Eggleston Et Ux. v. Williams

1911 OK 377, 120 P. 944, 30 Okla. 129, 1911 Okla. LEXIS 433
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided November 14, 1911·No. 1177·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

ROBERTSON, C.

On March 16, 1907, the defendant in. error, Williams, commenced an action against Robert N. and Blanche G. Eggleston, plaintiffs in error, in the United States Court for the Western District of Indian Territory, to recover $561.95 and interest, alleged to be due him on account of a breach of warranty of title to lots 4 and 5, in block 3, in the town of Chase, in said Indian Territory. A general demurrer to the sufficiency of the complaint was interposed by the Egglestons, which was overruled by the court, and thereafter answer was filed and- trial was had in the district court of Muskogee county, which resulted in a judgment entered on March 19, 1909, in favor of the plaintiff, in the sum of $721.30, with interest at 6 per cent., per annum from said date. To reverse this judgment, Eggleston and wife bring this appeal, and urge many reasons in support of their claims. All the alleged errors, except *131 the overruling of the general demurrer to the complaint, occurred at the trial, and could only be reviewed by the trial court on timely notice for new trial.

On page 60 of the case-made is found the following statement :

“And thereafter, on the 23d day of March, 1909, the defendants filed their motion for a new trial, which motion was by the court, on March 27, 1909, overruled, to which ruling the defendants excepted.”

At no other place in the record is there any reference to a motion for a new trial. Nor is there a copy of any such motion in the record before us. The rule is well settled that a motion for a new trial, in order to be considered by the trial court, must be filed within three days from the date of the judgment.

This was not done in this case, as judgment was entered on the 19th day of March, and, according to the bare statement in the case-made (which is not sufficient, however), the motion was not presented until the 23d day of March. Hence it affirmatively appears that no motion for a new trial was filed in this case as required by statute.

In a very able opinion, Mr. Chief Justice Turner, speaking for our Supreme Court, in Joiner v. Goldsmith, 25 Okla. 840, 107 Pac. 733, in discussing this identical question, said:

“After amended answer and reply, there was a trial by jury, which on March 16, 1906, resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff and against defendant for said sum, with interest and costs. On March 20, 1906, or four days later, defendant filed his motion for a new trial, which was overruled. Defendant brings the case here, and assigns for error that the court erred in overruling his motion for new trial. But we cannot consider it, for the reason that the motion was filed out of time. Comp. Laws 1909, section 5827, requiring that the motion be filed within three days after the verdict, is mandatory, and, in the absence of a showing that the party filing it has been unavoidably prevented from filing it within the time specified by the statute, this court cannot consider it or review the errors occurring upon the trial.”

See, also, in support of this, U. S. ex rel. v. C. O. & G. R. R. Co., 3 Okla. 404, 41 Pac. 729; Ryland v. Coyle et al., 7 Okla. 226, *132 54 Pac. 456, and the cases there cited.

Therefore, said motion not having been filed in time, the trial court did not err in overruling the same. It is a well-settled rule that this court will not review the rulings of a lower court inade in the course of a trial, unless a motion for a new trial, based upon such alleged errors, has been duly made in the trial court, and an opportunity thereby to re-examine and correct them has been given to such court. Kuhlman v. Williams, 1 Okla. 136, 28 Pac. 861; DeBerry v. Smith, 2 Okla. 1, 35 Pac. 518; Carson v. Butt, 4 Okla. 133, 46 Pac. 596; Hardwick v. Atkinson, 8 Okla. 608, 58 Pac. 141; Beberstein v. Territory, 8 Okla. 461, 58 Pac. 641; Boyd v. Bryan, 11 Okla. 56, 65 Pac. 940; Osborne & Co. v. Case, 11 Okla. 419, 69 Pac. 263; Menten v. Shuttee, 11 Okla. 381, 61 Pad 418; S. W. Cottonseed Oil Co. v. Bank, 12 Okla. 168, 10 Pac. 205; Glaser v. Glaser, 13 Okla. 389, 14 Pac. 944.

This, therefore, leaves for our consideration but one question, viz., the sufficiency of the complaint as challenged by the general demurrer. The complaint, which is quite lengthy, states, in substance: That on the 24th day of June, 1904, the defendants Eggleston conveyed, by general warranty deed, to Fred O. Ayers, lots 3, 4, and 5, in block 3, in the town of Chase. Said deed contained the usual statutory covenants of warranty. That thereafter, on October 22, 1906, said Ayers and his wife conveyed by general warranty deed to this plaintiff, James A. Williams, lots 4 and 5, in block 3, in the town of Chase, said deed also containing the usual statutory covenants of warranty; that thereafter, on January 4, 1901, said Eggleston and wife conveyed by warranty deed the same lots'conveyed to Fred O. Ayers, in June 24, 1904, to J. T. Newbold, but described them as lots 1 and 8, in block 3, instead of 4 and 5, in block 3, and the said Newbold and his wife thereafter evicted plaintiff from the possession thereof; that the consideration mentioned in the deed of June 24, 1904, from Eggleston to Ayers, was $561.95, which was actually paid to Eggleston by Ayers, and that, by reason of the covenants of warranty in said deed from said Eggleston and wife to the said Ayers, the grantor of plaintiff, and the sub *133 sequent eviction of plaintiff by Newbold, there is a breach of said warranty, and said defendants, Eggleston and wife, had become and are liable to the plaintiff in damages in the sum of $561.95, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, from the date of eviction, to wit, June 24, 1907.

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Eggleston Et Ux. v. Williams, 1911 OK 377, 120 P. 944, 30 Okla. 129, 1911 Okla. LEXIS 433 (Okla. 1911).

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