Denison v. Phipps

1922 OK 330, 211 P. 83, 87 Okla. 299, 1922 Okla. LEXIS 305
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 28, 1922
Docket10915
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 1922 OK 330 (Denison v. Phipps) 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
Denison v. Phipps, 1922 OK 330, 211 P. 83, 87 Okla. 299, 1922 Okla. LEXIS 305 (Okla. 1922).

Opinion

*301 KENNAMER, J.

(after stating the facts as above). There are five assignments of error, all of which raise the questions of law involved in the three propositions raised by the plaintiff’s allegations as set out in the statement of'facts.

The findings of the trial court were general and in favor of the plaintiff. A general finding by the trial court in favor of the plaintiff is equivalent to a finding of each special fact necessary to sustain the judgment rendered, and under the rule followed by this court it will not examine the evidence for the purpose of substituting its judgment for that of the trial court where there is evidence which fairly supports the findings of the trial court. Miller v. Severs, 42 Okla. 378, 141 Pac. 965 ; Shawnee Life Insurance Co. v. Watkins, 53 Okla. 188, 156 Pac. 181 ; Gorman v. Garlock, 72 Oklahoma, 179 Pac. 38 ; Deskins v. Rogers, 72 Oklahoma, 180 Pac. 691 ; Elwood Oil & Gas Co. v. Gano, 76 Okla. 287, 185 Pac. 443 ; Barnett v. Barnett, 78 Okla. 249, 189 Pac. 743,

We will first examine the contention made by the defendants that the note in question was given to Burroughs Land Company, a foreign corporation, and at the time said note was executed and delivered to the Burroughs Land Company it had not complied with section 1335, Rev. Laws 1910, providing that no foreign corporation shall transact business within the state until it shall have filed in the office of the Secretary of State a certified copy of its charter or articles of incorporation, and paid the fees required by law, and for failure to comply with section 1336, which provides that every foreign corporation shall appoint an agent, who shall reside at the state capital, upon whom sendee of process may be made in any action, and that by reason of the failure to comply with the above sections the note sued upon cannot be enforced because of section 1338 of the Rev. Laws of Oklahoma, 1910, which provides:

“If any such foreign corporation shall fail to comply with the foregoing provisions of *302 this article, all its contracts with citizens of this state entered into after the approval of this article, shall be void as to the corporation, and no court of this state shall enforce the same in favor of the corporation.”

And also section 1341, Rev. Laws of Okla. 1910, provides:

“No foreign corporation, as above defined, which shall fail to comply with this article, can maintain any suit or action, either legal or equitable, in any of the courts of this state, upon any demand, whether arising out of contract or tort.”

It is conceded that the Burroughs Land Company was a foreign corporation and had not complied with the laws of Oklahoma above mentioned, and at the time of the making and delivery of the note sued on was not authorized to, do business in the state of Oklahoma. This brings us to the first proposition — Was the contract resulting in the note sued on in this case made in Oklahoma or Chicago?

The transaction in reference to the loan made in this case was carried on by mail. The defendants wrote to N. T. Burroughs in Chicago, offering to make a note and give a mortgage on certain real estate for a loan of $4,000 for a period of one year. A note and mortgage was executed and sent to the Burroughs Land Company in Chicago, which was rejected and returned to the defendant with instructions to make another note and mortgage on blanks enclosed, and to assign certain insurance policies, and statement that there were no mechanics’ liens on the property, and upon the return or delivery of the note and mortgage and other papers to its office, in Chicago, it would then make the loan, but in the meantime if the defendants could secure the loan from any other source or other parties, the ¿Burroughs Land Company would prefer not to make the loan. The note and mortgage and other papers were prepared and sent to the office of N. T. Burroughs, at Chicago, and after an examination of the same they were accepted and $4,000 in exchange was forwarded to the defendants. Under the above statement of facts, the lower court was warranted, as a matter of law, in finding that the contract was made in Chicago. The general rule is that a contract is made where the title to the thing or property involved passes to the vendee. Or, in other words, the general rule, 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. 23 R. C. L., sec. 69 ; Josey v. State, 88 Ark. 269, 114 S. W. 216. 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 463 ; Ward Lumber Co. v. American Lumber Co., 247 Pa. 267, 93 Atl. 470, 64 L. R. A. 824, and many other cases.

In the case at bar, the defendants executed the not sued upon in Oklahoma, and sent it to Chicago by mail, which was, in due course, to be examined by the Burroughs Land Company, to be determined whether or not the note, mortgage, and other papers complied with the requirements. Hence, the final necessary assent and transaction by which the title of the property passed from the defendants to the Burroughs Land Company took place in the city of Chicago. Ordinarily one who first uses the post office in the consummation of a contract adopts the same as his agent, and it continues the agent of the party first using it, unless the circumstances or specific instructions of the' other party reveal the contrary. For instance : Where an offer is made by one party through the post office with instructions in the offer to accept the same by return mail, when the acceptance is mailed it becomes binding on the party making the offer. In that case, the party making the-offer has by express language made the post office his agent, and when the proposition is accepted by delivering a letter to the post office, it is the same in law as delivering it to the party or his agent who made the offer.

If a purchaser at Oklahoma City orders goods from St. Louis, and the order is accepted by the seller in St. Louis, and the goods delivered to a common carrier, the contract is made in St. Louis, and the title passes to the purchaser in St. Louis. But, if the purchaser at Oklahoma City orders goods from St. Louis to be shipped to Oklahoma City upon approval, and the goods are received at Oklahoma City by the purchaser, and the purchaser upon approval accepts the same, the contract of sale is made in Oklahoma City, and the title passes in Oklahoma City.

In the case at bar, the defendants were not obligated in any way to send the notes, mortgages, and other papers to the Burroughs Land Company, but, upon the other hand, were told to secure the loan from other parties, if possible; and the deposit of the note and mortgage in the post office in Oklahoma was not a delivery of the note and mortgage to the Burroughs Land Company, because of two contingencies:

(1) It was necessary for the Burroughs Land Company- to receive the note and mortgage, and other papers, in Chicago, and examine the same before the minds of the parties met to consummate the contract. *303 Title could not pass to the Burroughs Land Company until it had paid the consideration for the note, which was paid after the same was delivered in Chicago, and, hence, the last transaction to pass title to the property took place in Chicago.

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Bluebook (online)
1922 OK 330, 211 P. 83, 87 Okla. 299, 1922 Okla. LEXIS 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denison-v-phipps-okla-1922.