Court Opinion

ID: 9833074
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 22:26:04.5391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:59.460257
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
Appellant alleged two causes of action ; one in trespass to try title to recover the land, and the other in the alternative for partition of the land. In a trespass to try title suit in this state, the issues tendered by the plaintiff’s pleading are joined by a plea of not guilty. In the absence of such plea no proof is required on the part of plaintiff to establish the allegations of his petition. The judgment of the court recited that the following defendants “having been duly cited failed to appear and answer herein but wholly made default,” namely, Laura Jones, J. R. Stevens, Della Mae Stevens, Alma Bradley, Jim R. Bradley, M. J. Jones, J. J. Jones, Mary Jones, E. H. Steward, Della Steward, Annie Timberlake, and T. C. Timberlake. It is further recited that defendant Henry Morgan and Jewell Morgan “having filed a waiver herein failed to appear further in this cause.”
We are of the opinion that upon the record plaintiff was entitled to judgment against the above-named defendants, the effect of which would have been to vest in him all title and- claim of title of said defendants. R.S.1925, art. 7383, provides: “If the defendant, who has been personally - served with citation according to law, fails to appear and answer by himself or attorney within the time prescribed by law for other actions in the district court, the proper judgment by default may be entered against him and in favor of the plaintiff for the title to the premises, or the possession thereof, or for both, according to the petition, and for all costs, without any proof of title by the plaintiff.” There is some authority to the effect that a plaintiff who tries a case without insisting upon a judgment by default waives the right to such judgment. 34 C.J. p. 177, § 391; Shaw v. Whitfield (Tex.Civ.App.) 35 S.W.(2d) 1115; Looney v. Linney (Tex.Civ.App.) 21 S.W. 409; W. T. Rawleigh Medical Co. v. Mayberry (Tex.Civ.App.) 193 S.W. 199; Guaranty State Bank of Goose Creek v. Brill (Tex.Civ.App.) 268 S.W. 260. In none of these cases was the point given more than a meager discussion, and none of them appear to have been presented to the Supreme Court, except the last-cited case. In it the Court of Civil Appeals cited 23 Cyc. p. 730, embodying the substance of the above citation from Corpus Juris. Upon a writ of error to the Supreme Court, the Commission of Appeals in Brill v. Guaranty State Bank of Goose Creek, 280 S.W. 537, upon principles which to tis appear to be sound, overruled the Court of Civil Appeals. It seems to us the Commission of Appeals did not ground its judgment simply upon the statute providing for default judgment, but upon the more fundamental principle that without a joinder of the issues tendered by the plaintiff the allegations in the plaintiff’s petition are established as true for the purpose of rendering judgment, even when the defendant participated in the trial. In the instant case the defaulting defendants did not appear or participate in the trial. This view does not render the statute providing for judgments by default without a function to perform. The statute is also useful to shut off defenses in cases which must be postponed or continued before trial, the law providing that answers may be filed at any time before judgment by default is taken.
It is our conclusion that the trial court should have rendered judgment as above stated in favor of the plaintiff as against the nonappearing and nonanswering defendants, and that the failure to do so is an error apparent of record and presenting all the characteristics of a fundamental er*668ror which requires no assignment to present it. It follows from this conclusion that the court likewise erred in denying a partition.
The facts do not sufficiently appear to enable this court to render judgment, for which reason the motion ■ for rehearing should he granted, the judgment of the trial court should be reversed and remanded for another trial, and it is accordingly so ordered.