Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Flavia Munos and Alejandro Macias had a personal and professional relationship in which they bought and sold real estate for profit. In December 2020, disputed property was purchased at a Navarro County foreclosure sale and titled in Munos’s name. The parties disputed whether Macias contributed to the purchase price.
After Macias filed and later nonsuited a divorce petition because the parties were not married, Munos’s claim for a declaratory judgment of title proceeded as a trespass-to-try-title action. Macias pleaded not guilty and initially asserted his own title claim, but later nonsuited it. A jury found that Munos had not proved superior title, and the trial court rendered a take-nothing judgment against both parties. Munos appealed the denial of her motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
The Court’s Holding
The Tenth Court of Appeals affirmed. Because Macias pleaded not guilty, Munos bore the burden of establishing title superior to his. As she relied on record title and the parties did not share a demonstrated common source of title, she was required to trace a regular chain of conveyances from the sovereign to herself.
Munos introduced only the 2020 sheriff’s tax deed naming her as the foreclosure-sale purchaser. That deed established a link beginning with the judgment debtor, but Munos did not trace title back to the sovereign or establish title from a common source. The evidence therefore supported the jury’s finding that she failed to prove superior title, and the trial court properly denied JNOV. The take-nothing judgment against Munos consequently vested title in Macias.
Key Takeaways
- A trespass-to-try-title plaintiff must prevail on the strength of the plaintiff’s own title by proving one of the recognized methods of establishing superior title.
- A sheriff’s tax deed alone does not establish a complete record-title chain from the sovereign; it supplies only a link beginning with the judgment debtor.
- When a plaintiff fails to establish superior title, a take-nothing judgment in a trespass-to-try-title action vests title in the defendant.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the evidentiary burden facing a claimant who relies on record title in a Texas trespass-to-try-title case. Possessing a deed bearing the claimant’s name may be insufficient when the claimant cannot prove a common source or trace the chain of title to the sovereign.
It also illustrates the substantive effect of a take-nothing judgment in this context: even after the defendant nonsuits an affirmative title claim, the plaintiff’s failure to prove superior title can result in title vesting in the defendant.