Born v. Bentley

1952 OK 260, 246 P.2d 738, 207 Okla. 21, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1251, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 688
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 15, 1952
Docket34453
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1952 OK 260 (Born v. Bentley) 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
Born v. Bentley, 1952 OK 260, 246 P.2d 738, 207 Okla. 21, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1251, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 688 (Okla. 1952).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

We shall refer to the parties as they appeared in the trial court.

Plaintiff, Bettie B. Born, filed this action in the district court of Grady county, Oklahoma, to quiet title to 70 acres of land in Grady county, together with an undivided three-fourths interest in the mineral rights, against the five children and heirs at law of one William Redpath. The evidence to which the demurrer was sustained below discloses the following facts:

That the 70 acres involved was patented by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to William Redpath in 1905; that the plaintiff, Bettie B. Born, and her husband went into possession of said premises at tenants in 1923; that plaintiff and her husband later made a deal to buy the farm from William Redpath for $2,450, it being understood that William Redpath was to except and reserve one-half the mineral rights.

In order, however, to obtain a loan on said premises, a fee-simple title was *22 conveyed by proper warranty deed by William Redpath and his wife, Sula L. Redpath, to plaintiff’s husband, E. E. Born, on October 19, 1926. Thereafter, on November 16, 1926, E. E. Born and his wife, the plaintiff, executed a mortgage to this land to the Exchange Trust Company for $1,000, together with a commission mortgage for $140. On November 17, 1926, a third mortgage was made back to William Redpath for $750 and the commission mortgage of $140 released of record. Thereafter, on November 18, 1926, E. E. Born and his wife, the plaintiff, Bettie B. Born, executed and delivered to William Redpath a mineral deed in the usual form conveying an undivided one-half interest in the mineral rights in and under this 70 acres. The habendum and warranty clause in the mineral deed is quoted from the record as follows:

“To have and to hold the above described property, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereunto and in anywise belonging, unto the said grantee, his heirs and assigns forever, free, clear and discharged of and from all former grants, taxes, mortgages and other liens and encumbrances of whatever nature and kind soever, except mortgages to Exchange Trust Company, and warrant the title to the same, and they do hereby bind their heirs, executors and administrators, to warrant and forever defend all and singular, the title to the same unto the said William Red-path, Sr., his heirs and assigns against every person whomsoever, lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof.”

The Exchange Trust Company mortgage of $1,000 was later assigned to the University of Tulsa, which, on May 2, 1932, foreclosed the mortgage, the plaintiff and! her husband and William Redpath being made parties to the foreclosure suit. William Redpath filed an answer and cross-petition setting up his third mortgage and asked for foreclosure of same against the defendants Bettie Born and E. E. Born, but made no mention of his one-half interest in the mineral rights in said premises. The University of Tulsa bid in the property at sheriffs sale and a sheriffs deed was duly issued as provided by law. The proceedings appear to be regular in all respects. The plaintiff and her husband remained in possession of said premises as tenants of the University of Tulsa, and on March 15, 1936, plaintiff purchased in her own name the land and three-fourths of the mineral rights from the University of Tulsa. The University of Tulsa reserved and excepted one-fourth interest in the mineral rights.

Plaintiff thereafter, on June 17, 1947, filed her petition to quiet title to the land and an undivided three-fourths interest in the mineral rights therein, and made the five children, who were the sole and only heirs at law of William Redpath and his wife, Sula L. Redpath, both deceased, parties defendant. The defendants in their answer and cross-petition plead that under the doctrine of after-acquired title, the heirs at law of William Redpath were entitled to one-half of the mineral rights and that the plaintiff was es-topped from setting up against the heirs of William Redpath, deceased, her subsequent deed from the University of Tulsa, since Bettie B. Born’s power to contract made the covenants of warranty in her husband’s deed to William Redpath to one-half the mineral rights binding on her, and that she was estopped to deny her warranty grantee’s title to one-half the mineral rights. Plaintiff in her reply and answer to defendants’ cross-petition alleged that the mineral deed referred to excepted from the warranty the mortgage under which the property was later foreclosed by the University of Tulsa, and that plaintiff accordingly was not estopped to assert her title as against said mineral deed, which plaintiff contended was extinguished in the foreclosure proceedings.

While this case was pending appeal, this court, on April 1, 1952, handed down four decisions which apply the doctrine of estoppel by deed to the *23 assertion of after-acquired title by-grantor as against the grantee in a mineral deed containing unconditional covenants of warranty. We refer to Equitable Royalty Corporation et al. v. Hullet et al., 206 Okla. 233, 243 P. 2d 986; Hanlon et al. v. McLain et al., 206 Okla. 227, 242 P. 2d 732; Bliss et al. v. Wilcox Oil Co., 206 Okla. 232, 242 P. 2d 739; and Triangle Oil Corp. et al. v. Graves et al., 206 Okla. 409, 242 P. 2d 740.

The .facts in Equitable Royalty Corporation et al. v. Hullet et al., above cited, would be on all fours with the facts in the instant case, except that the habendum and warranty clause there made no mention of the outstanding mortgage of record, while' in the instant case the mortgage to the Exchange Trust Company is expressly excepted from the covenants in the mineral deed against encumbrances. It is contended by the plaintiff that the es-toppel by deed and after-acquired title doctrine are not applicable because of this exception.

The attorneys for defendants have cited cases from Minnesota and North Dakota holding that where the only reference in a general warranty deed (as in this case) to an outstanding mortgage is to except it from the covenants against encumbrances, the exception does not extend to or affect the covenants of warranty, and any title thereafter acquired by grantor through the foreclosure of a mortgage will inure to the benefit of the grantee and his assigns. The cases cited are Smith v. Hogue, 19 N.D. 337, 123 N.W. 827; Rooney v. Koenig, 80 Minn. 483, 83 N. W. 399; Tappan v. Huntington, 97 Minn. 31, 106 N.W. 98.

In view of the decisions of this court handed down April 1, 1952, and above cited, we believe that these Minnesota and North Dakota cases are controlling on this proposition. In Rooney v. Koenig, supra, the facts were very similar to the facts in the instant case. The second syllabus is as follows:

“Where the only reference in a warranty deed to a mortgage on the land is to except it from the covenant against encumbrances, the exception does not extend to or affect the covenant of warranty, and any title thereafter acquired by the grantor by the foreclosure of the mortgage will inure to the benefit of the grantee and his assigns. Manufacturing Co. v. Zellmer, 50 N.W. 379, 48 Minn. 408, followed.”

The Supreme Court of Minnesota in that case made the following statement in the body of the opinion:

“If the exception to the covenant against encumbrances in Matthew Rooney’s Deed to Frank J.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1952 OK 260, 246 P.2d 738, 207 Okla. 21, 1 Oil & Gas Rep. 1251, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/born-v-bentley-okla-1952.