Bollman v. Snell

1926 OK 404, 256 P. 737, 125 Okla. 110, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 7
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 27, 1926
Docket16558
StatusPublished

This text of 1926 OK 404 (Bollman v. Snell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bollman v. Snell, 1926 OK 404, 256 P. 737, 125 Okla. 110, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 7 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

Opinion by

FOSTER, C.

This ease presents error from the superior court of Okmulgee county. The controversy arose between plaintiffs in error, II. C. Bollman, *111 trustee, and J. O. Colburn, defendants below, and defendant in error, R. E. Snell, Jr., plaintiff below, as to priority between a certain mortgage 'lien asserted by tbe defendant in error, Snell, and a lien asserted by plaintiffs in error under a certain mortgage and deed of trust, both covering certain oil and gas leasehold properties located in several counties.

Am action w'as .filed by the defendant in error R. E. Snell, as plaintiff, against James D. Ward, Sadie Ward, W. E. Sunday, J. O. Colburn, H. C. Bollman, trustee of the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company, N. O. Col-burn, receiver of the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company, and various other parties, not •necessary here to be mentioned, as defendants, to foreclose a mortgage held by R. E. Snell, dated and executed July 14, 1920, to secure an indebtedness of $53,237, evidenced by a note oí even date.

W. E. Sunday was the holder of a certain judgment lien upon certain leasehold properties of the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company, which all parties agree was superior to the respective liens asserted by R. E. Snell afid by H. C. Bollman, trustee, and J. O. Colburn.

The plaintiff in error H. C. Bollman, trustee, filed an answer and cross-petition, in which he claimed rights superior and paramount to the claim of R. E. Snell, under and by virtue of a certain deed of trust executed by James D. Ward and the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company cm July I, 1919, to W. M. Baber, as trustee, to secure a bond issue in the sum of $200,000, said bonds being issued in denominations of $1,000 each, covering property of the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company and certain property owned by J. D. Ward individually, and he claimed that 18 of the bonds issued under said trust agreement were owned by J. O. Colburn.

In a second cause of action the said plaintiffs in error H. C. Bollman, trustee, and J. O. Colburn asserted a prior lien under and by virtue of a certain mortgage dated December 6, 1919, and executed by the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company and J. D. Ward to secure two promissory notes, each in the sum of $2.500 payable to W. M. Baker, trustee. due and payable on April 6. 1920.

The mortgage of the defendant in error R. E. Snell covered only the individual property of J. D.” Ward, and the master in issue between the defendant in error Snell and the plaintiffs in error H. C. Bollman. trustee, and J. O. Co’burn, was whether cr no’- the trust deed and mortgage of H. C. Bollman, trustee, in so far as it covered the individual properties of J. B. Ward, was prior and paramount to the subsequent mortgage of R. E. Snell.

The trial court, at the request of plaintiffs im error, made findings of fact and conclusions of law, and rendered judgment that as to the individual1 property of J. D. Ward, the mortgage of the defendant in error R. E. Snell was prior and paramount to the lien of plaintiffs ini error under the deed of trust as to all of the 18 bonds except two bonds originally held by the Producers State Bank in the sum of $2,000, and as to. the two bonds mentioned, adjudged the lien of the plaintiffs in error to be prior to the lien of the defendant in error R. E. Smell, and rendered further judgment in favor, of the plaintiffs in error as prayed for in their second cause of action, amd that the lien asserted by it under its first cause of action be foreclosed against the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Oom- ■ pany and J. D. Wa rd, subject to the lien of the defendants in error. R. E. Snell and W. E. Sunday.

From this judgment and from an order overruling their motion for a new trial the plaintiffs in error H. C. Bollman, trustee, and J. O. Colburn appeal to this court for review. „ The various assignments of error urged .by the plaintiffs in error in their petition in error are presented and discussed under one preposition as follows:

“The court erred in adjudging the mortgage of the plaintiff to be prior and superior lien to the trust deed amd mortgage o. the defendants H. C. Bollman, trustee, and J. Q. Colburn, upon the individual properties of the defendant J. D. Ward.”

The record discloses that W. M. Baker, on July 23, 1921, resigned as trustee in the deed of trust of July 1, 1919, and that H. C. Bollman was apxjointed as his successor. Prior to his resignation the First National Bank of Tulsa had obtained possession, cither as owner or for collection, of T6 of the bonds originally issued by the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company and secured by the deed of trust- of July 1, 1919. The owners oif these bonds, some of whom resided in the East, were pressing for payment.and threatening foreclosure proceedings -against the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company. It appears that the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company was im financial straits. J. D. Ward, as president of that company, enlisted the financial aid of J. O. Colburn, who it seems agreed with Ward to advance the necessary funds to pay off the Eastern bondholders, *112 who were pressing for payment and whose bonds were held by the First National Bank of Tulsa for collection. .With the payment of these bondholders in view, J. D. Ward and J. O. Colburn accumulated a fund and deposited the same in the First National Bank of Tulsa to the credit of W. M. Baker, trustee, who, on July 23, 1921, and prior to his resignation as trustee, drew his check against this fund made payable toi the First National Bank of Tulsa in payment and satisfaction of said bonds.

There were two other bonds outstanding of the original issues, not held by the First National Bank, owned 'by the Producers Bank of West Tulsa, and before W. M. Baker resigned as trustee, he obtained from the Producers Bank its written consent for his resignation and • discharge as .trustee. A written agreement was then entered into' by Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company and J. D. Ward, W. M. Baker, J. O. 'Colburn, and H. C. Bo'llman, by the terms of which W. M Baker resigned as trustee and H. C. Boll-man substituted with the same rights, obligations, and duties as W. M. Baker.

After the payment of these bonds by W. M. Baker they were then turned over to J. O. Colburn whose claim of priority is now disputed by the defendant in error R. E., Snell, because he claims the bonds had been finally discharged by the transaction of July 23, 1921, and since the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company had no legal authority to recirculate these bonds after they had been paid, the lien of H. C. Boilman, trustee, and J. O. Colburn was thereby automatically discharged, and the lien of the defendant in error Snell, under his mortgage, became the first lien on the property as between him and the plaintiffs in error.

Plaintiffs in error, as we understand it, do ■not s.eriously controvert the fact that the bonds in controversy were paid by the transaction of July 23, 1921, but claim that, notwithstanding this fact, they still retain their priority under the doctrine) of equitable subrogation. They contend that by virtue of an agreement between J. O. Colburn and the Sequoyah Oil & Refining Company, acting through its president, J. D.

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Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 404, 256 P. 737, 125 Okla. 110, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bollman-v-snell-okla-1926.