Walker v. Simons
Walker v. Simons
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I do not concur in the majority opinion. It appears to me that the descriptive data contained in the deed dated November 6, 1940, from Betz and wife to Simons is too vague, indefinite and uncertain to warrant this court in concluding as a matter of law that the 3.47 acres in controversy was or was not included in the description of the 62 acres, more or less, therein conveyed. This deed describes the property generally as being a part of seven separate tracts described in various deeds to Betz totalling 92 acres, including “a certain 44 acre tract described in deed from, R. F. Brown to R. L. Betz dated October 16, 1916.” This deed then purports to describe specifically by metes and bounds as one tract the 62 acres, more or less, therein conveyed. The field notes in this deed are extremely complicated, covering three typewritten pages in the statement of facts. They include 24 different calls for distances which run in 15 different directions, some of the distances being expressed in terms of varas and others in terms of yards or feet, several of such distances being modified by the expression “more or less”. The only land expressly excepted from the conveyance as described in this deed is 4.13 acres, more or less, as shown by prior deed from Betz and wife to McLennan County for highway purposes.
Furthermore, it appears to me that the majority opinion on the present appeal of this case is in conflict with the prior opinion and holding of this court on the former appeal as reported in 197 S.W.2d 223. If the evidence to which we referred in the 'former opinion was sufficient to take the pleaded case to the jury, as I think it was, then I fail to see how or why the evidence referred to in the majority opinion on the present appeal should have required the trial court to instruct the jury to return a verdict for appellees. Since this court decided on the former appeal that the evidence relied upon by appellant was sufficient to take his case to the jury, it is my opinion that we should now consider and decide one or more of the points of error upon which this appeal is predicated.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit to recover 3.47 acres of land in McLennan County. On January 4, 1943, appellant purchased a tract of land in McLennan County, “being estimated as 62 acres more or less”; in November, 1945, he filed his original petition in trespass to try title to recover -the above tract; in June, 1947, he filed his second amended original petition which was in three counts, the first count being a suit in trespass to try title, and in the second he alleged substantially that it was the mutual intention of the parties at the time the trade was made to convey the 3.47 acre tract in the original deed, and in the third count he charged the defendants, R. L. Betz and wife, Mary Betz, C. S. Simons and wife, Hattie Simons, with fraud and sought in effect to reform the deed so as to include the 3.47 acre tract, and also sought to cancel a deed from defendant Betz and wife to E. G. Black and wife, which deed conveyed a 1.66 acres out of the 3.47 acre tract. This is the second appeal of this case. See 197 S.W.2d 223.
On the second trial the defendants seasonably filed their motions for instructed verdict, which the court overruled, and the case was submitted to the jury. The jury in its verdict found substantially (1) that defendant Simons, in making the trade
The defendants seasonably filed motion for judgment, which was granted, and in the judgment the court found that after considering the verdict of the jury and the undisputed evidence the trial court made the following findings of fact, to the effect: (1) that Walker had no title or interest in the 3.47 acre tract of land in controversy; (2) that E. G. Black and Edith M. Black are the owners by fee simple title of 1.66 acres of land described in the deed from R. L. Betz and wife to E. G. Black and wife; (3) that R. L. Betz is the owner in fee simple of the title of the 3.47 acres of land in controversy, less the 1.66 acres of land above referred to; (4) that R. J. Walker is the owner of a windmill complete, windmill tower, elevated tank, tank tower, pipes, and equipment used in connection with said windmill, tank, and tower situated on approximately one acre of land out of the south end of the 44 acre tract of land conveyed to R. L. Betz by R. F. Brown and referred to the deed, with the right of ingress and egress over and upon said one acre of land in and to said well and said windmill, tower and tank tower, for the purpose of taking water from said well to be used in connection with said 62 acre tract of land conveyed to Walker by the Citizens State Bank of Calvert and C. S. Simons and wife, and that except as to said rights Walker had no right, title and interest in and to said land.
The decree followed the verdict of the jury and the findings of the trial court. Walker seasonably perfected his appeal.
Appellant, in oral argument, stated that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the findings of the jury, but says the judgment should be reversed and remanded for seven procedural errors made over the timely objection of appellant. After a careful examination of the record we are of the opinion that under the undisputed evidence the court should have granted defendants’ motion for an instructed verdict and the alleged errors of procedure became immaterial and we do not pass upon them. Because of the foregoing view a statement is neces,-sary.
Defendant Betz, by various purchases beginning on October 6, 1916 and ending November 17, 1924, acquired 74.68 acres of land. Thereafter McLennan, County took 6.14 acres for a public highway, leaving Betz the balance of 68.54 acres- and about 6½ acres of the tract lay in what is designated as the “little neck” on the west side of the highway, forming the south point of the land which lay to the west of the highway. This 6½ acre tract was a part of the original purchase of a tract of 26.67 acres made by Betz from Brown on October 6, 1916, and at that time Betz, was a single man. The 3.47 acres of land in controversy was at the north end of this “neck” and was out of the tract owned by Betz as his separate property. “The status of property as separate or community
The testimony of Judge Jenkins on the above matters is direct and positive and there are no circumstances in the record tending to discredit or impeach his testimony. Assuming without deciding that Judge Jenkins was an interested witness, the rule is “ * * * when the evidence of an interested witness is direct and positive on the point at issue and where there are no circumstances in the record tending to discredit or impeach his testimony, a verdict contrary thereto will be set aside, that such testimony will justify an instructed verdict, and that a judgment contrary thereto may be reversed and rendered.” See Dunlap v. Wright, Tex.Civ.App., 280 S.W. 276, point 6, at page 279, and authorities there collated. (Our courts have never departed from this rule).
In this case Walker is attempting to en-graft a mutual mistake in the deed from Betz to Simons. Simons, the grantee in the above deed, was a brother of Mrs. Betz. Simons permitted Walker to move on the place before the trade was closed and Walker went on the land in November, 1942. Pertinent to this discussion Walker testified as follows:
“Q. After you moved out to Rosenthal did you have any conversation with Mr. Betz about this little neck? A. Yes, we had one talk about it. He came down to my house one night and got me and we .went up and he told me I wasn’t buying*604 that neck. I told him I understood I was buying it; that I was buying everything enclosed under that fence; that was what his wife and Mr. Simons both told me I was getting, according to their statement, and if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have bought the place.
“Q. Would you have bought the place if you had known you were not getting that neck? A. I would not.
“Q. Did you believe the representation they gave you that you were getting all under that fence? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Did you rely on those statements? A. I certainly did.
“Q. The first time you talked with Mr. Betz he told you you didn’t get that part of that neck down there? A. He told me I didn’t buy this neck in here down to this little fence, and I told him ‘yes, I did.’ I said ‘your wife and Mr. Simons told me I was buying that.’
“Q. But Mr. Betz told you the first time he ever talked with you you didn’t get that ? A. He just told me that didn’t go with it.
“Q. And you don’t recall whether that was before or after you got your deeds ? A. No, sir.
“Q. And that was the first and only talk you had with Mr. Betz? A. That’s right.
“Q. And upon that occasion Mr. Betz told you you didn’t get that land from Si-mons? A. He told me that, and I also told him I did buy it.
“Q. But he told you upon that occasion he had reserved that neck for his sister, didn’t he? A. No, he just said Simons didn’t sell me that tract of land and I told him he did ‘or him and your wife misrepresented it to me.’ I said ‘if I didn’t buy this neck in here I have been misled and your wife and Mr. Simons just flat misrepresented it to me.’ ”
Walker further testified to a conversation he had with Mr. and Mrs. Betz and Mr. Simons, as follows:
“They told me that was — Mr. and Mrs. Betz told me that was Mr. Simons’ windmill and tank and that they gave him the right to get water out of the well. I told them I wanted an agreement to that effect and she told me they would give me one. * * * They both told me everything went that was under fence in there except that one acre of ground there, that ground and the old house didn’t go with it, that they reserved that. * * * Mr. and Mrs. Betz talked about the well, and me and Mr. Si-mons both talked about the well — Mrs. Betz told me everything out there belonged to Mr. Simons under fence; that they had about one acre reserved where the house was and that the windmill and tank belonged to Mr. Simons, and that he got water out of the well. I said, ‘If that’s the case, I want an agreement to that effect, and also showing what you all own’ and she said they would.
“Q. Did they give you one? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Was this conversation before you got your deed and closed the trade, or afterward? A. It was just before I got it.”
The evidence is without dispute that the 3.47 acres of land was the separate property of Betz; that Walker was fully advised while the trade was still pending and before he got the deed and before he paid the purchase price that no part of the land which he was buying lay within the “neck” and that it did not include the 3.47 acres of land sued for. There is no evidence that the 3.47 acres of land sued for was left out of the deed from Betz to Simons through the mutual mistake or otherwise of the grantors and grantees, but on the contrary the evidence precludes it.
The agreement referred to in Walker’s testimony just above quoted (sometimes referred to in the record as the water rights agreement) and the deed from Simons to Walker were prepared by the attorney who examined the abstract of title for Walker, and such agreement provides in part: “Whereas, thereafter R. L. Betz and wife, Mary Betz, conveyed by their General Warranty Deed to C. S. Simons approximately 62 acres of said land, which deed is recorded in Vol. 486, page 623 of the McLennan County Deed Records, to which reference is here made for a full and complete description of the land conveyed to C. S. Si-
The deed from Simons to Walker was dated January 4, 1943, and was executed by Simons and his wife on January 7, 1943. The water rights agreement (upon which appellants rely in part to tender the isstie of mutual mistake) was dated January 4, 1943, and was executed by Betz and wife on the 11th of January, 1943. Under this record the evidence is without dispute that the conversations Walker had with Simons or Mr. and Mrs. Betz took place before the execution and delivery of the deed from Simons to Walker and before the execution and delivery of the water rights agreeme’nt. Walker’s attorney examined the abstract covering this land and it contained the deed from Betz to Simons and such deed does not include by description the 3.47 acre tract of land. The field notes in the deed from Simons to Walker are the same as in the deed from Betz to Simons and there is no contention that the deed from Simons to Walker contained by description the 3.47 acres of land, nor does the deed from Betz to Simons state the amount of acreage that Betz kept for his sister. The amount of the acreage kept by Betz out of the various tracts he owned and did not convey.to Si-mons is found only in the testimony of Judge Jenkins and not elsewhere in this record. Judge Jenkins testified specifically to the effect that before he prepared the deed from Betz to Simons that Betz carefully instructed him not to include in the deed the 5.2 acre tract in the “neck”. As we have stated before, Judge Jenkins’ testimony is undisputed and there are no circumstances in the record tending to discredit or impeach his testimony. Nor did any witness testify to the effect that it was the intention of Betz or Simons to include the 3.47 acres of land here in question in the deed from Betz to Simons, nor that such acreage was left out of the deed from Betz to Simons through the mutual mistake of grantors and grantees in such deed. On the contrary the testimony tendered precludes such contention.
It is our view that the evidence does not tender the issue of fraud, accident or mistake as to the intention of the parties in the deed from Betz to Simons, nor to the deed from Simons to Walker, and the construction of these deeds and the water rights agreement was a matter for the court. Under the foregoing circumstances it was the duty of the trial court to construe such deeds and water rights agreement and in so doing he was bound by the rules of construction heretofore announced by our Supreme Court. “The dominant purpose in construing a deed is to ascertain the intention of the parties as expressed in the deed itself; and such intention expressed therein is a controlling factor. * * * If there be doubt as to what the intention of the parties was, due to the language of the deed, such doubt should be resolved against the grantor. * * *
Since the court entered judgment for defendants and such decree is not assailed by defendants, the judgment of the trial court is in all things affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WALKER v. SIMONS Et Al.
- Cited By
- 7 cases
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- Published