Case Name: PARIS & G. N. RY. CO. v. BECKLEY
Court: Texas Courts of Civil Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1911-12-07
Citations: 142 S.W. 47
Docket Number: 
Parties: PARIS & G. N. RY. CO. v. BECKLEY.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter
Volume: 142
Pages: 47–48

Head Matter:
PARIS & G. N. RY. CO. v. BECKLEY.
(Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.
Dec. 7, 1911.)
Judgment (§ 17 ) — Process to Sustain— Requisites — Dates.
A citation which requires defendant to appear at a date already past at the time of the filing of the petition will not support a default judgment.
[Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Judgment. Cent. Dig. §§ 25-33; Dee. Dig. § 17. ]
Error from Lamar County Court; Rube S. "Wells, Judge.
Action by J. S. Beckley against the Paris
& Great Northern Railway Company. There was a default judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error.
Reversed and remanded.
Andrews, Ball & Streetman and Wright & Patrick, for plaintiff in error. John S. Stone, for defendant in error.
For other cases see same topic and section NUMBER in Dec. Dig. & Am. Dig. Key No. Series & Rep’r Indexes

Opinion:
WILLSON, C. J.
The appeal is from a judgment by default in favor of defendant in error, the plaintiff below, against the plaintiff in error, rendered February 21, 1911. The citation (issued December 14, 1910, and served the same day) required the plaintiff in error "to appear at the nest regular term of the county court of Lamar county, Texas, to be begun and holden at the courthouse thereof, iji the city of Paris, on the 3rd Monday in February, 1910, the same being the 20th day of February, 1910, then and there to answer a petition filed in said court on the 2nd day of December, 1910." It has been held repeatedly that a citation, requiring the defendant to appear at a date past at the time the petition was filed, will not support a judgment by default. Spence v. Morris, 28 S. W. 405; Binyard v. McCombs, 1 White & W. Civ. Cas. Ct. App. § 520; James v. Proper, 1 White & W. Civ. Cas. Ct. App. § 83; Covington v. Burleson, 28 Tex. 368.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.