Eales v. Morris

1934 OK 524, 37 P.2d 428, 170 Okla. 219, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 724
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 16, 1934
Docket23446
StatusPublished

This text of 1934 OK 524 (Eales v. Morris) 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
Eales v. Morris, 1934 OK 524, 37 P.2d 428, 170 Okla. 219, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 724 (Okla. 1934).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This cause originated in a justice court of Noble county resulting in a judgment for the defendant, and plaintiff appealed to the district court, where the same was tried to the court with the same result. Parties will be referred to here as they appeared in the lower court.

The action is one for rent allegedly due upon a written contract of lease, seeking recovery of $80 rent for four months at $20 per month. The defendant, while denying generally the allegations of the bill of particulars, admitted the execution of the contract, but alleged among other defenses that the lease contract through mutual mistake of the parties did not correctly represent the agreement between them, in that *220 the lease failed to state that plaintiff was leasing the defendant a furnished house, and that, early in the morning on the day following the execution of the contract about ten o’clock the night before, the plaintiff removed most of the furniture from the premises, thereby breaching the contract.

There appears to be no conflict in the testimony as to negotiations preceding the execution of the contract, both parties testifying that the lease contract was to be for four months’ rental at a price of - $15 per month, unfurnished, or $'20 per month furnished. The lease sued on contained no provision as to whether the premises leased were to be furnished or unfurnished, but did provide for a rental price of $20 per month. The plaintiff caused the form of lease to be prepared, and in his testimony accounted for the omission by stating that when it was drafted he was not advised if the defendant would take the premises furnished or unfurnished. «

The defendant occupied the premises for two weeks, at the end of which • time she sent the plaintiff a check for $15.57, $10 of said sum being tendered in full payment of all rent due under the contract and the balance in payment for some chickens purchased from plaintiff. The plaintiff refused to accept the money, returned the check, and demanded the sum of $80 for rent due under the contract, after which he made no effort to rent the house and let it stand vacant. Upon trial the court found defendant indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of $15.57 in full of all the claims of the plaintiff, the sum tendered and refused by plaintiff, and adjudged that plaintiff recover the sum of $15.57, discharged the garnishment issued at commencement of suit, and taxed all costs to the plaintiff. The amount of the judgment was paid by the defendant to the court clerk on the same day the judgment was rendered.

1. Plaintiff first contends that the court erred in permitting any testimony whatsoever to be introduced concerning any negotiations leading up to, or any of the facts surrounding the execution of the contract as being in violation of the rule that parol evidence may not be introduced to vary, contradict or change the terms of a written agreement. Section 5035, C. O. S. 1921; sec. 9456, O. S. 1931. The rule is not without exception. The court admitted evidence showing that the house described in the lease was to be furnished. The evidence admitted was competent to show that by mutual mistake of the parties the contract executed did not, in fact, express the actual agreement of the parties, the word “furnished” having been omitted from the contract. It was not intended to vary, contradict or change the terms of the written contract, and, in fact, did not do so. The contract was silent on the point. There is no controversy between the parties concerning the omission, both agreeing the actual contract made between them was for a furnished house, and the writing therefore did not set out the entire contract. Where an oral contract is partially" reduced to writing, and the writing evidencing it is not complete, parol evidence, not inconsistent with the contract, is admissible to show the full agreement. Rawlings v. Ufer, 61 Okla. 299, 161 P. 183; National Builders’ Bureau v. Chickasaw Lumber Co., 130 Okla. 30, 264 P. 907. In Holmes v. Evans, 29 Okla. 373, 118 P. 144, in the opinion by Judge Williams, the first syllabus reads:

“While a written contract cannot be contradicted by parol evidence, it is permissible, where the writing does not purport to set out the entire contract, to show by parol other stipulations, not inconsistent with those expressed. * * *”

In Wichita Flour Mills Co. v. Guymon Equity Exchange, 150 Okla. 245, 1 P. (2d) 657, 660, the court said:

“When the writing does not purport to disclose the complete contract, or if, when r.ead in the light of attendant facts and circumstances, it is apparent that it contains only a part of' the agreement entered into by the parties, parol evidence is admissible to show what the rest of the agreement was; but such parol evidence must not be inconsistent with or. repugnant to the intention of the parties as shown by the written instrument. ”

Parol evidence is admissible to show that the purported contract was not in fact the contract made and entered into by the parties, the object of such testimony being, not to vary the terms of the written contract, but to show that by mistake or fraud a different instrument was made and executed. American Trust Co. v. Chitty, 36 Okla. 479, 129 P. 51, 54. The admission of such evidence was also competent for the purpose of showing a partial or total failure of consideration. 10 R. C. L. 1059; Jesse French Piano & Organ Co. v. Bodovitz, 73 Okla. 87, 174 P. 765. An examination of the contract discloses that it is silent on the question of whether the house rented was to be furnished or unfurnished, and therefore the admission of such evidence did not change its terms. Stone v. Spencer, 79 Okla. 85, 191 P. 197, 200. The defendant pleaded this omission in the contract, as well as a breach of the contract on the part of the plaintiff in removing the *221 furniture from the premises almost immediately after the execution of this contract. There was no error in the admission of such testimony.

2. Plaintiff asserts that costs should not have been assessed against him because he recovered a judgment for $15.57, relying on section 519, O. S. 1931, which provides that costs shall be allowed, of course, to the plaintiff upon a judgment in his favor in actions for the recovery of money or of specific real or personal property, and, also, upon section 989, O. S. 1931, providing that if a defendant before trial offers in writing to allow judgment to be taken against him for a specified sum and such offer is refused, plaintiff shall be taxed all costs thereafter incurred if he fails to recover a sum equal to the offer, contending no offer in accordance with the latter statute was made in either the justice or district court, but admitting defendant made an offer to pay $15.57 during the trial in the district court.

Section 519, O. S. 1931, came to us from Kansas. It is followed by section 520, O. S. 1931, which likewise came from Kansas, and reads as follows:

“Costs shall be allowed, of course, to any defendant, upon a judgment in his favor in the actions mentioned in the last section.”

The question naturally arises as to who prevailed in the suit. The plaintiff contended he was entitled to $80, the full amount called for by the lease contract.

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Related

Stone v. Spencer
1920 OK 265 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1920)
Holmes v. Evans
1911 OK 290 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1911)
National Builders Bureau v. Chickasaw Lbr. Co.
1928 OK 41 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1928)
American Trust Co. v. Chitty
1912 OK 712 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1912)
Jesse French Piano & Organ Co. v. Bodovitz
1918 OK 478 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1918)
Rawlings v. Ufer
1916 OK 975 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1916)
Wichita Flour Mills Co. v. Guymon Equity Exchange
1931 OK 457 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1931)
Black v. Parisho
1931 OK 578 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1931)
Meskimen v. Day
35 Kan. 46 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1886)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1934 OK 524, 37 P.2d 428, 170 Okla. 219, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eales-v-morris-okla-1934.