Richerson v. Pounds
Richerson v. Pounds
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit (nonjury) in trespass to try title. The court entered a “take nothing” judgment against plaintiffs. Defendants asked for no affirmative relief and none was granted. There was no request for findings of fact and conclusions of law and none were filed.
Appellants’ first point is: “The trial court erred in rendering judgment that plaintiffs take nothing.” We sustain this contention. The point requires a comprehensive statement.
It is without dispute that the same plaintiffs in this cause of action, in January 1942, filed a suit in the district court of Hamilton county, Texas, against Rosa Couch (now Rosa Couch Pounds) individually and as administratrix of the estate of Ted Couch, deceased, which estate was pending in the probate court of Hamilton county at the time the suit was brought. In their original petition in this partition suit they alleged that the plaintiffs and defendants “are the joint owners in fee simple of the following described three tracts of land situated in Hamilton county, Texas,” the first tract containing 84.73 acres, the second tract 38.34 acres and the third tract 81.3 acres, each tract described by metes and bounds. They further alleged that said tracts of land were fenced along with other tracts and specifically set out the source of their title to these tracts. They specifically alleged that the estate of Ted Couch was the owner of an undivided ½ interest in each of the aforesaid tracts and that the plaintiffs owned the remaining interest, and fftrther alleged that plaintiffs owned another tract of about 54 acres which was their separate property and which they had inherited from their grandfather’s estate. Plaintiffs’ petition further specifically alleged that Mrs. Couch was the third and last wife of Ted Couch and that all the interest now owned by the estate of said Couch was purchased by him before his marriage to the said Rosa Couch and that whatever interest the said Rosa Couch may own individually in said lands is as the surviving wife of Ted Couch. See Art. 2571, Vernon’s Rev.Civ.Stats. They further alleged that they were entitled to a partition and division of the lands between them and the estate of Ted Couch, deceased, and Rosa Couch, who at that time was the duly qualified and acting administratrix of the estate of Ted Couch, who had died intestate. Rosa Couch answered plaintiffs’ suit and set up that she was the surviving widow of Ted Couch and the duly qualified ánd acting administratrix of his estate pending in the probate court of Hamilton county, Texas. She prayed for certain specific relief not pertinent here and further prayed “for such other and further relief to which she may show herself justly entitled in law or in. equity.” The court, in April 1942, entered an order wherein it found that plaintiffs and defendants were the sole owners of tracts 1, 2 and 3 described in plaintiffs’ petition and that they were entitled to a partition and division of the same, and set said tracts out by metes and bounds. The order specifically found that the plaintiffs were entitled to a % interest in the first tract and the estate of Ted Couch to a ⅜ interest therein; that the plaintiffs were the owners of an undivided ¾ interest in the second tract and the estate of Ted Couch the owner of a ⅛ interest; and that plaintiffs John Peterson and Hazel Peterson owned an undivided ½ interest in the third tract and that a ½ interest therein was owned by the other plaintiffs jointly and that the e'state of Ted Couch also owned an undivided ¼ interest therein. The order appointed commissioners (one of whom was a surveyor) to partition and divide the estate, and thereafter the commissioners, on the 16th day of April, 1942, returned into court their report partitioning the estate and in this report they divided said lands into two tracts for the purpose of this partition suit. The commissioners carved a 51 acre tract out of the first tract described in the plaintiffs’ original petition and designated said 51 acre tract as tract No. 1 (the tract here
Plaintiffs filed this suit on the 29th day of March, 1947. They made no attack on the former partition judgment. They neither asserted that it was invalid nor sought-to set it aside or to modify it. This suit as filed is a formal action in trespass to try title and plaintiffs do not contend that it is in the nature of a bill of review. We assume, without deciding, that plaintiffs brought their suit believing that Mrs. Couch had abandoned such homestead rights as she had in and to the 51 acre tract. As heretofore stated, Mrs. Couch asked for no affirmative relief (unless her plea of our three year statute of limitations could be so construed) in this case and none was granted to her (unless the “take nothing” judgment can be so construed), and in her brief she admits in effect that the plaintiffs hold the' fee simple title to the 51 acre tract subject to her life estate in one-third thereof and subject to her right to possess and claim it as a homestead.
Under the foregoing record, did the trial court err in entering a “take nothing” judgment against plaintiffs? We think so under the doctrine stated by our Supreme Court in Permian Oil Co. v. Smith, 129 Tex. 413, 107 S.W.2d 564, page 570, 111 A.L.R. 1152, opinion by Com.App. in 73 S.W.2d 490, although that decision was expressly limited by our Supreme. Court in Poth v. Roosth, 202 S.W.2d 442, point page 445. In the Permian Oil Company case, supra, [129 Tex. 413, 107 S.W.2d 576] we find this statement: "In this state a petition limited to the statutory form of trespass to try title always puts in issue both title and possession. Any one of a number of facts may ■ determine the issue, but the cause of action■ remains the same. If the plaintiff seeks to limit the issue to one of such facts, he must do so by special pleading, in appropriate form. By
However, in view of the pronouncements by the Supreme Court in the Permian Oil Company case, supra, and in view of the record here made, together with admissions made by counsel in oral argument, we think the “take nothing” judgment entered by the trial court should be reformed so as to make the record comply with the holding that was actually made by the trial court, which was in effect that plaintiffs were not entitled to immediate possession or any other immediate relief to the 51 acre tract and that plaintiffs’ title to said 51 acres as adjudicated in the partition judgment is in nowise disturbed, and plaintiffs’ immediate possession or any other immediate relief was denied without prejudice to their rights in the event Mrs. Couch abandoned her homestead claim, or upon the termination of her life estate. Accordingly, the “take nothing” judgment entered by the trial court will be reformed in accordance with the views here expressed, .and, as reformed, affirmed. The costs of this appeal will be taxed against appellants.
It follows that all other points pass out of the case.
Reformed and affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.