Clark v. Kinder

1954 OK 104, 269 P.2d 345, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 492
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 6, 1954
DocketNo. 35449
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1954 OK 104 (Clark v. Kinder) 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
Clark v. Kinder, 1954 OK 104, 269 P.2d 345, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 492 (Okla. 1954).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Upon the filing of plaintiff’s suit the defendants filed their separate demurrers which were sustained. Plaintiff elected to stand upon his petition and the cause was dismissed. The petition generally alleges that the plaintiff, Orlando Clark, was on the 31st day of May, 1916, committed to the Central State Hospital, Norman, Oklahoma, under insanity proceedings. From time to time he was released from the hospital and again committed, and paroled therefrom on the 26th day of January, 1926. On the 17th day of March, 1951, the County Court of Lincoln County restored him to legal capacity and competency.

It was alleged in the petition that on the 11th day of June, 1918, John J. Davis procured letters of guardianship of the estate and person of the plaintiff, Orlando Clark. The petition alleges that the appointment of the guardian and the' letters of guardianship were void, principally for the reasons that the letters of guardianship were issued without there having first been executed and filed an oath as provided by law. That the letters of guardianship were issued without there having been first executed and filed a bond, as provided by law. That same was procured by fraud of the said John J. Davis in that he represented that due and legal notice had been given to Orlando Clark, and that the notice was insufficient both as to law and form because it did not run in the name of “The State of Oklahoma.” Further, that Orlando Clark was not brought before the court at the hearing. There were other grounds which are not serious enough to mention.

Plaintiff sought in his first cause of action to vacate the order appointing the guardian and the letters of guardianship, and asked that plaintiff be restored to all the rights lost by the illegal and void appointment.

In his second cause of action the plaintiff says that on March 10, 1919, John J. Davis, purporting to be the guardian of Orlando Clark, instituted an action entitled Ray Clark, a minor, by John J. Davis, his next friend, and Orlando Clark, Incompetent, by John J. Davis, his guardian, against Minnie Clark Williams, Defendant, in the District Court of Lincoln County seeking to partition a certain tract of land in which plaintiff owned an ’ undivided one-third interest. Thé petition alleges further that judgment in partition was rendered and thereafter, on June 11, 1919, by sheriff’s sale, the defendant, Joseph E. Kinder, became the purchaser by sheriff’s deed Plaintiff alleged that the judgment and the sheriff’s deed pursuant to the sale were illegal and void for the reasons, [347]*347principally, that John J. Davis was never legally appointed guardian of Orlando Clark. Further, that the District Court of Lincoln County had no jurisdiction of the parties or subject matter. Next, that the petition in the partition suit did not state a cause of action, as it shows on its face that the estate of Margaret S. Clark was pending then in the county court of Lincoln County, and that the District Court therefore had no jurisdiction to determine heirs or partition the property. Further, that the partition suit was brought and judgment rendered by reason of fraud on Orlando Clark because John J. Davis'was a licensed attorney and had appointed Foster & Feu-quay, other attorneys, to institute the' action to cause large attorney fees.

That the judgment was rendered before the issues had been made up ten days, as provided by law. Further, that in the partition suit, when Minnie Clark Williams, administratrix of the estate of Margaret S. Clark, was permitted to intervene, the court lost jurisdiction and must dismiss the case.

Plaintiff then alleged that on April 20, 19.50, the defendant, Joseph E. Kinder and Gertrude C. Kinder, his wife, executed and delivered to the Wilcox Oil Company, a corporation, an oil and gas mining lease and that the defendants Kinder and the Wilcox Oil Company had actual and constructive notice of the facts that the said action in partition and the sheriff’s sale were void and that plaintiff was suffering under a legal disability. In the prayer for relief plaintiff sought to vacate the sheriff’s deed, vacate the oil and gas mining lease and to have plaintiff decreed to be the owner in fee simple of an undivided one-third interest in the lands, free and clear of .oil and gas mining lease, and that his title be quieted and confirmed as to the said undivided one-third interest.

In his third cause of action plaintiff sought one-third of the rents, profits and income from June, 1919, including any and all gas, oil, bonus monies, annual rentals and royalties received by the defendant Kinder on the rents.

The'principal grounds relied on in the brief of plaintiff in error are as follows:

1. That the appointment of the guardian is void because made without due service of process as provided by law. .

2. That notice of hearing was not served by a person authorized by law, nor appointed by the court.

3. That the appointment was void because the letters of guardianship were issued on a day other than the day set for hearing, and without there having first been filed an oath and bond, as provided by law. •

4. That the appointment of the guardian being void, then all proceedings, including the partition action, were void and could be attacked either in the original action or in an independent action.

5. That the District Court of Lincoln County had no jurisdiction to order partition and sale of the property, principally for the reason that the partition suit shqwed on its face that the estate of Margaret S. Qark was pending in the county court of Lincoln County, and that Margaret S. Clark had not been deceased for three years and her estate was then being probated by the county court. Therefore, the petition in partition was void and all proceedings thereunder were void.

, We will deal with each of these contentions in turn.

The contention that the appointment of guardian was void because made without due service of process is not well taken. Tt is plaintiff’s Contention that the notice of hearing upon petition for guardianship is void because it does not run in the name of “The State of Oklahoma.” This contention cannot be sustained.

In Burns v. Pittsburg Mortgage Inv. Co., 105 Okl. 150, 231 P. 887, 888, it was held:

“Section 19, art. 7, of the Constitution and section 862, Compiled Laws of 1921 [12 O.S. 1951 § 51], providing that the style of all writs and processes shall be ‘The State of Oklahoma,’ has reference only to that character of writs and processes which under the [348]*348common law run in the name of the king, and such provisions have no application to a notice by publication.”

In Harrison v. Orwig, 149 Okl. 54, 299 P. 143, 144, it was held:

“Notice of hearing a petition for sale of real estate of a minor in guardianship proceedings is not ‘process' within the meaning of sections 862 and 1086, C.O.S. 1921 [12 O.S. 1951 § 51, 58 O.S. 1951 § 3].”

See, also, Bearhead v. American Inv. Co., 157 Okl. 84, 10 P.2d 1086.

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Related

Brown v. Wilson
1962 OK 202 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1962)
Gottsch v. Ireland
1961 OK 4 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1954 OK 104, 269 P.2d 345, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-kinder-okla-1954.