Carroll v. Risner

1948 OK 139, 205 P.2d 282, 201 Okla. 314, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 550
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 8, 1948
DocketNo. 33085
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1948 OK 139 (Carroll v. Risner) 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
Carroll v. Risner, 1948 OK 139, 205 P.2d 282, 201 Okla. 314, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 550 (Okla. 1948).

Opinion

DAVISON, V.C.J.

In October, 1943, Whit Carroll conveyed by quitclaim deed to one of his sons, Mitchell Carroll, approximately 166 acres of land in Carter county upon consideration of the grantee paying the taxes thereon amounting to some $225. For correction of the description therein he executed a warranty deed on August 28, 1945. This action was brought February 26, 1946, by the guardian of Whit Carroll, who, in the interim, had been adjudged an incompetent, for the purpose of canceling these deeds and for an accounting of rents, profits and income received therefrom by the said Mitchell Carroll. Plaintiff further sought the cancellation of an oil and gas lease covering a part of the premises, executed by Mitchell Carroll to the Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation, September 5, 1945. As grounds for such recovery the petition alleged that the warranty deed was a forgery and was executed at a time when the grantor was “non compos mentis”; that both deeds were obtained by fraud and undue influence without the payment of any consideration. Judgment of the trial court for plaintiff was predicated upon extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law which found the grantor mentally incompetent at the time of the execution of said deeds, but further found that there was no fraud or undue influence, the allegation of forgery being abandoned. From this judgment, the defendant Mitchell Carroll has appealed.

The lease to the Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation was sustained upon the theory of an innocent purchaser for value and that part of the judgment has become final and is not involved herein.

Although the petition, as to the defendant, Mitchell Carroll, contained no allegation of the mental incapacity of the grantor at the time of the execution of the first deed, the case was tried in the lower court and is here presented by both parties as though such allegation had been made therein. Under such condition, the petition will be considered as amended to conform to the proof. 12 O.S. 1941 §317; Newman v. Kirk, 164 Okla. 147, 23 P. 2d 163; St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Mittendorf et al., 24 Okla. 651, 104 P. 354, and cases therein cited.

The sole question presented by this appeal is the sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court’s finding that the grantor, Whit Carroll, “was mentally incompetent to know and understand the consequences of his acts, and that he did not know that by the execution of said deeds he was divesting himself of said property.” It is plaintiff’s contention and apparently was the belief of the trial court that this case comes within the boundaries of application of the rule in the case of Channell v. Jones, 184 Okla. 644, 89 P. 2d 769, as quoted in the case of First National Bank of Enid v. Headrick, 190 Okla. 164, 121 P. 2d 566, as follows:

“ ‘ Where a grantor in a deed is incapable of comprehending that the effect of a deed, when executed and delivered, would be to divest such grantor of title to the land described in such deed, said grantor is, as to such deed, entirely without understanding within the meaning of section 9402, O.S. 1931, 15 Okla. St. Ann. §22, and the deed is void and conveys no rights to the grantee.’ ”

We have carefully examined the entire voluminous record in the instant case and it discloses the following fact situation: In 1926 Whit Carroll, a widower, 68 years of age and the father of seven adult children, two men and five women, married a woman 40 years [316]*316his junior and one year younger than his youngest child. At that time he was a reasonably prosperous man, owning a cotton gin, a home and 320 acres of land in Carter county, 290 acres of land in Love county, together with livestock and other personal property. During the years following, the gin burned, a part of the oil royalty was sold for $500, and by 1943 he had become destitute. Of this second marriage three living children were born, ranging in age, at the time of the trial, from nine to eighteen years. Of all his older children, only two made any attempt to be of assistance to their father or to associate with him after the latter marriage. The defendant was very attentive, helping to manage the property and being accessible at all times when his father needed him. The oldest daughter, Cora Hughes, did those things indicative of respect and affection and, at the time of the trial, had moved from New Mexico to her father’s home in order to care for him, his wife having divorced him in October, 1945. Mrs. Hughes’ testimony alone would have been sufficient to support the trial court’s finding of the entire absence of the alleged fraud and duress.

In February, 1943, the Love county land had lost its agricultural value by exhaustion and erosion, and had very little mineral value other than the rentals of some $145 annually on an oil lease executed in 1935. At that time taxes on the 290 acres in said Love county were delinquent in approximately the amount of $400. Whit Carroll tried to sell the farm but was unsuccessful. After discussing the matter at length with his wife they decided to deed it to the defendant, Mitchell Carroll, if he would pay these taxes. This he agreed to do and the land was conveyed to him.

The same situation existed as to the Carter county land, and in October, 1943, they conveyed to Mitchell Carroll the 166 acres involved herein subject to the payment of taxes amounting to some $225, retaining 152 acres on which their home was located. Both of these deeds were executed as the result of extensive discussions and forethought on the part of the grantors in the absence of the grantee. Both were discussed with their lawyer upon whose advice they had relied for many years. The one here involved, after being executed in the lawyer’s office was taken to defendant’s son who delivered it to his father the next week. After the execution of the deeds, the defendant turned over to his father all rentals received from the oil lease and from the crops. Then, some two years later, in August, 1945, representatives of the defendant Mid-Continent Petroleum Corporation contacted Whit Carroll with reference to obtaining an oil and gas lease. After several days of negotiating Whit Carroll agreed to and did execute a lease on 80 acres of the 150 he still owned and occupied as a homestead from which he received $800. As a part of the same activity, this company obtained a lease from Mitchell Carroll on a part of the tract theretofore conveyed to him for $1,200, being the same price per acre as was paid his father. However, before the title of Mitchell Carroll was approved, it was necessary for him to get a deed from his father and stepmother correcting the description in the original conveyance. This was a warranty deed dated August 28, 1945.

Shortly thereafter, the other children, for the first time, became quite interested and active. The other son had his father declared incompetent and had himself appointed guardian in February, 1946. A contract was made with attorneys to attempt to recover the lands and the above mentioned $1,200, upon a contingent fee basis. This action was then instituted. Testimony was introduced of numerous occasions on which plaintiff’s mind would wander and occasionally his conversation would be about nonexistent facts. At times his memory was bad and he failed to recognize some of his children when they would visit him. A doctor who ex[317]*317amined him about the time of the trial, but who had not seen him previously for some eight years, testified as to his then condition being one of incompetency. In answer to a hypothetical question he answered that in his opinion the plaintiff was incompetent in 1943.

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Bluebook (online)
1948 OK 139, 205 P.2d 282, 201 Okla. 314, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-risner-okla-1948.