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Friday, January 19, 2001
King Ranch wants a new land hearing
Chapman case contends the family was swindled
By Dan Parker
Caller-Times
The King Ranch will ask a court to re-examine an appeals court's ruling that resurrects a lawsuit over the rightful ownership of King Ranch land, an attorney said.
The lawsuit claims that the founder of the King Ranch and his attorney, Robert J. Kleberg, swindled heirs of William Warren Chapman out of 15,500 acres of land 118 years ago.
A three-judge panel of the 13th Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision last week, overturned summary judgments by two Nueces County district judges that tossed the case out of their courts.
Attorneys for the King Ranch now will take one of three avenues: Ask the three-judge panel to reconsider last week's decision; ask the entire 13th Court of Appeals to reconsider; or appeal to the state Supreme Court, said John Thomas, an attorney for King Ranch.
Thomas said he expects King Ranch attorneys to make a decision within about a week.
King Ranch officials and attorneys were surprised by the ruling by the three-judge panel.
"We think it is sort of unprecedented, frankly," said Jack Hunt, chief executive and president of King Ranch Inc. "Two different trial judges both felt summary judgment was appropriate (in favor of the King Ranch). We were surprised, and we feel the court's position is very unusual."
About 20 heirs have claimed that Chapman's widow, Helen B. Chapman, sued King in 1883 because she was not receiving her share of profits from her deceased husband's half-interest in the 15,500 acres of the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis, which would become the centerpiece of the King cattle empire. They say the court that year ruled in favor of Chapman, but her attorney, Kleberg, accepted a $5,800 payment to buy out her stake in the ranch.
The Chapman heirs have said the widow did not know that Kleberg was employed by King Ranch founder Richard King at the time and that acceptance of the payment was therefore invalid.
Thomas said the case was closed long ago and should remained closed.
"That original title in the 1800s was resolved by a settlement, and that settlement was incorporated into a judgment where the Chapmans received land and cash, and Capt. King received the title to the Rincon, and so . . . it's not like their land was stolen. It was a settlement."
Bill Edwards Sr., an attorney for the Chapman heirs, said he was not surprised by the panel's decision last week.
"The court decision was in accordance with research I did at the very beginning of this case, and what (justices) did in my opinion was follow the law," Edwards said. "It puts (the heirs) back in court. It gives them a right to go before a jury and have their case heard and an opportunity to have their rights vindicated, as I believe they should be."
Craig S. Smith, also an attorney for the Chapman heirs, said he is looking forward to going to trial.
"We firmly believe that our clients are going to convince the jury that they have title," Smith said. "I think there were a lot of problems with the way that land transactions were handled around the turn of the century, plus or minus 20 years."
The lawsuit was filed in 1995. Former 28th State District Judge Robert Pate in December 1996 ruled that the Chapman heirs did not have enough evidence to justify taking the case to trial.
Pate's successor on the court, Judge Nanette Hasette, later reversed the ruling until she heard more evidence. But in January 1998 she came to the same conclusion as Pate and ruled that the case could not move to trial.
The Chapman heirs have no connection to the Chapman Ranch south of Corpus Christi, which was purchased by East Texas oilman J.O. Chapman early in this century.
Staff writer Dan Parker can be reached at_886-3746 or by e-mail at parkerd@caller.com
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