Clem Oil Co. v. Oliver

1924 OK 1165, 232 P. 942, 106 Okla. 22, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 551
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided December 30, 1924·No. 14987·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

PINKHAM, C.

On June 23, 1922, defendants in error, as plaintiffs, instituted this .action in the district court of Washington county, Okla., against the plaintiff in error, for recovery of a commission alleged to be due them as brokers in the sale of certain oil leases belonging to defendant. The parties will he referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

Summons was issued to the sheriff of Osage county for service on defendant, Clem Oil Company, a corporation, and served on J. R. McCoy, president of said corporation, in Osage county. The defendant filed special appearance and motion! to quash, which motion, on August 5, 1923, was overruled and defendant excepted. Defendant filed its demurrer to plaintiffs’ petition, stating therein that the count 'had no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant, which was overruled and defendant excepted.

Defendant company filed iits answer September 26, 1922, the answer not waiving its special appearance and motion to quash and objection to the jurisdiction of the court theretofore filed, and not waiving the grounds of the demurrer. The answer also contained a general denial and a plea of settlement for $5,000, and a payment of $250 on account thereof.

On November 27, 1922, defendant served on plaintiffs’ attorneys notice of motion for leave to file supplemental answer alleging facts arising after the filing of the original answer. This motion was heard and application for leave to file supplemental answer ■denied, and defendant excepted.

On the trial of the case the employment of the plaintiffs, or at least one of them, to make the sale and that plaintiffs were the efficient cause of the sale wtere admitted, and only the amount of commission was disputed.

The testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs was to the effect that the agreement as to the compensation was to he “the usual and customary commission.” The defendant’s testimony tended to show that the amount of commission! was to be left to 'the' defendant, fcnd that after the sale was consummated the parties reached an agreement of $5,000 as full compensation.

The jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs for $15,000. The amount for which the property was 'sold was $410,000. For reversal of the judgment two propositions are submitted and discussed ini the brief of the defendant company: “First, that the court erred in overruling motion of plaintiff in error to quash service of summons.’’

The record discloses that the defendant company is a domestic corporation) and has its principal office in Osage county, and its principal officers reside in Osage county.

Plaintiffs brought their action against the defendant in Washington county and the argument is that plaintiffs’ right to bring the action, in Washington county must arise, if at all, under the last clause of section 202, Comp. Stat. 1921.

The statute referred to reads as follows:

“An action!, other than one of those mentioned in first three sections of this article, against a corporation created by the laws of this state may be brought in the county in which it is situated, or has its principal office or place of business, or in which any of the principal officers thereof may reside, or he summoned, or in the county where the cause of action or some part thereof aro'se.”

It is contended that what is meant by the last clause of the statute above quoted was determined in the case of Consolidated Fuel Co. v. Gunn, 89 Okla. 73, 213 Pac. 750. In the case cited and relied upon, it appears that an order for coal was given in Canadian county to a traveling salesman of the defendant company, the coal to be delivered f. o. b. in Okmulgee county. The order was approved in Muskogee county and the *24 breach occurred in. Okmulgee county. The court said im 'the opinion:

“The general rule is that a contract is deemed to be made at the place where the final assent, is given (citing authorities). It is plain under the authorities considered that the contract was made in Muskogee county. It was in that county that the final assent was given and the negotiations between the parties became an effective agreement. It was there that the primary right of the plaintiff came into existence and the duty and obligations of the defendant became fixed toward the plaintiff.”

The facts in the instant case are, we thinlk, of an opposite character from the facts in the case relied upon. The record discloses, in the present case, that the plaintiff,'Oliver, was in New York, and «lived the defendant in Osage county, askinig if it would sell the property in question and to fix the price. The defendant wired back that the property was for sale, .naming the price. After the plaintiff, Oliver, returned from New York to his home in Bartlesville, ■Washington county, he received a telephone call from Mr. McOoy, president of the defendant company, from Tulsa, in which conversation! Mr. McCoy informed Mr. Oliver that he was coming through Bartlesville on his way from Independence, Kan., and requested Mr. Oliver to meet him at the station in Bartlesville, where the Santa Fe train stops for about ten minutes. Pursuant to that request Mr. Oliver met Mr. McOoy at the station in Bartlesville, where they talked over the terms of employment for the sale of the oil property in question; and while at -the trial the parties differed as to the amount of compensation that it was agreed Mr. Oliver was to receive for the sale of the property, it appears that the conversation) at the station in Bartlesville, Washington county, was the only conversation ever had between the parties concerning the terms of the contract prior to the sale thereof by the plaintiffs.

The evidence discloses that the plaintiffs lived in Bartlesville during the entire proceedings and numerous letters, telephone conversation's, and telegrams went in and out of Bartlesville between the plaintiffs And defendant company, with reference to the sale -of the property.

The general ¡rule is that where negotiations looking to the making of a contract are entered into by correspondence between persons living at a distance from each other, the contract is deemed to be made at the place where the final assent is given. (Denison v. Phipps, 87 Okla. 299, 211 Pac. 83.)

The record further discloses that there was no agreement at any time as to the place where the commission was to be paid by defendant for plaintiffs’ services, and it is clear that the defendant knew that the plaintiffs resided in Bartlesville, Washington county, the place where it is admitted the agreement for the payment of a commission vlas made by the defendant company to the plaintiffs for the sale of the oil leases in question.

“In general, a debtor who is indebted on a money obligation is bound, if no place of payment is specified in tbe contract, to seek the creditor, and make payment to him personally.” 21 R. C. L. 15.

In 30 Cyc. 1185, it is said:

“In the absence of any agreement upon the subject a debt is payable where the creditor resides.”

In People ex rel. v. District Court (Colo.) 203 Pac. 268, the Colorado Supreme Court said:

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Clem Oil Co. v. Oliver, 1924 OK 1165, 232 P. 942, 106 Okla. 22, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 551 (Okla. 1924).

1924 OK 1165 (Clem Oil Co. v. Oliver) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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