Morrison v. Neely
Morrison v. Neely
Opinion of the Court
W. H. Neely purchased from -the state throe sections of land situated in Culberson county, under and by virtue of a statute which required him to occupy the land for a period of three years in order to perfect his title thereto. Prior to the completion of such occupancy Neely conveyed to Morrison and Hastings, ’who were *587 real estate brokers, those three sectiohs, together with eight other sections of land, under a contract and agreement that Neely would complete the term of occupancy required by the statute in order to acquire title to the three sections of land above mentioned, and Morrison and Hastings would sell the property so conveyed to them and would apply the proceeds to the payment of the outstanding indebtedness which Neely was owing, after taking out of the proceeds of sales a sufficient amount to pay the expenses of handling the property and to pay Morrison and Hastings a reasonable commission for their services. In other words, Neely owed several debts which he was unable to pay, and he turned over to Morrison and Hastings the lands above mentioned and gave them authority to sell the same and to pay off his debts, after deducting a reasonable commission for their services in making the sales. He also, obligated himself to complete the term of occupancy required to perfect his title to the three sections mentioned. Acting under said agreement, Morrison and Hastings entered into a contract with plaintiff Byrne to sell to him the three sections above mentioned as soon as title thereto was perfected by a compliance with Neely’s contract of occupancy. At the same time Morrison and Hastings gave to Byrne a bond for title signed by themselves as principals and by W. H. Neely and wife, L. U. I. Neely, and A. L. Wood as sureties. The bond for title stipulated for the payment of $4,600, conditioned that Neely would continue to occupy the land for the time required to perfect the title, and when the title was so perfected would convey the same to Byrne.
Byrne instituted this suit to recover title to the land, or, in the alternative, to recover upon the bond for title. It was alleged in the petition that Neely had perfected title to the land by occupying it for the required statutory period and had filed proper prooí of such occupancy in the general land office.
By cross-action Neely sought a judgment over against Morrison and Hastings for what they had realized on the property given by Byrne in exchange for the three sections of land, and a judgment was rendered in favor of Neely upon that cross-action. The plaintiff recovered a judgment for the land. Morrison and Hastings have prosecuted this appeal, but no assignments are presented to the judgment rendered in favor of plaintiff Byrne. The only complaint urged in their brief is of the judgment in favor of Neely on his cross-action, as noted above.
The trial was before the court without a jury, and the trial judge has filed findings of fact and conclusions of law upon which the judgment was predicated.
The findings of fact are very full, giving a full history of all the transactions leading up to and involved in the suit, and those transactions involved numerous details, all oí which are fully set out in the trial judge’s findings of fact, which cover nearly 18 pages in the transcript and are divided into 30 paragraphs, numbered 1 to 30 consecutively.
It seems that after Morrison and Hastings took over the property from Neely under their agreement to realize money thereon with which to discharge Neely’s indebtedness, after paying themselves for their services, the latter borrowed the sum of $3,000 and used the same in paying certain debts and expenses. That money was borrowed on a mortgage executed by Morrison and Hastings upon 11 sections of land turned over to them by Neely. It seems also that at the time of the trial the $3,000 note so secured was still outstanding and not yet due.
For the reasons indicated, the judgment in favor of appellees Neely and wife on their cross-action against appellants is affirmed; in other respects the judgment of the trial court, from which there was no appeal, is undisturbed.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- MORRISON Et Al. v. NEELY Et Ux.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published