Howell v. Townsend
Howell v. Townsend
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit instituted by ap-pellee against Eli Howell and Ira Grounds to recover on twó promissory notes for $808 each, executed by said Howell and secured by a vendor’s lien on 161% acres of land out of survey 135, district No. 2, originally granted to the heirs of Edmund Guerin, in Frio county; it being alleged that the land was conveyed to Howell by M. H. Townsend, now deceased, and .that afterwards it was conveyed by Howell to Grounds, who had assumed payment of the notes. It was also alleged that appellee was the owner and holder of the notes, and that Ira Grounds had died, and that Curtis Grounds was his executor and administrator, and it was asked that he be made a party, as well as four other heirs of Ira Grounds. It was alleged that the notes were due on January 1, 1910, and January 1, 1911, and the time of payment of each note was extended, by a written contract dated December 22, 1913, until April 1, 1914. The suit was begun on March 2, 1918, *976 less than four years from extended date of payment. The cause was tried without a jury, and judgment rendered in favor of ap-pellee for the amount of the notes and interest, and for a foreclosure of a vendor’s lien, and foreclosure of a lien on a half interest in a note for $1,243.31 pledged by Howell as additional security.
The two notes which form the basis of this suit became due, respectively, on January 1, 1910, and January 1, 1911, and consequently neither was barred by limitation when the law went into effect and; by virtue of the law of 1913, the owner of the notes was given four years from June 30, 1913, in which to secure an extension of the notes. On December 22, 1913, an extension was obtained from Eli I-Iowell, the maker of the notes', until April 1, 1914, and, if that extension was valid, the notes and vendor’s lien were not barred until four years after the last-named date — that is, April 1, 1918 — and were in effect when the suit was instituted on March .2, 1918.
If the subsequent purchaser is not a necessary party to a suit to foreclose a lien on the property he has purchased from the original vendee, we fail to see any right that he has to interfere in a contract of extension of the debt of the vendee to his vendor. The subsequent purchaser was not a party to the debt secured by a lien on the land he has subsequently purchased, and cannot be recognized in any contract as to the debt between the original parties. All the right he could possibly have would be to discharge the debt and lien on. the property. The law will not recognize any claim of such subsequent purchaser to destroy the debt by technicalities in which there is no merit, and lift the lien from land for which he has not paid. Hatton v. Bodan Lumber Co., 57 Tex. Civ. App. 478, 123 S. W. 163. It has been held that the vendee can renew a vendor’s lien note and that it will be valid and binding on a subsequent purchaser from the vendee. Ware v. Bennett, 18 Tex. 807; Foote v. O’Roork, 59 Tex. 215; Slaughter v. Owens, 60 Tex. 670; King v. Brown, 80 Tex. 276, 16 S. W. 39; Flewellen v. Cochran, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 499, 48 S. W. 39; Eastham v. Patty, 29 Tex. Civ. App. 473, 69 S. W. 224.
The very language of article 5695 is conclusive, as against the contention of the appellants, and clearly indicates that by “the party or parties obligated to pay such indebtedness” was meant the original vendee or vendees, who executed the notes for the purchase money to the original vendor. There is nothing in the law that sustains the position that in order to obtain such extension the vendor would be compelled to obtain the consent and promise of any and all sub-vendees from the original vendee.
The judgment is affirmed.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- HOWELL Et Al. v. TOWNSEND
- Cited By
- 15 cases
- Status
- Published