Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Ins. Co. v. Beavers
Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Ins. Co. v. Beavers
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of G. H. Beavers and against the Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company, which judgment rescinded, canceled and held for naught a subscription contract between the parties, and ordered the surrender of and canceled certain notes executed by Beavers in part payment for certain stock, and decreed to appel-lee certain moneys, which were the proceeds of the sale of securities given to the bonding company in partial payment for the stock issued to appellee, and, further, that the certificates of stock so issued to appellee be surrendered to the bonding company. Said judgment was so entered upon a finding that the subscription contract was void because induced by false and fraudulent representations made by the promoters, agents, etc., of the bonding company. This is one of a number of actions instituted by different parties against the same bonding company upon substantially the same allegations for cause of action. The case of Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Co. v. E. P. Bomar, reported in 169 S. W. 1060, is one of the number referred to, and contains a statement in detail of the contentions of the parties. During the progress of the trial of said above cause, the parties entered into a stipulation hereinafter copied in full, which, in effect, is a final adjudication of the questions of law and fact in this case, if said stipulation is binding upon the appellant, unless the court erred in refusing to grant a continuance or in admitting certain testimony, or was in error in holding that the parties to the other suits were not necessary parties to this, for which the cause must be remanded. In the stipulation, after naming some 40 parties plaintiff, with the style of their suit and in what court filed, the document reads:
“We, the undersigned attorneys, L. W. Dalton, James A. Stephens, and Montgomery & Britain, who are attorneys for .the plaintiffs in all the above-entitled causes, and Miller and Stephens, who are attorneys for the defendant, Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company in -all the above-entitled causes, and McLean, Scott, McLean & Bradley, who are attorneys for It. T. Stuart in all the above-entitled causes, some of which cases are filed and some to be hereinafter filed in the district court of Baylor county, Texas, hereby enter into and make the following agreement:
“First. It is agreed that L. W. Dalton, as attorney for each of the following named parties, to wit, John Haynes, of Silverton, Texas, R. F. Smythe, of Plainview, Texas, L. D. Die, of Plainview, Texas, Edgar Allen, J. H. Reed and J. F. Leathcrwood, shall file suits against the Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company for the rescission of the stock subscription contract by which each of said parties agree to take certain stock in said Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company and for cancellation of the notes given by each of said parties for such stock and the recovery of whatever money may have been paid by each of said parties and that suit may be also filed for S. C. Hickman. And it is further agreed that said Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company shall answer, plead over against R. T. Stuart, and ask for recovery against him for whatever amount may be recovered against the Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company, by the plaintiff.
“Second. It is further agreed that said causes above referred to to be hereafter filed and all cases of every character pending in the district courts of Baylor and Knox counties, Texas, between the parties hereto shall be continued and none of said causes tried until the final determination of the case of E. P. Bomar v. John Scharbauer et al., No. 1773, in the district court of Baylor county, Texas, which said cause has been tried in said district court and a judgment therein rendered for the plaintiff E. P. Bomar, against the defendant Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company for the rescission of a subscription contract made by him to the stock of said Commonwealth. Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company, and the recovery of all moneys. paid by him to said company, and the cancellation of all notes executed by him to said company, and judgment has further been rendered in said cause in favor of said Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company against the defendant R. T. Stuart, for the sum of $500.00 as promotion fees.
“It is further agreed that in the event that judgment in the case of E. P. Bomar v. John Scharbauer et ah, above referred to, shall finally be affirmed by the appellate courts of this state, either in whole or part, that is, if said judgment shall finally be affirmed for the cancellation of the obligations given by said Bomar and for the recovery of the sum of $1,000.00 which the evidence shows in said case was paid to the Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company, and for the sum of $500.00, which the evidence in said case shows was paid for promotion, then it is agreed that a like judgment shall be'rendered in each of the above-entitled causes for the cancellation of the obligations given by the plaintiff in each of said causes, and for the recovery of all moneys paid by each of said plaintiffs to the Commonwealth Bonding & Casualty Insurance Company, or for promotion fees, but if said judgment shall be affirmed in part only, that is, if said judgment should be affirmed for the recovery only of such moneys as were received by the Commonwealth Bonding '& Casualty Insurance ■ Company and of the obligations given, to said company or transferred to it, then a like judgment shall be rendered in each of the causes above referred to. No judgment against John .Scharbauer shall be rendered in any of said causes.
“It is further agreed that in the event a judgment in the case of E. P. Bomar v. John Schar-bauer et al. shall be recovered by the Appellate Court, then in that event this agreement shall not affect the right of the plaintiffs' in each of the causes above named, and referred to in this agreement, to try said causes upon the merits, and all parties shall be relieved from the effect of this agreement except in so far as the same provides for a continuance of said causes above named until the final disposition of the case of E. P. Bomar v. John Scharbauer et al.
“Witness our hands,” etc.
“Agreements of counsel made during the progress of a cause ordinarily tend to the dispatch of business, and should be favored by the courts. The agreement should not be set aside at the instance of either party when the party invoking such action has obtained an advantage under it, or when its withdrawal will place the opposite party in worse position than if it had never been made.”
Finding no error in the record, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published