Aiken v. Judd
Aiken v. Judd
Opinion of the Court
Ed Aiken, Jr. filed suit against Anna Lee Spires Judd for specific performance of a contract by the terms of which Aiken agreed to purchase and Mrs. Judd agreed to sell approximately 1,000 acres of land in Nolan County. Both parties made motions for a summary judgment and Mrs. Judd’s motion was granted. Aiken has appealed and contends the court erred in failing to grant his motion and in granting appellee’s motion. On November 14, 1966, the County Court of Nolan County rendered a judgment declaring Mrs. Judd to be an habitual drunkard and appointed her brother guardian of her person. The judgment also recites “ . . . and the Court further finds that at this time there is no necessity for the appointment of a guardian of the estate of Anna Lee Judd.”
We will try to follow the rules set forth in Great American Reserve Ins. Co. v. San Antonio Plumbing Supply Co., 391 S.W.2d 41 (Tex.Sup. 1965) and Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.Sup. 1970) and cases cited therein in disposing of this summary judgment case.
The judgment declaring her an habitual drunkard presented a fact issue as to Mrs. Judd’s competency. The court did not err in refusing Aiken’s motion for a summary judgment. The Supreme Court in Haile v. Holtzclaw, 414 S.W.2d 916 (Tex.Sup. 1967) held:
“As above stated, the order appointing a temporary guardian for Holtzclaw was issued pursuant to Section 1.31, Texas Probate Code. That section authorizes a county judge to make an immediate appointment of a temporary guardian for a person of unsound mind in order to protect that person’s interests. The order was entered fifteen days prior to the execution of the deed. We think it, along with the orders committing him to a mental hospital, if introduced upon another trial, would be admissible as bearing on the fact question of his mental capacity at the time of the execution of the deed.”
Mrs. Judd contends that her adjudication constitutes a prima facie presumption of incompetence and at the time she executed the contract on September 28, 1970, she was “under a legal disability of such a nature as to render any contract of her making unenforceable.”
Aiken filed affidavits by attorney E. H. Lindsey in opposition to her motion for
We hold that Mrs. Judd has not discharged her burden of establishing as a matter of law that no genuine issue of fact exists relating to her competency.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.