Gibson v. Bierce (146 S.W. 983, 1912)

HIGGINS, J. C.

I. Pettit and Jane P. Pettit were husband and wife, owning a tract of land containing several hundred acres, in Stephens county. It belonged to the community estate, and the homestead of 200 acres was situate thereon. The family consisted of the husband, wife, and a number of children. On January 21, 1901, the wife was adjudged insane and was sent to a lunatic asylum, where she remained until after the filing of this suit. C. I. Pettit died on March 8, 1908, and this suit was thereafter instituted by the children of C. I. Pet-tit and Jane P. Pettit to recover the above-mentioned land. In the original suit the wife appeared as a party plaintiff, suing by next friend. Subsequent to filing of the suit she was discharged from the insane asylum, returned to her children, and intervened in the suit, alleging that she had been restored to her reason, and adopted the pleadings of the plaintiffs. The home of C. I. Pettit and his children was upon the land in controversy until the year 1905. Being afflicted with tuberculosis, he then, with some of his children, moved to San Antonio, where he acquired property, and which he owned until August, 1906, when he sold the same, and while he owned it he lived on the same as his home. On October 18, 1906, he acquired property in Guadalupe county, upon which he lived as a home with his children until he sold the same on October 31, 1907. On February 7, 1907, Pettit gave a deed of trust on the land in controversy to secure a note for $1,200; the deed of trust reciting that the property was no part of his homestead, and he having then a home upon which he was living in Guadalupe county, about 12 miles south of the town of Seguin. On May 16, 1907, Pettit conveyed to P. P. Pierce and R. Glasscock the premises so owned by him in Stephens county for a cash consideration of $4,357.50. Glasscock thereafter conveyed his interest in the land to Pierce. When O. I. Pettit left Stephens county, he -went to Southern Texas on account of his health, with the intention of making his home in that section of the state. Plaintiffs in their petition alleged the insanity of the wife, and that at the time C. I. Pettit conveyed the land to Pierce and Glasscock he also was of unsound mind and incapable of contracting, which was known to Pierce and Glasscock; also, that they bought the land at a price far below its true value, and that they secured the conveyance from Pettit by means of fraud. It was also alleged that 200 acres of the land in controversy at the time of the conveyance to Pierce and Glass-cock was the homestead of C. I. Pettit and his family. The defendant Pierce answered by plea of not guilty, general denial, and special defenses not necessary to detail.

The case was tried before a jury and submitted upon numerous special issues, as follows: “(1) Was C. I. Pettit of sound or unsound mind at the time he executed the deed to Pierce and Glasscock in May, 1907? Answer: We, the jury, find O. I. Pettit of sound mind. (2) Did any portion of the property situated in Stephens county, Tex., in controversy in this suit, constitute the homestead of C. I. Pettit at the time he conveyed the same by deed to Pierce and Glasscock in May, 1907? Answer: NO. (3) Did any portion of the property situated in Stephens county and involved in this suit constitute the homestead of O. I. Pettit at the time he executed the mortgage in February, 1907? Answer: No. (4) State whether or not the said O. I. Pettit acted in good faith at the time he executed said deed to Pierce and Glasscock, In May of 1907, and at the time he executed the mortgage in February, 1907; that is, whether or not, at such times the said O. I. Pettit was guilty of any fraudulent attempt to deprive his wife of the benefit of a homestead exemption in the property involved herein. Answer: In good faith. (5) If you should find that the said O. I. Pettit abandoned his home in Stephens county and acquired a new home in some other county prior to May, 1907, then please state whether or not he acted in good faith in so doing; that is, whether or not there was any fraudulent attempt on the part of the said C. I. Pettit to deprive his wife of the benefit of her homestead exemption. Answer: Acted in good faith. (6) Was C. I. Pettit at the time he executed the mortgage in February, 1907, of sound mind? Answer: He was of sound mind. (7) At the time P. P. Pierce and R. Glasscock purchased the property from C. I. Pettit, in May, 1907, was there, or was there not, at that time, any valid and subsisting mortgage against such property, and, if so, what was the amount of the same? Answer: There was a mortgage of $1,200. (S) At the time Pierce and Glasscock purchased the property in controversy from C. I. Pettit in May, 1907, state whether or not there were any taxes or other liens due against said property, that were paid for out of the proceeds paid by Pierce and Glass-cock, and, if so, what was the amount of the same? Answer: Nothing due. (9) State whether or not the consideration paid by Pierce and Glasscock to C. I. Pettit for the land in controversy was the reasonable cash market value of such land at the time and place it was sold, and, if not, then what was the reasonable cash market value of said land at said time and place; and in this connection you are charged that the burden is upon the plaintiffs to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the price paid by said Pierce and Glasscock to said C. I. Pettit for such property was not the reasonable cash market value of such property at said time and place. Answer: A reasonable price. (10) Did said Pierce and said Glasscock act in good faith or bad faith towards O. I. Pettit when they bought the land in controversy; that is, did either of them practice any fraud upon the said O. I. Pet-tit? Answer: In good faith. (11) What was the reasonable annual rental value of the land in controversy during the past two years?- Answer: Rental value $230 per an-num.” Upon the finding of the jury upon the foregoing special issues, the court entered judgment for the defendants.

Appellants’ first assignment of error reads as follows: ‘‘The court erred in failing to submit the law of the case as made by the evidence to the jury, and in that part of the court’s charge which is as follows: ‘Special issue No. 1’ is. not applicable to the facts in this case and was therefore error. Said charge above mentioned had no application to the facts of this ease because there is 730 acres of land in controversy, 200 acres of which had been occupied by O. I. Pettit and wife and their children as a homestead from 1886 up to January, 1901, when Jane P. Pettit, the wife of C. I. Pettit, was legally declared insane and sent to the asylum at Terrell, Tex., where she remained until September, 1909, when she was released and restored to her family and joined as party plaintiff in this suit her children, and prayed for a recovery of her homestead, which she occupied before becoming insane. The proof was that, after the wife of O. I. Pettit became insane, he, with his minor children, the plaintiffs herein, occupied said homestead as a home until 1905, and that he occupied the same by tenant during the years of 1908 and 1907; that in August of 1905, the said O. I. Pettit with part of his children went to Southern Texas for his health and died there in March of 1908; that while there he purchased and sold lots in San Antonio and at other places; that in February of 1908 he owned 4 acres of land, but did not own the house on it; and that on said last-named date said C. I. Pettit mortgaged the entire 730 acres of land for $1,200, giving his note for the same, due in 12 months from February 6, 1907. Under this state of facts, the wife being then alive, and the proof showing that she was not incurably insane, but on the contrary was released within one year from the date of said mortgage, that on May 16, 1909, the said O. I. Pettit sold the said 730 acres of land to the defendant, who assumed payment of mortgage not yet due for 10 months. The status of 200 acres of land was fixed by the Constitution and Laws of the state of Texas, and the same could be neither sold nor incumbered by the husband alone, and under this state of facts the court should have instructed the jury that the deed and mortgage as to 200 acres was void.”

An assignment of error should point out the particular action upon part of the trial court of which complaint is made, and if it is uncertain in that respect it is insufficient. The above assignment of error is so vague, uncertain, and indefinite that we are unable to determine accurately the exact matter of which complaint is made. As we understand it, however, it complains of the submission of special issue No. 1 because the issue was not applicable to the facts in the case; the assignment then undertaking to show why it was not applicable by stating the evidence. It will be noted that special issue No. 1 submits to the jury for their determination the question of whether or not C. I. Pettit was of sound or unsound mind at the time he conveyed the land. This was an issue directly raised by the pleadings and evidence, and was properly submitted to the jury for their determination. The first proposition under this -assignment is that, unless the proof -.showed that the wife was incurably insane ■at the date of the execution of the deed of trust upon the land and of the subsequent ■ deed, O. I. Pettit acting alone would have no ■authority to incumber or convey the home- ■ stead, nor the wife’s interest in the community property, except for the purpose of liquidating community debts. This proposition ■is not germane and has no relevancy what- • ever to the correctness of the court’s action ■in submitting special issue No. 1. The same ■is true of the second proposition urged under .this assignment. The second proposition is •that, while -the law concedes to the husband the -right to -select and establish a homestead, .yet when the homestead has been thus acquired and established, the husband, acting .-alone, cannot deprive his wife of her rights • thereto when -she has not the legal capacity to consent to his acts, and if the husband -disposes of the homestead once acquired when his wife is under the disability of insanity, the transaction is absolutely void, and tbe question of whether or not the hus'band acted in good or bad faith in acquiring .a new homestead does not affect the question.

The -second assignment of error, ■which is submitted as a proposition, is as follows: “The answer of the jury to the sec- • ond question 'is not sustained by the evidence and was reached by the jury because the .court had previously told the jury that Pettit had the -right to abandon the homestead and that his action -in so doing would be binding ion the wife and the children.” This assignment seems to present two questions: First, -whether or not .the answer of the jury to the ¡second question wa-s sustained by the evidence; second, it seems to complain of some portion of the court’s charge as being upon -.the weight