first of two motions asks that the appeal be dismissed for want of jurisdiction since, they contend, the appeal bond, transcript and statement of facts were not timely filed. The second of the motions is an alternative motion to strike the statement of facts from the appellate record. The following is a chronology of events leading to this appeal:

1. On October 10, 1979, the trial court entered the aforementioned “Order” which determined the parties’ interests in the property, found that the property was susceptible to partition in kind, appointed a surveyor and gave him specific instructions regarding surveying out the 262.45 acres.
2. On October 24, 1979, appellants filed a cash deposit in lieu of bond stating therein that:
WHEREAS, the Twenty-First Judicial District Court of Bastrop County, Texas, in the above entitled and numbered cause, on October 10, 1979, entered an order and judgment herein in favor of the plaintiffs ....
WHEREAS, Clara Yoast, Ernest Yoast and Betty Jo Yoast, Defendants desire to appeal from said order and judgment to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Third Supreme Judicial District of Texas .... (Emphasis added.)
3. November 1, 1979 — The trial court signed a “Final Judgment” which adopted the surveyor’s field notes and granted plaintiffs title and possession to 262.45 specific acres.
4. December 9, 1979 — The record was due in this court on this date in accordance with Rule 3862, i. e., 60 days from the court’s order of October 10, if that order is determined to be final, appeal-able and the order from which appellants seek our review.
5. December 24, 1979 — Seventy-five days following the court’s order of October 10 when a motion for extension of time to file the statement of facts would be due if appeal is from the October 10 judgment. Rule 21c(l).
6. January 2, 1980 — Appellants’ first motion for extension of time was filed stating that “on November 1, 1979, the 21st Judicial District Court of Bastrop County, Texas, rendered a judgment and order in said court. That the last day for filing the statement of facts with the Clerk of the Court of Civil Appeals is January 1, 1980.”
7. January 15, 1980 — Appellants’ amended motion for extension of time to file statement of facts was filed.
8. January 23, 1980 — The Austin Court of Civil Appeals considered and granted appellants’ amended 21c motion. The statement of facts was filed the same day.

Appellees sought review of the order granting the motion for late filing in the supreme court as provided by the last paragraph of Rule 21c. Their application was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Such a notation indicates that the supreme court did not pass upon the merits of the application and stands for nothing more than a determination by that august body that necessary jurisdictional bases were lacking to grant a writ. Calvert, The Mechanics of Judgment Making in the Supreme Court of Texas, 21 Texas L.Rev. 447 (1969); Wood v. Banker’s Life & Loan Ass’n of Dallas, 132 Tex. 505, 125 S.W.2d 262 (1939).

We deny the motion to dismiss the appeal and grant the motion to strike the statement of facts for reasons which follow.

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Yoast v. Yoast, 620 S.W.2d 223, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 4018 (Tex. Ct. App. 1981).

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