Court Opinion

ID: 9828260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 18:14:38.479651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:46.684870
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING.
The evidence which tended to show that appellant had become able to pay the note consisted of the testimony of Mr. Lasker, to the effect that the appellant had stated to him about a year previous that he owned some fifty or sixty acres of land in the oil fields at Sour Lake, which he and witness were upon at the time, that witness offered him $30,000 for an acre of it, but he stated that he wouldn’t sell any portion of it— that he proposed to hold it all and develop it.
Appellant testified that he had no property when he gave the note sued on, and has none yet. That he had no interest in any oil lands in Texas; that his boys inherited some oil lands in Hardin County from their mother and he was managing it for them. Her will was introduced, which showed that her sons were her devisees and legatees. That he did not remember telling Mr. Lasker that he owned the property about which they were conversing; that he could not have told him that he owned any, because he did not, and it could not have had any foundation. He owned none of the land, and the owners of it were his sons, whom he was representing.
In this state of the evidence we have come to the conclusion, on reconsideration, that the proof was not sufficient to warrant finding that appellant owned any land as that to which Mr. Lasker referred. Had the testimony developed nothing more than that appellant had made the statement on the one hand, and his denial of the statement on the other, the court might properly have accepted the testimony of Lasker and found the fact against appellant on his admission. But appellant went further, and showed that he owned no land, that his sons owned exclusively what Laskers’ testimony had reference to. If appellant had owned any land his testimony could have been contradicted by the records. He testified that-there was no capitalization, nor stock, connected with the property, which excluded the idea of his owning any stock.
The testimony adduced by appellant showed enough, in addition to his own denial, to render it improper to find that he owned the property. If appellant made the statement attributed to him, it was open to explanation, and it was explained by facts testified to and not controverted. For these reasons the motion is granted, and the judgment will be reversed and the cause remanded.

jReversed and remanded.