Fabian v. Griesel

1937 OK 625, 73 P.2d 180, 181 Okla. 137, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 71
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 2, 1937
DocketNo. 27724.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1937 OK 625 (Fabian v. Griesel) 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
Fabian v. Griesel, 1937 OK 625, 73 P.2d 180, 181 Okla. 137, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 71 (Okla. 1937).

Opinion

DAVISON, J.

This action was commenced as one for damages for injuries allegedly incurred by the alleged malpractice of one C. C. Youmans, a dentist of Muskogee. After the petition was filed and before answer day, Dr. Youmans died testate, and the defendant in error was appointed executor of his estate. Thereafter, on October 21, 1935, and April 20, 1936, the plaintiff filed successive motions to revive the action. On August 26, 1936, the Honorable Enloe V. Vernor, presiding judge of one of the divisions of the district court of Muskogee county, sustained said motions and entered an order purporting to revive said cause in the name of “Edward C. Griesel, administrator of the estate of C. C. Youmans, deceased.” Thereafter, on August 27, 1936, a motion was filed to vacate said order on the ground that the purported order of revivor entered on August 26th was made without statutory notice of plaintiff’s motion having been given and in the absence of counsel for the defendant. On September 24th, this motion to vacate the order of revivor was overruled and exceptions preserved. Again, on September 29th, the motion to vacate was considered, and the court entered an order setting aside its former order overruling motion to vacate its order of revivor and once more overruled the motion to vacate its order of re-vivor, and exceptions thereto were allowed. In said order the court found “that no notice *138 was ever served or had for the revivor of said action and no consent given therefor by said executor or his said attorney.” The executor filed his answer as required by the last order of the court previous thereto and therein he renewed his objection to the purported revivor of said cause on the ground that same was not done as provided by law. On October 17, 1936, when this case came on for trial before a jury, with the Honorable O. H. P. Brewer, judge of another division of the district court of Muskogee county, presiding, counsel for the executor again renewed his objection to the manner in which the cause had purportedly been revived by an oral motion to dismiss, and the court thereupon dismissed the action with prejudice on the ground that no notice of plaintiff’s motion to revive had ever been issued or served as provided by law. On October 20th and 23rd, plaintiff filed pleadings designated as “Motion for Rehearing” and “Amended and Supplemental Motion for Rehearing”, respectively, and on October 31st, at a hearing on same, the defendant introduced evidence that no statutory notice of plaintiff’s motion for a revivor of said action was ever issued and that defendant had never consented to said cause being revived. Thereupon, the court entered orders overruling both the motion and amended motion for rehearing and an order overruling motion to vacate the order of dismissal was also filed. From these orders, plaintiff perfected his appeal to this court.

• 1. Plaintiff complains of the trial court having sustained the executor’s motion to dismiss for the reason asserted in his first assignment of error that no evidence was introduced in support thereof, and for the further reason asserted in his third assignment of error that he “had the right and was entitled under the law to file a supplementary and amended petition amending and reviving his cause of action in the manner and under the conditions set forth under section 156, O. S. 1931.” He contends that an action can be revived under section 156 by order of the court and the filing of an amended petition as well as by proceeding under sections 577 and 578, in which notice of the application for the order must be served upon the adverse party. Oklahoma authorities cited for this contention that the method of revivor provided by the latter statutes is not the only manner in which revivor may be had are Boyes v. Masters, 28 Okla. 409, 114 P. 710; Glenn v. Payne, 48 Okla. 196, 149 P. 1151, and Vaughn v. Osborne, 103 Okla. 59, 229 P. 467. In Southern Surety Co. v. Williams, 105 Okla. 44, 231 P. 293, this rule allowing revivor under the former section upon the filing of amended and supplemental pleadings and the acquisition by the court of jurisdiction over the substituted defendant is also recognized. Counsel for the executor cites no authority overruling the above-mentioned opinions, but contends that when a litigant who applies for revival of an action has notice of the death of the adverse party, “he must proceed under and strictly comply with section 578 of the 1931 Oklahoma Statutes,” and cites Edwards v. Asher, 95 Okla. 39, 217 P. 869, and Zahn v. Obert, 60 Okla. 118, 159 P. 298, as • authority therefor. With this contention we are unable to agree. A reading of the two opinions cited reveals that section 156, O. S. 1931 (sec. 223, C. O. S. 1921), was not under consideration in either of those cases. It is true that section 156 does provide for revivor in a somewhat different method than that provided for in sections 577 and 578, and had plaintiff addressed the trial court by a motion or application for permission to file an amended or supplemental petition which stated a cause of action against Edward O. Griesel, as the personal representative of the deceased, he might have been in a position to predicate error upon an adverse ruling thereon. We are unable to consider any such error here, however, for the reason that the record does not disclose that such a motion or application was ever actually presented to the trial court, nor any steps taken toward amending plaintiff’s petition so as to have the executor properly substituted as a party defendant.

2. As to the plaintiff’s contention that the trial court erred i'n dismissing the case without the introduction of any evidence in support of the executor’s motion to dismiss, it is sufficient to say that the introduction of evidence was unnecessary for the reason that the record itself disclosed at the time the motion was heard that the court then was without jurisdiction of the executor’s person, the executor having not been properly substituted as party defendant. The order made by Judge Yernor on September 29th contains a finding of fact, undisputed by the record, “that no notice was ever served or had for the revivor of said action and no consent given therefor by said executor or his said attorney.” From this and the absence from the record of any other proceedings purporting to confer jurisdiction upon the executor, it. was evident that neither method of revivor had been carried out and that the executor was not in any legal sense a party to the action.

3. But plaintiff further argues that the *139 executor waived all objections to the jurisdiction of the court over his person by appearing in court and announcing ready for trial without entering an objection. In all of the eases cited in support of this contention, the movants submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the court by the filing of motions based upon jurisdictional as well nonjurisdictional grounds, while in the present case the only motions made by the defense, in effect, challenged the court’s jurisdiction over his person for the reason that the cause had not been legally revived against him. We believe the rule applicable here is correctly stated in K., O. & G. Railway Co. v. Martin, 175 Okla. 73, 51 P. (2d) 577, wherein we said:

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Bluebook (online)
1937 OK 625, 73 P.2d 180, 181 Okla. 137, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 71, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fabian-v-griesel-okla-1937.