Lanham v. West
Lanham v. West
Opinion of the Court
Appellee D. M. West filed this suit against W. G-. Bryant, Smith & Peyton Hardware Company, R. L. Henderson, receiver of said company, and appellants, alleging that on November 18, 1914, R. L. Dockum conveyed to Smith & Peyton Hardware Company,, which will hereinafter be called the'Hardware Company, 109 acres of land in Bell county, Tex., and on the same day conveyed to it 54½ acres of land; that, as a part of the consideration for the 109 acres, the Hardware Company assumed a note for $2,000, payable to Amicable Life Insurance C'ompany, and executed its note to Dockum for $160, secured by a second lien on the 109 acres; that, as a part of the consideration for the 54%-acre tract, the Hardware Company executed to Dockum six notes, aggregating $1,750, secured by the 54%-acre tract only; that on August 26, 1915, by deed recorded March 11, 1916, the Hardware Company conveyed both of said tracts of land to W. Q. Bryant for $9,715 cash and the assumption by said Bryant of all the above-described notes; that the appellee was the legal and equitable owner and holder of the six notes, aggregating $1,750; that on or about the 3d day of February, 1916, E. F. Lanham purchased the $160 note, and on the same date Bryant executed an extension agreement with Lanham, extending the time of payment of said note to February 10, 1916; that on February 4, 1916, Bryant executed to Sam D. Snodgrass, trustee for Lanham, a deed of trust on the 109^acre tract to further secure the payment of said note for $160, and that on March 8, 1916, the trustee conveyed to Lanham the 109-acre tract, under the power conferred in the deed of trust, for $210, which was alleged to be grossly inadequate; that neither the extension agreement between Lan-ham and Bryant, nor the deed of the trustee, was recorded until after the trustee’s sale, and that appellee had no notice of any such matters until long after the execution and *259 delivery of the trustee’s deed to Lanham; that on March 26, 1916, Lanham conveyed the 109-aere tract to C. D. Shepperd, one of the appellants, who now claims to be the owner of said tract.
Appellee, West, further alleged that as the owner of the sis notes, aggregating $1,750, on July 4, 1916, he purchased the 54%-aere tract at trustee’s sale for $408, which he credited on said notes; that, by reason of Bryant’s assumption of the notes in the deed from the Hardware Company to Bryant, the vendor’s lien was spread over both tracts; and that by reason thereof he (West) became the holder of the third lien on the 109-acre tract to secure the $1,750 notes herein sued upon. Ap-pellee, West, prayed for judgment, declaring the trustee’s deed to Lanham to be void as to him, and for judgment again Bryant and the Hardware Company on the notes, for foreclosure of his lien on the 109-acre tract as against all the parties defendant, for sale, etc.
Appellants and also Bryant filed exceptions to the averments of appellee’s petition, reciting the spreading of appellee’s lien over the 109-acre tract by virtue of the deed from the Hardware Company to Bryant, which exceptions were all overruled by the court, of winch action appellants make no complaint by any assignment in this court.
Appellants also pleaded a certain release, executed by It. E. Henderson, receiver, and W. W. Stockton, vice president of the Hard^ ware Company, hereinafter referred to, to which appellees excepted, and which exception was sustained by the court.1 No complaint is here made of this action by any of the appellants.
Appellants Shepperd, McCelvey, Lanham, and McCelvey Loan & Investment Company answered, alleging, among other things, that in the assumption by Bryant of the notes in the deed from the Hardware Company neither Bryant nor the company intended to create a blanket lien on both tracts for the security of the note sued on by plaintiff; that neither said assumption by Bryant nor the retention of the vendor’s lien in the deed created any lien on the 109-aere tract, for the further reason that on or about March 29, 1916, the Hardware Company, acting through its receiver and its vice president, executed and delivered to Bryant a release of the lien on the said 109 acres, if it had any lien created by the assumption of Bryant to pay the notes sued on, which was filed for record on the same date; that appellant Shepperd, present owner of the 109-acre tract, had no notice that appellee West was claiming a lien on that tract, until served with citation herein, and that said release operated to release any lien that appellee West ever had arising out of Bryant’s assumption of his notes; that Lanham, by the trustee’s deed, became invested with the fee-simple title to the 109-acre tract, subject only to the lien to secure the $2,000 note payable to Amicable Life Insurance Company.
Bryant adopted the answer of appellants, and, among other things, alleged that, when he purchased the two tracts from the Hardware Company, it was distinctly understood and agreed that the liens, as they had previously existed on each tract, should remain as before, and that said liens were not to be affected, enlarged, or changed by his assumption of the notes; that if the deed by its terms should be construed to create a lien on the 109 acres in favor of appellee West, then that the stipulations providing for said lien were inserted in the deed through fraud and deceit practiced on him by the Hardware Company, and that said stipulations were inserted as the result of mutual mistake as to a proper construction of the deed; and he alleged that the deed by its terms was ambiguous, and should be reformed to express the true intention of the parties; -which answer was, in turn, adopted by appellants.
The case was submitted to the jury on special issues, upon which the jury found in favor of appellees, and upon the verdict entered judgment, construing the deed from the Hardware Company to Bryant as retaining the vendor’s lien on both tracts to secure the notes in suit, and foreclosing the lien, and ordering the land sold to satisfy the judgment in favor of appellee West for the balance due on the notes.
Defendant Bryant did not appeal, nor did the Amicable Life Insurance Company, nor the Hardware Company, nor the receiver of said company; the two latter defendants joining the appellee West in his brief, and asking for an affirmance of the judgment.
The special issues submitted to the jury, together with the answers of the jury, are as follows:
“Special Issue No. 1: Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Charles B. Smith, acting for the Smith & Peyton Hardware Company in the execution of the deed from Smith & Peyton, Hardware Company to W. G. Bryant, practiced fraud upon the said W. G. Bryant, as the same has hereinbefore been defined, as to whether said deed by its terms had the effect in law to create a lien on the 109-acre tract of land described in plaintiffs’ petition, in favor of the holder of and securing the six notes herein sued on? Answer this question ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ ’’
To which the jury answered: “No.”
“Special Issue No. 2: Was it agreed by and between Charles B. Smith, who represented the Smith & Peyton Hardware Company,' and W. G. Bryant that the liens on the 54*4-acre tract and the 109-acre tract should remain separate and as they existed prior to the execution of the deed by Smith & Peyton Hardware Company to W. G. Bryant? You will answer this question ‘Yes’ or “No.’ ”
To which the jury answered: “No.”
“Special Issue No. 3: Did said deed from Smith & Peyton Hardware Company to W. G. Bryant, as written, executed, delivered, and *260 accepted by the parties thereto, truly state their agreements and contracts, and truly represent their intentions as to the effect of the liens upon the lands therein conveyed? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ ”
To which the jury answered: “Yes.”
“Special Issue No. 4: At the time the defendant E. E. Lanham purchased the said 109-acre tract at the trustee’s sale, March 7, 1916, did E. F. Lanham or H. M. MeCelvey, or either of them, have any knowledge or actual notice of the recitals contained in the deed from Smith & Peyton Hardware Company to W. G. Bryant? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ ”
To which the jury answered: “Yes.’’
Appellants’ second, third, and fourth assignments of error present the claim that the trial court erred in not setting aside the verdict because the jury’s answers to special issues No. 1, 2, and 3, above quoted, are contrary to the undisputed evidence.
While presented in different form, and perhaps not as specifically as in .the questions presented and requested by appellants, the trial court substantially submitted all these issues to the jury, and it was not error for the trial court to refuse to again submit the questions. Therefore we overrule these three assignments.
As pointed out in discussing the first assignment of error, the deed appears to be unambiguous on its face, and as written had the effect to extend the vendor’s lien over both tracts of land. Tex. Land & Loan Co. v. Watkins, supra. The habendumi clause in this deed reads as follows:
“But it is expressly agreed and stipulated that the vendor’s lion notes above mentioned are retained against all of the above-described land and premises and improvements until the above-described notes and all interest thereon are fully paid, according to their face and tenor, effect ■ and reading, when this deed shall become absolute.”
None of the other recitals in the deed are in conflict with, but are consistent with, this clause, and we think it is clear that the lien was thereby expressly reserved upon all the land to secure the payment of the notes in suit.
The testimony, while conflicting upon the issue of fraud and mistake,- is sufficient to support the findings of the jury that there was no fraud practiced, and that the deed as written correctly stated and conformed to the agreement and intention of the parties. Therefore the court did not eim in rendering judgment upon the verdict in favor of appel-lee, West, and the eighth assignment of error is overruled.
Finding no reversible error in the record, the judgment will be affirmed.
Affirmed.
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Reference
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- LANHAM Et Al. v. WEST Et Al.
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