Court Opinion

ID: 9858358
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:20:56.833481+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:53:58.319896
License: Public Domain

TIREY, Justice
(dissenting).
I am unable to agree with the disposition of this cause as made by the majority opinion, wherein it refuses to allow a foreclosure of the mortgage lien against Tomlin.
As I understand the majority opinion, it is of the view that the Lone Star Gas Company complied with the terms of Art. 5498, R.C.S. in the recording of its mortgage and lien. Notwithstanding this fact the opinion says: “ * * * we think a chattel mortgage lien on realty, executed by one who was *859not the owner of the realty, and whose name nowhere appears in the chain of title to the realty, could not constitute constructive notice to a bona fide purchaser of the realty from the record owner, for value, without notice of such lien, although such lien was filed for record.” (First of all, the mortgage lien is not on the realty, but is on the water heater installed on the realty.) It is my view that such holding by the majority under the undisputed record here is in irreconcilable conflict with the very terms of the statute. Such statute, after setting out what is necessary to be done by the mortgagee in the filing of his lien (which ■statute in the instant case was complied with), says: “* * * and such instrument ■is registered under the provisions of this Act, then the registration of such instrument evidencing said lien, mortgage, or ■reservation of title as provided for by this Act, shall be notice to all persons thereafter dealing with or acquiring any right •or interest in said machinery or other'manufactured article, or the realty upon which the same is located or other improvements or property situated on said real estate) of all the rights of the owners or holders of the indebtedness secured by said instrument the same as if recorded at length in the deed records or records of mortgages upon realty of the county where the real estate is situated, and such lien, mortgage or reservation of title upon or to such machinery or other manufactured article shall be as to such machinery and other manufactured article superior to any lien or rights existing in any one to said real estate or other improvements or other property located and situated thereon existing at the time of the location of said machinery or other manufactured article thereon [and then follows the only exception], but nothing herein contained shall be held to give the holder of such lien, mortgage or reservation of title any right to or claim upon the real estate save and except the right to establish and foreclose his lien, mortgage or reservation of title upon such machinery or other manufactured article, and to enforce his rights thereto under the instrument evidencing his lien, mortgage or reservation of title, as in other cases of liens upon personal property hereunder.”
It is true that the Lone Star Gas Company, while Pressley Funk was the owner of the property, could not, by installing the water heater, impress a lien against Funk without his knowledge or consent, but when Funk sold the property to Tomlin, Tomlin came under the express provisions of the statute here under consideration. So I am of the view that the conclusion of the majority opinion where it says: “since Funk was not bound by the chattel mortgage lien, Tomlin was not bound by the same under the provisions of Art. 5498, R.C.S.”, is in direct and irreconcilable conflict with the terms of the statute aforesaid and the undisputed record in this cause.
I have not been able to find any decision in our courts dealing with the exact factual situation here before us. However, it is my view that the opinion of the Commission of Appeals in the Citizens National Bank of Abilene v. Elk Mfg. Co., reported in Tex.Com.App., 29 S.W.2d 1062, point 5,' and the recent case of the.Ft. Worth Court in Weisenberger v. Lone Star Gas Co., Tex.Civ.App., 257 S.W.2d 331 (writ dis.), support my views. See also the cases there cited.
Article 5498, aforesaid, represents the public policy of our State, as fixed by the Legislature on such matters, and I think the courts are without authority to rewrite, the public policy of this State when it has been determined by the Legislature, absent a violation of our Constitution. My view is that the only point before us here is whether or not the Lone Star Gas Company had a right to foreclose its lien under the undisputed factual situation here, and I think it did. The fact that Funk, the owner of the property at the time the gas heater was installed, did not give his consent to the sale made by the gas company to his tenant is beside the point, because Funk *860had parted with his title at the time the gas company filed its suit to foreclose, and the fact that Funk may be liable to his grantee on his warranty is not before us. Funk is not a party to this suit and he is not here making claim for relief, nor is Tomlin asking for any relief against Funk. I think the judgment of the trial court, wherein it refuses to' allow a foreclosure of the mortgage lien against Tomlin, should be reversed and rendered and the lien of the Lone Star Gas Company be in all things foreclosed.