Opinion
NO. 14-17-00562-CV
11-26-2019
SHARON BROOKS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF ANN C. BROOKS, Appellant v. DALE A. BINGER, JR., JOSEPH HUNTER, BILL WATKINS, AND MARSHA WATKINS, Appellees
On Appeal from the 239th District Court Brazoria County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 78706-CV
ORDER
This court denies the Motion for Rehearing filed by "Sharon Brooks, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Ann C. Brooks" (the "Plaintiffs"). On July 11, 2019, this court issued its judgment in this case and a Memorandum Opinion. At the time of this decision, the reporter's record reflected that the Plaintiffs' Exhibit 25 was the first page of a 1976 deed filed in the Brazoria County Real Property Records (the "Deed"). A corrected volume of the reporter's record was later filed in this court, showing that the Plaintiffs' Exhibit 25 contained the entire two-page Deed. In the Memorandum Opinion, this court recited that the only deeds contained in the trial evidence are the Deed of Trust signed by Dale A. Binger, Jr. and the first page of the Deed, which was a correct statement at the time. Though this court noted that only the first page of the Deed was in the record, this court's decision and analysis did not turn on the absence of the second page from the record. The correction of the record to reflect that the entire Deed was in evidence at the trial does not change this court's determination that the trial evidence does not conclusively prove the Plaintiffs' right to title and possession under any of the following methods available in a trespass-to-try-title context: (1) by proving a regular chain of conveyances from the sovereign, (2) by proving a superior title out of a common source, (3) by proving title by limitations, or (4) by proving prior possession and that the possession has not been abandoned. Contrary to the Plaintiffs' argument, the Deed does not prove a regular chain of conveyances from the sovereign to B2 Towing Company, Inc.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Zimmerer and Hassan.