Court Opinion

ID: 9833786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 23:01:34.081236+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:06.735754
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellee in his motion for rehearing urges that his counter proposition should have been sustained to the effect that because the amended pleading of the plaintiff below, after the exceptions thereto had been sustained, showed an amount in controversy below the jurisdiction of the district court, citing numerous authorities.
This contention is not sustained. There is no .charge that the original action was not brought in good faith; nor that any false al*1052legations were made for tlie fraudulent purpose of securing jurisdiction of tlie district court over the controversy. It is now well settled that the allegations of the original petition determine the jurisdiction of the court. The mere fact that by amendment these allegations may be varied, or the amount reduced below the jurisdiction of the district court, does not deprive that court of jurisdiction which had already properly attached. Nashville, Chattanooga & St. L. R. Co. v. Grayson County Nat. Bank, 100 Tex. 17, 93 S. W. 431; Isbell v. Kenyon-Warner Dredging Co., 113 Tex. 528, 261 S. W. 762; City of Ft. Worth v. Zanecetti (Tex. Com. App.) 29 S.W.(2d) 958.
Not only did the original petition allege damages within the jurisdiction of the district court, but that petition, as well as the amended petition, sought foreclosure of an equitable lien on lands in San Saba county asserted by the plaintiff because of the alleged breach of said contract, which was for the exchange of lands between the plaintiff and the defendant. The fact that the plaintiff could not show the existence of such lien upon the trial did not defeat the jurisdiction of the court which obtained by reason of such allegations. Ablowich v. Greenville Nat. Bank, 95 Tex. 429, 67 S. W. 79, 881; Southwest Investment Co. v. Terry (Tex. Civ. App.) 42 S.W.(2d) 1051.
In view of these eases, and the allegations of the original petition, and in the absence of any charge that such allegations were miade for the fraudulent purpose of obtaining jurisdiction in the district court, appel-lee’s motion for rehearing is overruled.
Overruled.