Court Opinion

ID: 9776456
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:36:22.834432+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:38.979547
License: Public Domain

SHARPE, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in affirmance of the judgment for the reasons stated in this separate opinion.
Appellee was plaintiff and appellants were defendants in the court below. Appellants filed their plea of privilege (contained in a single pleading but urged on behalf of each of them) to be sued in Dallas County, Texas. Appellee duly controverted the plea, placing reliance on Subdivision 14 of Article 1995, V.A.C.S. This appeal is from an order of the district court of Hidalgo County, Texas overruling the plea of privilege. Trial was to the court without a jury. The record herein does not include a statement of facts and consists solely of the clerk’s transcript. There are no findings of fact or conclusions of law.
By five points of error appellants assert in substance that the trial court erred in overruling their plea of privilege because: (1) Appellee’s petition did not plead a cause for removal of cloud on title to realty, (2) A recorded contract of sale of realty between strangers to the title of said realty is not a cloud upon the title to such realty, (3) A contract of sale that had been “abandoned” is not a cloud upon the title to the realty involved therein, (4) An allegation of appellants’ refusal to execute a “quit claim” does not create a cloud on the title of the subject property, and (5) Appellee’s suit is primarily a suit for damages.
Appellants’ point one is without merit. An examination of appellee’s petition clearly shows that it alleges a cause of action to remove a cloud upon or to quiet title to her land located in Hidalgo County, Texas. The facts alleged, from the standpoint of pleading, are sufficient to show that the recorded contract of sale between appellants constitutes a cloud on appellee’s title. See Fidelity Union Fire Ins. Co. v. First National Bank of Crosbytown, 18 S.W.2d 800 (Tex.Civ.App., Amarillo, 1929, n. w. h.); Jarrett v. Sanger Bros., 294 S.W. 663 (Tex.Civ.App., Beaumont, 1927, n. w. h.).
*536Aside from the nature of the relief sought the only other venue fact which appellee was required to establish in this case was that the land was located in the county where the suit was filed. See Cowden v. Cowden, 143 Tex. 446, 186 S.W.2d 69 (1945); Piazza v. Phillips, 153 Tex. 115, 264 S.W.2d 428 (1954); Cox v. Palacios, 188 S.W.2d 688 (Tex.Civ.App., San Antonio, 1945, n. w. h.). In the absence of a Statement of Facts or findings of facts we must presume that the trial court found every fact in such a way as to support the judgment and that the evidence was sufficient to support such findings, including a finding that the land in question was located in Hidalgo County, Texas. See Lane v. Fair Stores, 150 Tex. 566, 243 S.W.2d 683 (1951); Appellate Procedure in Texas, Sec. 10.4(2). Appellee thus brought her case within Subdivision 14 of Article 1995, V.A.C.S.
Appellants’ points two, three and four do not involve essential venue facts, but instead relate to an adjudication on the merits with which we are not here concerned. See Bradley v. Trinity State Bank, 118 Tex. 274, 14 S.W.2d 810 (1929); J. M. Radford Grocery Company v. Duncan, 67 S.W.2d 463 (Tex.Civ.App., 1934, n. w. h.).
Appellants’ point five is also not well taken. Appellee’s allegations of damages due to the cloud on her title caused by appellants’ recorded contract and refusal to remove such amount to no more than a claim for additional recovery. This does not defeat venue where the suit is properly brought to remove cloud or quiet title in the county where the land is located. See Evans v. Speed, 339 S.W.2d 257 (Tex.Civ.App., Ft. Worth, 1960, err. dism.); Joy v. Joy, 254 S.W.2d 810 (Tex.Civ.App., Ft. Worth, 1953, n. w. h.); Stephenville Production Credit Ass’n v. Rockwell, 250 S.W.2d 476 (Tex.Civ.App., Eastland, 1952, n. w. h.).
The trial court properly rendered judgment overruling appellants’ plea of privilege, and for the reasons herein stated I have voted to affirm it.