Court Opinion

ID: 9675218
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:45:49.5282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:32.528271
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
Appellant, in his motion for rehearing says that the holding of this court “that the doctrine of apparent authority is not applicable in a case dealing with the sale of land, in reliance on the case of Bugh v. Word * * * ” is error. He argues that the holding in Bugh v. Word is limited to transactions dealing with a licensed real estate agent or broker and therefore has no application to Miss Baldwin in the instant case, who is not alleged or intimated in any way to have been a licensed real estate agent or broker.
The rule of law here in question applies to any agent who is involved in a transaction for the sale or conveyance of land. We find no language in Bugh v. Word, Tex.Civ.App., 424 S.W.2d 274, or Goode v. Westside Developers Inc., Tex.Civ.App., 258 S.W.2d 844, which limits the rules expressed in those opinions to licensed real estate agents or brokers only, nor do we think that there is any inference to that effect. In announcing this rule in both the Bugh and Goode case, the courts use the term “agent” only. In the Bugh case the court said “ * * . * an ostensible or apparent agent should not be permitted in real estate transactions.” (Emphasis ours.)
Moreover, there can be no ratification of a contract by one who is not a party to it unless the original contract purported to be in the name of, or for, the person alleged to have ratified it. Pair v. Caraway Drilling Co., 250 S.W.2d 292 (Tex.Civ.App., Eastland, 1952, writ ref., n. r. e.); Warren Mfg. Co. v. Hoover, 223 S.W.2d 524 (Tex.Civ.App., Amarillo, 1949, n. w. h.); O’Connor v. Camp, 158 S.W. 203 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas, 1913, writ ref.). As the contract here involved was not made in the name of Dr. R. D. Loyd, nor purported to be made for him, his acquiescence therein and promise to honor the contract and make a deed to the property in question to Huginnie, there being no writing to that effect, did not amount to a ratification and a summary judgment was proper.
Paragraph A of the contract states as follows: “The SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, acting by and through the FEDERAL HOUSING COMMISSIONER as SELLER agrees to sell to the PURCHASER named below * * *.” The name of Dr. R. D. Loyd is not found anywhere in the contract.
All of the parties to this lawsuit agree that neither Dr. Loyd nor Miss Baldwin is, or has ever been, secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Federal Housing Commissioner, nor has either ever been an agent of such federal officials.
The summary judgment proof having established, as a matter of law, that no authority was vested in Miss Baldwin, the alleged agent, to contract for the sale of the property for Dr. Loyd, the contract in controversy is of no effect as to him.
Appellant’s Motion for Rehearing is respectfully overruled.