- 8 - contract signing or when he takes occupation. The Supreme Court of Texas adopted the judgment in Leeson. Relying on these cases, petitioners argue: Petitioners’ gift to the Church was completed in 1994 when Petitioners and the Church executed the Contract [for deed]. Such act gave the Church unrestricted possession of the Property and equitable title to the Property. At such time, the Church had the risk of loss from destruction of improvements upon the Property or decrease in the Property's value. The Church also had the benefit of any increase in value of the Property. In fact, the Church had all obligations and benefits of ownership of the Property. In order to determine the rights given to a purchaser under Texas law it is necessary to examine the precedential value of both lines of cases. Both Johnson v. Wood, supra, and Leeson were decided by the Texas Commission of Appeals, an adjudicative body formed to alleviate the workload of the higher courts of Texas. See Club Corp. of Am. v. Concerned Property Owners, supra at 625-626 (citing Texas Law Review Association, Texas Rules of Form, ch. 5, at 14-17 (8th ed. 1995)). The precedential value of a case decided by the commission depends on whether the opinion was adopted, the holding was approved, or the judgment was adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas. See id. at 626. If the Supreme Court adopts the commission's opinion, then it is treated as a precedent having the full authority of a Supreme Court of Texas decision. See id. If the Supreme Court merely approves the holding or adopts only the judgment, then the precedential value of the commission's opinion is limited. See id.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011