Simmons v. Arnim
Simmons v. Arnim
Opinion of the Court
This suit was brought by Susan S. Simmons and husband, J. W. Simmons, Mary C. Langley and husband, W. G. Langley, and William B. Gregg, on March 13, 1911, in trespass to try title, against F. F. Arnim, E. B. Parker, trustee, Andrew Dow, Kate Scanlan, Henry Albrecht, S. Taliaferro, and Rosalie H. Taliaferro, Robert Talbot, Max Murray, and Adrian Bailey, to recover the east part of block one of Darius Gregg’s First addition to. the city of Houston. Robert Talbot, Max Murray, and Adrian Bailey, tenants in possession, disclaimed. The other defendants answered by pleas of not guilty and limitations of three, five, and ten years, and by a special plea that the property had been acquired by them through a sale under execution on a judgment against the plaintiffs for a fee allowed to a guardian ad litem for the plaintiffs in a suit styled Jacob Chase v. W. B. Gregg et al., in the district court of Harris county; that the fee was properly allowed to the guardian ad litem; that it was properly taxed against the plaintiffs; that judgment was properly rendered against them accordingly; that the execution in question properly issued on such judgment; that the land was seized and sold thereunder; that it sold for a fair price; and that, if there were any irregularities in the sale, the court should confirm the same. *185 The validity of such proceedings was the primary issue in the case. Each of the three plaintiffs requested a peremptory instruction in his favor for a one-third interest in the land, hut the court refused the requests, and, instead, instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendants. Judgment was entered accordingly; the plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial was overruled; and the plaintiffs brought the case to this court by writ of error.
Divested of all immaterial matters, the plaintiffs show title t'o the land in themselves through proper muniments of title and by 'inheritance from ancestors, unless divested from them by a sale under execution issued, on a judgment in favor of S. Taliaferro, guardian ad litem, in the suit of Jacob Ohase v. W. B. Gregg et al. The essential facts surrounding that judgment and leading up to the issuance of execution and sale thereunder, to the proper determination of the issues presented here, are as follows:
August 23, 1893, Jacob Chase filed suit against Dr. Lipscomb and wife and the plaintiffs in this suit, who were then minors, to quiet the title to certain property, including that in question; all the parties served by citation. S. Taliaferro was appointed guardian ad litem to represent the minors, and did represent them in the trial of the cause. The suit resulted' in judgment for the minors. The trial court, in the same judgment that decreed the lands to the minors, made an allowance of $1,200 fee to guardian ad litem, and gave judgment therefor, and directed that -execution issue for same against the property recovered only. After the case had been appealed and affirmed, the trial court entered an order which determined that the first allowance was’ insufficient, and allowed $500 additional to be paid out of the estate decreed to them in the suit. Thereafter execution issued, was served, and the property sold to T. W. House for $1,700, its fair value,- who took title for S. Taliaferro, as a convenient method of making the land stand as security for indebtedness of Taliaferro to House, and the amount was credited on the execution.
Appellants, by theirs first, second, and third assignments, assert that the trial court erred in its instruction for defendants:
First. Because the undisputed evidence showed that the plaintiffs owned and were entitled to the possession each of an undivided one-third interest' in the land in suit, unless the title had been divested from them by the sale under the , execution issued on the judgments in favor of Taliaferro, guardian ad,litem.
(a) Title will not be divested by an execution sale when the statutes expressly or impliedly forbid the enforcement of thfe judgment that way, and, the judgment being against minors, it should have been collected only through a guardianship, and not by service of a sale under execution.
(b) Title will not be divested by execution sale unless the judgment wherein the execution issued be valid and authorize the execution, and unless the execution be in conformity with the statutory requirements.'
(e) A single execution drawing its authority jointly from two judgments is void if either judgment is void.
(d) An execution issued for a substantially greater sum than that legally imposed by judgment is void, and a sale thereunder is ineffectual, especially if the sheriff, in performing the excessive command, seizes and sells more property than the judgment warrants. ®
(e) A judgment rendered against minors when they are not, either voluntarily or compulsorily, before the court, and are not represented by guardian or guardian ad litem, is void. The citation served upon the minors at the commencement of the suit was not sufficient to retain them for the purpose of these judgments, and, the guardian ad litem being adversely interested to them, they should have been cited or been represented by another guardian ad litem.
(f) The execution was .not in conformity with the requirements of the statutes, in that it did not correctly ‘ describe the purported judgment or judgments on which it was issued, or the parties to the same, and did not set forth the property to be sold for the satisfaction thereof. Seventh, eighth, and ninth assignments.
If there had been a guardianship pending, there would be no question of the correctness of appellant’s proposition, for then the guardian must be made a party to the suit, but there is no provision in the law requiring a guardian, or which impliedly requires one. There is no provision in our laws, as in cases of executors and administrators, that judgments against minors should not direct execution to issue, or that they should be classified and paid currently with other claims of the same degree; in fact, as stated, nqthing to indicate that judgments against minors without guardians of their estate or the time rendered are not to be collected by execution as in other cases. Adriance v. Brooks, 13 Tex. 280.
If appellant's contention is correct that the judgment could only be enforced through a guardianship proceeding, there are many supposable cases that would leave the court without remedy to enforce its decree: Suppose no Texas court had jurisdiction; suppose some court in Texas had jurisdiction, but there was no one who could or would file the application in form as required by article 40.61, Rev. Civ. Stat., etc.
The judgments entered are valid, and were subject to be enforced by execution as provided therein; so this brings us to the last question raised by the record: “Was the execution by virtue of which the sale was made in conformity with the requirements of the statutes?” Appellant charges that it was not for the reasons: (1) It does not set forth the names of the parties; (2) the judgments are not accurately described therein; (3) the judgment commanded the sale of particular property for the satisfaction thereof, and the execution was- not so framed.
• The execution is as follows:
“The State of Texas to the Sheriff or any Constable of Harris County — Greeting:
“Whereas at the April term, 1894, of the honorable district court of Harris county, Tex., on the 14th day of April, 1894, S. Taliaferro, as guardian ad litem, recovered a judgment against the minors William Bowen Gregg, Susan B. Gregg, and Carrie May Gregg for the sum of twelve hundred dollars ($1,200.00), and at the June term, 1896, of said court on June 1, 1896, recovered a further judgment against said minor defendants for the additional sum of five hundred dollars ($500.00), aggregating seventeen hundred dollars ($1,700.00) dollars and all costs of suit, which said defendants ought now to pay: Now, therefore, you are hereby commanded that, of the goods, chattels, lands, and tenements of the said William Bowen Gregg, Susan B. Gregg, and Carrie May Gregg recovered in this suit, you make or cause to be made the said sum of seventeen hundred ($1,700.00) dollars with 6 per cent, interest on twelve hundred ($1,200.00) dollars from April 14, 1894, 6 per cent, interest on five hundred ($500.00) dollars from June 1, 1896, until paid, and the further sum of one BO/ioo ($1.50), by way of costs, together with your legal fees and commission for collecting the same. Herein fail not to make due execution and return of this writ within 60 days from this date.
“Given under my hand and seal of office at Houston this 8th day of Septembex-, 1$96.
“[Signed] J. R. Waties, “Clerk District Court Harris County, Texas, “By C. G. Vinson, Deputy.”
Indorsement:
“#1§659. Jacob Chase v. William Bowen Gregg et al. Execution issued September 8, 1896. J. R. Waties, Clk. D. C. H. C., by C. G. Vinson, Deputy.
“Dated Judg. 14 day April, 1894.
1 “ .June, 1896.
“Bill costs. Clerk’s costs, $1.50.”
*187
Finding no error in the record, the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SIMMONS Et Al. v. ARNIM Et Al.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published