Campbell v. Hickory

1929 OK 216, 278 P. 1088, 137 Okla. 235, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 440
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 28, 1929
Docket19286
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1929 OK 216 (Campbell v. Hickory) 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
Campbell v. Hickory, 1929 OK 216, 278 P. 1088, 137 Okla. 235, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 440 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

Sammie Hickory, defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as the minor, a minor Creek Indian 19 years of ag'e, by and through a next friend, filed a suit in the district court of Tulsa county to set, aside a purported appointment of guardian for himself and a guardian’s sale of his real estate.

The plaintiffs in error, hereinafter referred to as th'e claimants, filed answers and cross-petitions and alleged that a guardian was legally appointed for the minor and his estate; that the said guardian, «by and with the consent of the county court, sold the real estate in question to the claimants and that a deed was executed and delivered to them conveying to them the said property, and they prayed that they be awarded a judgment against the minor quieting the tit’e to the land in question.

Thereafter the minor dismissed his suit. The claimants procured summons to be served upon him, and a guardian ad litem was appointed for him. The minor, by and through his guardian ad litem, demurred to the cross-petition of claimants as amended; said demurrer, with formal parts omitted, being as follows:

”1. That prior to the1 time of amending-the cross-petition herein, demurrant, Sammie Hickory, had dismissed his cause of action herein and that no judgment rendered against demurrant herein would be binding upon him.
• “2. That the amended cross-petition of J.O. Campbell and J. W. Bozarth fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in favor of the said cross-petitioners and against demurrant herein.”

This demurrer was sustained, and the *237 cross-p’etition was dismissed by tbe district court. The portion of the judgment pertinent to this inquiry was as follows:

“The demurrer was argued by counsel and submitted to the court, and the court concludes that the defendants, J. O. Campbell and J. W. Bozarth, cannot maintain their cross-petition against the plaintiff, Sammie Hickory, a minor, and G. C. Spillers, his guardian ad li.tem, for the reason that the cross-petition cannot be maintained against the said mnor to quiet title as against him, and the court does not consider the merits of the. controversy in any other respect 'except that it concludes that the cross-petition cannot be maintained to quiet title against the. said Sammie Hickory, minor plaintiff.
“It is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the demurrer of Sammie Hickory, appearing herein by and through G. C. Spillers, guardian ad litem, be, and the same is hereby, sustained on the sole ground that the defendants cannot maintain a .cross-petition against said minor to quiet their title against him during his minority. * * *
“The court further adjudges and decrees that the cross-petition, as the. same is amended and supplemented herein, of the said defendants, J. O. Campbell and J. W. Bozarth, be, and the same is hereby, dismissed upon the sole ground that the said defendants cannot maintain a cross-petition, against the plaintiff, Sammie Hickory, a minor, acting herein by and through G. C. Spillers, his guardian ad litem, to quiet their title against the said minor plaintiff during his minority. * * *>>

From this judgment the claimants appealed to this court, and allege as error the sustaining of the demurr'er of the minor to the. cross-petitions of the claimants and the dismissing of the cross-petitions of the claimants against the minor.

It appears from the pleadings that th'e minor owned a one-third interest in this real estate; that upon the sale of the land by the guardian one of the claimants was the highest bidder; that the county court refused to confirm the sale to him; that he appealed to the district court; that the district court made and entered its order confirming the sale and that the minor appealed to the Supreme Court.

This court, in Re Hickory’s Guardianship, 75 Okla. 79, 182 Pac. 233, held that the district co'hrt was in error in refusing to hear evidence, as to whether or not it was to the best interest of the minor that the lands be sold, and that that issue should have been passed upon before any order of confirmation was made. The district court then heard evidence in conformity to the mandate of the Supreme. Court, directed a confirmation of the sale, and remanded the cause to the county court, and the county-court confirmed the sale in accordance with the mandate of the district court.

We recognize the right of minors to appeal to the district court, as was done in this case, from an order confirming the sale, and to appeal from the order of the district court confirming the sale to the Supreme Court, and that the decision of the Supreme Court thereon would be binding and conclusive upon the minor as to all of the Issues submitted by the appeal.

The record in this case shows that the county court refused to confirm the sale, the district court on appeal ordered the sale confirmed, and the Supreme Court on appeal reversed the district court for the reason that evidence had not been taken. The decision of the Supreme Court in that case is of no advantage to claimants, because it reversed the order of the district court confirming- the sale. When the case went back to the district court, that court took 'evidence, and then directed the county court to confirm the sale.

The claimants denominate sections 819 and 684, C. O. S. 1921, the “appeal statute,” and section 798, C. O. S. 1921, the “vacation statute.” They present their appeal under two propositions:

“(1) These statutes 'have no application to orders, judgments, and proceedings had in the county court in th'e exercise of the probate jurisdiction of that court.”
“(2) Assuming that such statutes are applied, they give to the infant only a right to proceed according to the statutes, and. such right of the infant is a separate and distinct one from the right of such infant to claim an interest in the land which was sold pursuant to such judgments.”

They call particular attention -to the distinction between the rights of a minor to have judgments, orders, and proceedings vacated or reversed and th'e rights of a minor to assert a present interest in real estate adverse to the estate of th'e purchaser.

Sections 819 and 684, C. O. S. 1921, authorize the district court to vacate its own; judgments or orders. Neither of these sec> tions authorizes county courts to vacate- or set aside decrees of sale, orders of confirmation, or guardian’s deeds after th'e sale has' been completed and the guardian’s deed' executed pursuant to the order of the court' confirming the sale has been delivered. Jackson v. Porter et al., 87 Okla. 112, 299 Pac. *238 430; Welch v. Patrick et al., 133 Okla. 242, 271 Pac. 663.

In Re Johnson, 72 Okla. 174, 179 Pac. 605, it was said:

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 216, 278 P. 1088, 137 Okla. 235, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-hickory-okla-1929.