Wiggins v. Hilleman
Wiggins v. Hilleman
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment awarding appellees, Richard C. Hilleman and his wife, Betty D. Hilleman, a permanent injunction restraining appellant, Ethel Rennie Wiggins, from levying execution on a specific piece of property located in Dallas County, Texas, belonging to ap-pellees. The injunction was granted on the grounds that the property is the homestead of appellees.
In a previous suit, Cause No. 18,702 filed November 19, 1956 appellant had sued appellee, Richard C. Hilleman, then a single man, for unliquidated damages for breach of promise of marriage. At the time Hilleman was the owner of the property in question. On the same day suit was-filed an ex parte restraining order was issued restraining appellee Richard C. Hille-man “from selling or otherwise disposing of or encumbering said property pending further hearing herein, or placing or attempting to place same beyond the reach or jurisdiction of this court * * * On November 26, 1956, after notice to Richard C. Hilleman, the ex parte order was made into a temporary injunction, the order reciting that Richard C. Hilleman had agreed to the granting of the temporary
It should be noted here that in her suit Ethel Rennie Wiggins did not assert any lien or any interest in the title to the property in question, which consisted of a lot and a newly constructed frame house. Nor did the judgment obtained by Ethel Rennie Wiggins make any reference to the property. The judgment was .simply an award of damages in the amount of $5,039 based on a previously unliquidated claim. The decree expressly recites, that “All other relief requested by either party is denied.”
On July 1, f 1957 Ethel Rennie Wiggins caused an 'execution to issue on her judgment in Cause No. 18,702, and the property involved herein was advertised by the Constable to be sold on August 6, 1957 in order to satisfy the judgment.
• Meantime on November 24, 1956 Richard C. Hilleman had married Betty D. Hille-man and they had immediately moved into the house in controversy.
! On July 25, 1957 Richard C. Hilleman and wife Betty D. Hilleman filed suit, Cause No. 28,321, against the Constable and Ethel Rennie Wiggins asking an injunction to restrain the defendants from proceeding with the sale of the property. A temporary injunction was granted. On April 22, 1958, a final judgment was rendered in Cause No. 28,321 permanently enjoining the Constable and Ethel Rennie Wiggins from levying on the property in question, which was found to be the homestead of Richard C. Hilleman and Betty D. Hilleman. ,
Appellant’s Points . on Appeal.
* Appellant Ethel Rennie Wiggins, briefs-eleven points' on’ appeal, which We shall briefly summarize. She contends that (1) the temporary injunction in Cause No. 18,702 was agreed to by Richard C. Hille-man, therefore he and his wife were precluded from later setting up a homestead encumbrance; (1A) it was error for the court to sustain appellees’ exception to appellant’s allegation that Hilleman and wife were precluded; (2) appellees’ suit, Cause No. 28,321, was a collateral attack on the judgment in Cause No. 18,702; (3) the judgment in, Cause No. 18,702 was res judicata of the matters which appellees sought to raise in Cause No. 28,321; (4) appellees were not entitled to an injunction because they had an adequate remedy at law; (5) appellees waived their claim of homestead by not asserting -it in Cause No. 18,702; (6) the temporary injunction in Cause No. 18,702 created a trust -on the property in controversy for the benefit of Ethel Rennie Wiggins; (6A) the trial court was wrong in concluding that the restraining order in Cause No. 18,702 was void because Ethel. Rennie Wiggins had an adequate remedy at law and had no right or claim to the title, possession, or use of the property; (7) by filing her judgment in Cause No. 18,702 for record Ethel Ren-nie Wiggins obtained valid and subsisting lien against the property; (8) the court erred in holding that the homestead character of the property related back to the time when Richard C. Hilleman and Betty D. Hilleman became engaged to marry and began to invest their separate estates and labor into building the house in question with the intention of making it their homestead; (9) the court erred in overruling Ethel Rennie Wiggins’ motion for summary judgment.
Findings of Fact Made by Trial Court.
The trial court made extensive findings of fact in Cause No. 28,321, which have' abundant support in the record evidence. The more important of these findings were in substance as follows': (1) During the first week in September 1956 Richard C.' Hilleman and Betty D. Hilleman became
Opinion.
None of appellant’s points on appeal can be sustained. The ex parte restraining order of November 19, 1956 issued in connection with an unliquidated claim
The judgment of April 15, 1957 in favor of Ethel Rennie Wiggins, in Cause No. 18,702 did not purport to create, recognize, or foreclose a lien or establish an interest of any kind in the title to the property involved in the present suit. It was a simple money judgment for $5,039, for ■damages for breach of contract. At the time of its rendition appellees had long 'since moved into the property and had continuously occupied it as their homestead. As such it was exempt from execution and forced sale for ordinary debts and money judgments. Appellant had no right to levy execution on the property, or cause it to be sold to satisfy her judgment. Art. 16, Sec. 50, Vernon’s Constitution of Texas, arts. 3832 and 3839, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St.
Since appellee Betty D. Hilleman was not a party to Cause No. 18,702, did not in any way participate in it, had no opportunity to present her homestead defense, and was not even named or referred to in the judgment of April 15, 1957, her previously acquired homestead rights could not be affected by the judgment against her husband. The rule is especially applicable here since Betty D. Hilleman, the wife, had invested funds from her own separate estate in the improvement of the property and had contributed her own labor to the completion of the house. Wilson v. Mitchell, Tex.Civ.App., 299 S.W.2d 406; Behrens v. Behrens, Tex.Civ.App., 186 S.W.2d 697; Citizens’ State Bank of Lindale v. Jeffries, Tex.Civ.App., 2 S.W.2d 317; Gates v. Pitts, Tex.Civ.App., 291 S.W. 948; 26 Tex.Jur. 251.
All of appellant’s points on appeal are overruled, except point No. 8. Since the question raised in point No. 8 is immaterial to our decision in this appeal, we shall not pass on point No. 8.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.