167 Garcia v. Garcia

CASE NOTE

Richard F. Brown

 
Garcia v. Garcia,       S.W.3d           , 2006 WL 1684742 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2006, pet. denied), holds that a deed conveys the interest as broadly described in the deed, and the interest conveyed in the deed is not limited by the more specific description included in the deed. The grantor under the deed owned 18 surface acres and an undivided 60.2395 oil, gas, and other mineral acres. The deed conveyed the following:
 
All that certain lot, tract or parcel of land, situated in the County of Zapata, State of Texas, more particularly described as follows, to-wit:

Eighteen (18) acres of land, more or less, undivided, being all out right, title and interest in and to 891.30 acres of land, more or less, in Porclones Nos. 34 and 35, Zapata County, Texas

*     *     *

. . . in this connection it is the intention of the Grantors herein to sell and convey to the Grantee herein all interest of every kind and character, and from whatever source acquired, in and to said entire 891.3 acre tract.

 
The court held that the deed was unambiguous and conveyed all of grantor’s interest. The court relied on existing authority for the principle that a broad, general granting clause that is a conveyance of “all” of grantor’s interest will broaden a more specific, limited description. The court found that the final clause of the description was conclusive, and that the rule of construction that the specific controls over the general only applies when there is a conflict or repugnance between the descriptions used.  In this deed, there was no conflict, and “situations in which general grants cannot be given effect have not arisen frequently” and “it only rarely happens that general grants cannot be given literal effect.”