Wolf v. Lane
Wolf v. Lane
Opinion of the Court
B. G. Lane sued E. A. Wolf and John Wolf in the form of trespass to try title to 3,840 acres of land in Dimmit county, and for damages. The real issue was for damages for pasturing cattle on the land. E. A. Wolf bad sold this land to Lane, and then leased it from him. E. A. Wolf occupied the land until March, 1911, when be and Lane entered into a memorandum of agreement which was to date back to January 1, 1911, whereby be was to have free use of the pasture and $25 per month in consideration of bis putting about 60 acres in cultivation, building certain fences, etc., and Lane was to have one-half of the crop. This contract was to run until January 1, 1912. Lane was also to furnish teams, etc. Lane says it was agreed that Wolf Should have the right to keep only about 40 bead of horse stock on the land; that at that time John Wolf bad stock in the pasture which he promised to take out, but which be did not take out until about January 1, 1912. tie *73 further says that E. A. Wolf did not make the improvements; that at the time he saw the pasture there were 400 or 500 head of cattle in it, but that he was not there from the time the contract was signed in March until August, 1911, when he again visited it and found the grass all gone. Ed English says he sold E. A. Wolf 800 or 900 head of cattle, but that Wolf sold part of them before he took them out of the pasture. Sam English says that during 1911 E. A. and John Wolf were in possession of the land in controversy, and had cattle there; that John Wolf put some cows in there, and that there were about 300 of them, but that John Wolf sold them in the summer of 1911; that the cattle were a mixed lot; and that E. A. Wolf claimed to own the cattle which were put in the pasture. E. A. Wolf says that he first put in 135 head of cattle of his own. and that later he put in some 200 head more, and that, when he left there in August, 1911, there were from 450 to 480 head of cattle in the pasture. John Wolf says that, when he bought the cattle from E. A. Wolf, he was to pay for them only as he took them out; that E. A. Wolf owed him, and he paid for them by giving credit to E. A. Wolf. He says he took out all but 150 head in September, 1911; that at the time he had about 350 to 380 head, which he turned into the Capones land, leased from Prior in September, 1911. John Wolf says he paid E. A. Wolf $50 per month for the pasture by crediting him with that amount. Lane says John Wolf, in March, 1911, promised him he would take the cattle out, after he had repeatedly requested him to do so.
The two defendants entered a plea of not guilty and general denial, and the court charged the jury that the title to the land was in the plaintiff, and to find for him, and then gave a charge on the matter of damages. The verdict of the jury was: “We, the jury, find the defendants guilty as charged, and assess the damages at three hundred ($300.00). C. M. Decker, Foreman.” On that verdict, the court entered judgment in favor of appellee, Lane, for the land and also for $300 damages.
The defendants below did not claim the land; but E. A. Wolf claimed the free use of it under his contract.
June-, 1911, Lane sold an undivided one-half interest in the 3,840 acres of land to N. Y. Henderson, and in the same month Henderson and Lane sold to E. C. Monday an undivided one-half in all of it, thus leaving Lane a one-fourth interest.
There could be but one interpretation of the verdict rendered, and that is that the defendants were guilty of trespassing, and they could not have been trespassers as to Lane unless the jury found that he owned the land. The assignments raising this question of the sufficiency of the verdict are overruled.
We have examined the other assignments, and, finding no merit therein, overrule the same.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.