Cox v. First Mortgage Loan Co.

1935 OK 739, 48 P.2d 1060, 173 Okla. 392, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 634
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 10, 1935
DocketNo. 24644.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1935 OK 739 (Cox v. First Mortgage Loan Co.) 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
Cox v. First Mortgage Loan Co., 1935 OK 739, 48 P.2d 1060, 173 Okla. 392, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 634 (Okla. 1935).

Opinion

CORN, J.

This was a foreclosure action wherein judgment of foreclosure was entered in favor of the plaintiff on default of the defendants. In due time a special execution and order of sale was published in the Daily Law Journal, the first insertion being on the 19th day of August, 1932. After the sale, the defendants filed their objections to the confirmation of sale based upon the grounds that said publication was not a legal publication as contemplated by the statute, and further, that the appraisement of the property had not been made in conformity to law. A hearing was had on said objections, and at the conclusion thereof the sale was confirmed. From this judgment the defendants have perfected their appeal.

The trial court, at the time the sale w;as confirmed, made a finding of facts which is as follows:

“The Daily Law Journal is the legal successor of the Oklahoma Citizen and that the Oklahoma Citizen is the. legal successor of the Capital American, and that the Capital American had been a legal publication since about the year 3907. And that on or about the 17th day of April, 1932, the Leader Press, a corporation, purchased- of and from Amos L. Wilson, sole owner of the Oklahoma Citizen, all of liis right, title and interest in and to said newspaper; that said newspaper and said Capital American, its predecessor, had always been printed by the Western Newspaper Union, and that said Wilson did not have equipment to print a news7 ¡paper. That after the purchase of said newspaper by said Leader Press, said Leader Press transferred its interests in said paper to the Law Journal Publishing Company, which concern changed the name of said Oklahoma Citizen to the Daily Law Journal and have since published the same as a daily newspaper under the volume and issue ¡numbers of said Oklahoma Citizen, and have (printed the same upon their own presses in Oklahoma City; that said daily newspaper-completed all the advertising contracts .of the Oklahoma Citizen and that said newspaper, the Daily Law Journal, is in all respects a legal publication within the contemplation of section 54, O. S. 1931, and is qualified now and was qualified at the time the first insertion of the advertisement in this cause was printed, to publish legal notices.”

The parties will hereafter be designated as they appeared in the trial court.

The only assignment of error by the defendant that carries with it any merit is:

“The court erred in holding that the Daily Law Journal was a legal publication and qualified to publish notices of sale of the real property involved in this foreclosure case.”

The facts in this case briefly stated are as follows: One Wilson, a resident of Cap-atol Hill, had published .a weekly newspaper designated as the Capitol American since about the year 1924. On January 1, 1932, he changed the name of this publication to *393 the Oklahoma Citizen, as successor to the Capitol American. In March, 1932, he began ¡publishing another paper, the Capitol Hill News. He did this by dividing the subscription list of the Oklahoma Citizen and) ■thereafter sent to one subscription list the Oklahoma Citizen and to the other subscription list the Capitol Hill News, but the two newspapers were almost identical in material and print, except the names. Each paper, however, had a different permit under the postal laws. He never at any time (printed either of the papers, but had them printed by the Western Newspaper Union.

On April 11, 1932, he sold one of said ^newspapers, the Oklahoma Citizen, as evidenced by the following bill of sale:

“For and in consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars (§500) payable as follows: three hundred dollars in cash, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and the execution and delivery to me of itwo promissory notes of even date herewith, each for one hundred dollars and due and payable thirty and sixty days hereafter, I ■hereby sell, transfer and deliver to the Leader Press, a corporation authorized to do business in the state of Oklahoma, all of my right, title, ownership and interest into a certain weekly newspaper, to wit: 'The Oklahoma Citizen,’ which at this date has been continuously and legally published for a period of nine (9) years and is duly and legally entered as second class mail matter at the post office at Oklahoma City, state of Oklahoma, together with its subscription list, and I hereby covenant and agree that I am the sole owner of said above-described newspaper and that I will warrant and defend the title to same against all persons whatsoever, and agree that the said Leader Press may issue and print an issue of said. ‘The Oklahoma Citizen’ on and after April 16th as the sole owner thereof and I hereby deliver said newspaper to the said Leader Press.
“In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of April, 1932.
“In the presence of
“O. W. McKowen, Witness
“Frank Eagin, Witness Amos L. Wilson.”

Immediately thereafter the Daily Law Journal became the owner thereof by proper transfers.

This case was tried by the defendant in the trial court on the theory that the Capitol Hill News was the successor to the Capital American, and that there could not be two successors to the same paper. The question as to whether the Capitol Hill News 5s a legal newspaper is not properly presented to us in this case for determination. We will, therefore, not express any opinion. The question for us to determine is whether the Daily Law Journal was a legal publication at the time the first notice of sale of said property was given.

The Daily Law Journal was circulated among some 250 subscribers, together with other copies which were circulated gratis among county officers and others. It was delivered by mail or carriers to Bethany, Arcadia, Choctaw, Harrah, Spencer, Wheat-land, Britton, Edmond, and Oklahoma City.

It is contended by defendant that the Daily Law Journal is not a newspaper of general circulation as provided by section 450, O. S. 1931.

In Hessler v. Coldron, 29 Okla. 216, 116 P. 787, the trial court sustained the demurrer to the evidence, and held that the Daily Law News was not a newspaper of general circulation. In deciding the matter in which the trial court was reversed this court said:

“It had a circulation of from 205 to 215, among bankers, merchants, lawyers, real estate agents, insurance agents, wholesale merchants, hardware merchants, physicians, and almost every class of business in the county. That it circulated in almost every town in the county, including Jones, Oklahoma City, Edmond, Luther, Harrah, and Spencer.”

That ease was also followed by this court in the later case of Harrell v. Farm Home Savings & Loan Association, 130 Okla. 279, 267 P. 265.

Defendant also complains of the transfer of. the Oklahoma Citizen to the Daily Law Journal, and cites several cases, but relies mostly on the case of Board of County Commissioners v. Eastern Oklahoma Publishing Company, 120 Okla. 122, 250 P. 496, where this court held:

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1935 OK 739, 48 P.2d 1060, 173 Okla. 392, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-first-mortgage-loan-co-okla-1935.