Cox v. Sarkeys

1956 OK 294, 304 P.2d 979, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 641
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 13, 1956
Docket37121
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 1956 OK 294 (Cox v. Sarkeys) 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. Sarkeys, 1956 OK 294, 304 P.2d 979, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 641 (Okla. 1956).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This action was instituted in the District Court of Atoka County on August 7, 1953, by S. J. Sarkeys, defendant in error, against Eddie Cox, Kenneth Sharp, Virginia Sharp, John Allen Phillips, II, and John R. Hickman, Jr., plaintiffs in error, and others, to quiet title to the Ej/á of Section 19, Township 1 North, Range 12 East, Atoka County, and for ejectment of certain defendants then in possession. The case was tried to a jury which returned its verdict in favor of plaintiff and from the court’s judgment rendered thereon the defendants appearing here as plaintiffs in error perfected this appeal. Hereafter the parties will [982]*982be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The substance of plaintiff’s amended petition was to the effect that he was the owner of the fee simple title in and to the land involved herein; that he acquired his title thereto by virtue of a county deed dated August 4, 1941, and recorded in the office of the county clerk in said county on August 5, 1941; that said county deed was based upon a resale tax deed from the county treasurer to the board of county commissioners under date of May 13, 1941, recorded June 17, 1941. He further pleaded title by prescription based upon 12 O.S. 1951 § 93, and alleged that the defendants were claiming title to said property by virtue of a quit-claim deed, placed of record April 7, 1950, from one Mary B. Blaine to the defendant, Eddie Cox, which deed was champertous and void by reason of 21 O. S. 1951 § 548; that notwithstanding such void deed the defendant, Eddie Cox, during the temporary absence of plaintiff entered into possession of a part of said land and since has maintained a few horses thereupon. He prayed that his title be quieted as against defendants and they be required to deliver immediate possession to that part of said land held by them.

The defendants denied generally and specifically the allegations of plaintiff’s petition; specifically denied that plaintiff had ever been in possession of said land or was in possession of same at the date the defendant, Eddie Cox, acquired title thereto from Mary B. Blaine, and alleged that defendants were in possession of all of said land and had been in such possession for a long time prior to the commencement of this action; that Mary. B. Blaine was in possession of the land at the time of the execution by her of the quitclaim deed to Eddie Cox; and specifically denied that the plaintiff had acquired any title to the land by prescription at the time Mary B. Blaine conveyed the same to defendant, Eddie Cox.

Although defendants in this court argue sixteen propositions as grounds for reversal, the crux of the appeal is: Whether plaintiff’s title to said property under the county deed was perfected under 12 O.S. 1951 § 93; and whether the former record title owner of the property, Mary B. Blaine, was in possession of said property at the date of the execution of her quitclaim deed to the defendant, Eddie Cox.

It is apparent from the stipulation of the parties herein that the resale tax deed upon which plaintiff bases his claim of title under his county deed was void for the reason that the land was advertised for sale for a greater amount of taxes, penalties, interest and costs due and delinquent on the land at the time of the first publication of the notice of re-sale by including the last quarter of taxes not then delinquent. This question is so well settled in this court that the citation of authorities is unnecessary. Therefore plaintiff must recover, if at all, upon his alleged adverse possession of the property.

The evidence discloses that the plaintiff, S. J. Sarkeys, immediately upon securing a county deed to said property on August 4, 1941, through his tenant, Tom Gaylor, took possession of the land; that Gaylor remained in possession, pasturing the land and cutting timber making railroad ties therefrom, during the years 1941 and 1942; that plaintiff placed the land in the hands of Judge Ralls of Coalgate who leased same for plaintiff to one Robert Scivally for pasture purposes for the years 1943 and 1944; that plaintiff thereafter, through Judge Ralls and others attempted to lease the land; that in 1948 in company of his agent, Lawrence Huffman, the plaintiff discovered some men cutting post timber from the land; that he took them to Coal-gate where they paid him for the posts; that plaintiff in the year 1950 sold the timber rights in said property 'to one H. M. Bonds, who cut posts therefrom over a period of 18 months, working a day or-two at a time at indefinite intervals. The evidence further discloses that the property herein involved is rough and hilly land, enclosed in a larger tract of some 3000 acres, and is only fit for pasture and [983]*983timber purposes; that although being so enclosed several parties pastured the large pasture of which this land was a part but each of those who pastured the property recognized the leases held by the tenants, Gaylor and Scivally; that at no time was the right of H. M. Bond, to cut the timber from the land questioned except that the defendant, Eddie Cox, in the latter part of the year 1950 objected to Bond crossing his land which lay to the north of the land involved and which had to be crossed to get to this particular land. The evidence further discloses that the former record owner, Mary B. Blaine, left that territory in 1927 for California; that she lived in that state since that date;. that she died in Orlando, California, in August 1950; that from the year 1928 to the date she conveyed the land to the defendant, Eddie Cox, she had not taken rents or profits therefrom. The evidence further disclosed that plaintiff has paid ■ the taxes on said property for each of the years since 1941 except for the year 1952 which was paid by tlie defendant, Eddie Cox.

In the case of Cox v. Kelley, Okl., 295 P.2d 1061, 1062, second paragraph of the syllabus, we said:

“What constitutes ‘possession’ of land is a mixed question of law and fact; ‘actual possession’ . consisting of the exercise of acts of dominion over it, in making the ordinary use of it and taking the ordinary profits it is capable of yielding in its present state.”

In McGrath v. Eichhoff, 187 Okl. 64, 100 P.2d 880, 886, this court' in discussing adverse possession, said:

“ * * * The law does not attempt to list all of the acts of dominion which may constitute such possession, so that what constitutes adverse possession, like the question of what constitutes negligence, often depends upon the circumstances of the particular, case, as measured by the judgment of reasonable men. It has been said that such a determination in a given case must largely depend upon ‘the situation of the parties, the size and extent of the land, and the purpose for which it is adapted.’ ”

In Tucker v. McCrory, Okl., 266 P.2d 433, third paragraph of the syllabus, we held:

“Personal occupancy is not a necessary element of the possession required to perfect prescriptive title and is not contemplated in the periods of limitation prescribed by 12 O.S. 1951 § 93.”

In Anderson v. Francis, 177 Okl. 47, 57 P.2d 619, 620, third paragraph of the syllabus, we held:

“* * * The payment of taxes is not a controlling circumstance, but it is one of the means whereby a claim of ownership is asserted, and a failure to pay taxes weakens a claim of ownership by adverse possession.”

Also in Cox v. Kelley, supra, paragraph 3 of the syllabus, is as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Akin v. Castleberry
2012 OK 79 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2012)
Davis v. Mayberry
2010 OK CIV APP 94 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2010)
Fisher v. Northland Insurance Co.
2001 OK CIV APP 47 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2000)
Shanks v. Collins
1989 OK 115 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1989)
Holley v. Shepard
1987 OK 92 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1987)
Faulkenberry v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co.
1983 OK 26 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1983)
Esker v. Kip's Big Boy, Inc.
1981 OK 97 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1981)
Bakken v. Price
613 P.2d 1222 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1980)
United States v. Richard Clinton Allsup
566 F.2d 68 (Ninth Circuit, 1977)
Sears v. State & Department of Wildlife Conservation
1976 OK 56 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1976)
Ross v. Otis Elevator Company
1975 OK 105 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1975)
Dixon v. Outboard Marine Corporation
1970 OK 234 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1970)
Continental Casualty Company v. Beaty
1969 OK 89 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1969)
Kouri v. Burnett
1966 OK 61 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1966)
A. A. Murphy, Inc. v. Banfield
1961 OK 197 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)
Norman v. Smedley
1961 OK 143 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)
Cox v. Sarkeys
1956 OK 294 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1956 OK 294, 304 P.2d 979, 1956 Okla. LEXIS 641, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-sarkeys-okla-1956.