Colchensky v. Williamson

1937 OK 518, 72 P.2d 337, 181 Okla. 58, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 30
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 28, 1937
DocketNo. 27525.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1937 OK 518 (Colchensky v. Williamson) 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
Colchensky v. Williamson, 1937 OK 518, 72 P.2d 337, 181 Okla. 58, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 30 (Okla. 1937).

Opinion

BAYLESS, Y. C. J.

The action is one wherein W. C. Williamson, defendant in error, as plaintiff in the court below, sued Ben Colehensky and the Okmulgee Supply Corporation, now plaintiffs in error but defendants in the court below, with a view to having judgment against said defendants for an amount which said plaintiff claimed as being the balance due him on- the purchase price of two certain oil and gas leases; the amount so claimed being alleged to be $1,395.47.

The leases referred to above covered adjoining tracts of land si tifa ted in Elk county, Kan.; one of said leases being known as the Mullendore lease, and the other as the Keyser lease; and there was one oil well on each lease. The plaintiff alleged that in January, 1935, and under an oral agreement, he sold the aforementioned leases to the defendants; that under said 'agreement he was paid $1,S00 at the time of the sale, and was to be paid additional sums in relation to each of said leases. That the amounts of said additional sums were to be arrived at and made to him as follows: (a) As to the Mullendore lease, $20 per ton for all easing recovered from the well in excess of two certain sized strings, if and in event defendants “pulled” the well; but that if after experimenting with the well for a period of 60 days defendants should decide to keep the same as a producer, then and in that event defendants were to pay plaintiff $350 as the estimated “overage” of easing in said well, (b) As to the Keyser lease, that said defendants, in event they “pulled” the well thereon, were to pay plaintiff ■ for all easing recovered from said well over and above 1,798 feet of 6%-inch casing, at the rate of $20 per ton; but that if said defendants elected to keep said well_ as a producer, then and in that event, it was to be assumed “that said well contained the following overage or strings of pipe other than the 6% above stated, as shown by the well log, as follows: 460 feet of $503 12% inch, 1,025 feet of 35$ 10 inch, 1,247 feet of 28$ 8% inch, and 500 feet of 20$ (additional) 6% inch, and to pay plaintiff therefor the additional sum of one thousand and forty-five and 47/100 ($1,-045.47) dollars.” It was further alleged by th© plaintiff: That, in relation to the Mullendore lease, there was due him from said defendants, as the value of the “overage” of casing in the well thereon, the sum of $350; and, in relation to the Keyser lease, that there was due him from said defendants, as the value of the assumed “overage” of casing in the well on that lease, the sum of $1,045.47. And as to each of said amounts he claimed interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, per an-num from March 2, 1935.

To s'aid petition the defendants filed their separate answers. The Okmulgee Supply Corporation, after first denying generally the material allegations of said petition, alleged in its answer that it purchased from the plaintiff the two leases referred to in said petition, but alleged that the terms of the purchase were: (a) Cash in the amount of $1,800, which amount it alleged it had paid to plaintiff; and (b) that if the wells on said leases were retained by defendants as producers, then and in such event, said defendant was to pay plaintiff the further sum of $350. But that if said wells were not so retained, then and in that event, said defendant was to pull the casing from the -wells, at its expense, and for sueh amount of “ten-inch 35$ casing actually recovered from the wells” said defendant was to pay plaintiff “at the fiate of $20 per ton.” Said defendant further alleged that there was no agreement between the plaintiff and said defendant regarding- the length of time said defendant was to have for determining and deciding whether it would retain said wells as producers, except that it was agreed that said defendant should have a reasonable time therefor. Said defendant did not allege in its answer that it had pulled the easing from the wells, nor did it expressly allege that it had kept said wells 'as producers, *60 but it did in effect allege the latter and in connection therewith admit that it was liable to the plaintiff in the sum of $350.

Ben Colehensky, answering said petition, made general denial, and for further answer alleged “that he never entered into any contract with plaintiff as an individual, but whatever contract he made with the plaintiff was 'as an officer of the defendant, Okmulgee Supply Corporation, and plaintiff then knew that this defendant was acting for and on behalf of the corporation.”

For reply to the separate answers of the defendants, the plaintiff alleged that he denied each and every allegation thereof which was directly or indirectly inconsistent with, or contrary to, the allegations of his petition.

The jury in the case returned a verdict finding generally for the plaintiff, Williamson, and against the defendants, Colchen-sky and the Okmulgee Supply Corporation, and therein set the amount of Williamson’s recovery at $700 and interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from March 2, 1935. From the judgment said defendants have appealed.

It is urged by the plaintiffs in error, Col-chensky and the Okmulgee Supply Corporation, that the verdict in the case does not respond to the issues raised by the pleadings and the evidence. The record before us, however, does not disclose that either of said plaintiffs in error raised that question or m'ade any objection whatever to the verdict at the time same was returned into court, and before the jury was discharged. The question, it appears, was not raised until after the jury had been discharged, and then only by the motion for new trial which s'aid plaintiffs in error subsequently filed. And in this situation, the question was not timely raised. For if said parties desired to raise same, they properly should have done so at the time the verdict was returned into court and before the jury was discharged, to the end that the vice therein, if any, might be corrected. Davis v. Gray, 39 Okla. 386, 134 P. 1100; Crisp v. Gillespey, 50 Okla. 541, 151 P. 196; Williams & Miller Gin Co. v. Baker Cotton Oil Co., 108 Okla. 127, 235 P. 185.

Plaintiffs in error also assign as error: “That the verdict and decision is not justified by any theory presented by the pleadings or the p'arties,” and. that the said verdict and decision is in direct conflict with the theory upon which the ease was presented and tried. In relation to said assignment it is stated in their brief that the verdict “should have been either for the sum of $350, which the defendants admitted (as being due the plaintiff), or it should have been in the sum of $1,395.47, being the total of the plaintiff’s claims for the Mullendore and Keyser wells.” By reference to the pleadings which the respective parties to the action filed in the court below, it is to be noted that issue was made between the parties as to the terms of the sale agreement under which the leases were purchased from the plaintiff. This issue, it appears from reference had to the instructions given in the case, was submitted to the jury. And the jury having found generally in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants, it follows that the verdict 'amounted in effect to a finding by the jury that the terms of sale of said leases were those stated in the plaintiff’s petition Sherry v. North, 94 Okla. 222, 221 P. 497; Sturm v. American Bank & Trust Co., 172 Okla. 294, 44 P. (2d) 794.

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Bluebook (online)
1937 OK 518, 72 P.2d 337, 181 Okla. 58, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 30, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colchensky-v-williamson-okla-1937.