Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Bell

1930 OK 473, 293 P. 214, 146 Okla. 128, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 283
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 28, 1930
Docket19743
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1930 OK 473 (Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Bell) 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
Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Bell, 1930 OK 473, 293 P. 214, 146 Okla. 128, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 283 (Okla. 1930).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

This cause was brought here on appeal from an order of the district court of Rogers county sustaining a demurrer of the defendants, Holtzendorff & Holt-zendorff and C. B. Holtzendorff, to the petition of the plaintiff. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The pertinent allegations of the petition are as follows: Plaintiff held a mortgage on certain real property. After the execution of the mortgage the property was acquired by one Bell. Suit was instituted to foreclose the mortgage and steps were taken to collect the rents from the property under the provisions of the mortgage.

“Plaintiff further alleges that the defendant, John A. Bell, acting by and through the defendants, C. B. Holtzendorff, of the firm of Holtzendorff & Holtzendorff, his duly authorized agents and attorneys, on or about the 12th day of February, 1927, approached plaintiff and negotiations were entered into with reference to a settlement of the issues between the plaintiff and the said defendant, John A. Bell, which negotiations were partly oral and partly written and continued over a period of several weeks. That during said negotiations and as a result thereof the defendant, John A. Bell, for and in consideration of a waiver by plaintiff of any right that it might have to a personal judgment against him for said mortgage indebtedness and a release to him by plaintiff of the rents and profits arising from the mortgaged premises, promised and agreed that he would upon the sale of said property by the sheriff, in accordance with the judgment of foreclosure to be taken in said foreclosure proceedings, bid an amount sufficient to satisfy plaintiff’s judgment, together with interest thereon, costs and attorney’s fees, and to pay the plaintiff in full for all amounts paid out by plaintiff as taxes upon said premises. That as a part and parcel of said agreement and for the purpose of inducing the plaintiff to enter into the same and in consideration of the benefits to be derived therefrom by the said John A. Bell, the defendants, Holtzendorff & Holtzendorff and O. B. Holtzendorff, individually, promised and agreed with plaintiff that they would personally assure and guarantee unto plaintiff that the said John A. Bell would carry out and perform his part of said contract. That without said personal guarantee on the part of said defendants, Holtzendorff & Holt-zendorff, plaintiff would not have entered into said settlement agreement, all of which was known to said defendants. Copies of the letters and correspondence evidencing said agreement, as aforesaid, are hereto attached, marked Exhibits ‘A’ to ‘E’ inclusive, and are made a part of this petition.”

Thereafter, plaintiff, “at the special instance of the defendants and in pursuance of the agreement aforesaid,” directed the payment of the accrued and accruing rents to Bell. Plaintiff secured a judgment of foreclosure waiving any and all rights that it had to a personal judgment against Bell. The amount due to the plaintiff at the time of the sale was $4,419.96. Defendants attended on the sale and plaintiff demanded that they comply with their agreements, but that they “failed, neglected and refused to bid an amount for said property sufficient to satisfy the amount due plaintiff under its *129 judgment aforesaid, and wholly failed and refused to take care and pay the taxes, all as was provided by said agreement.” The sheriff sold the property for $2,826 to the highest and best bidder and the sale was confirmed.

The plaintiff prayed judgment in the amount of the “difference between the amount plaintiff was entitled to receive from defendants under its agreement and the amount which said property brought at said sale.”

The defendants, Holtzendorff & Holtzen-dorff and O. B. Holtzendorff, filed a demurrer on six asserted grounds, but which, in fact, was on three grounds: Hirst, that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute á cause of action in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants or either of them; second, that there was a misjoinder of parties defendant; third, that there was a misjoinder of causes of action. There was no misjoinder of parties defendant or of causes of action.

The minutes of the clerk entered on the journal show that the demurrer was sustained and the journal entry in the case shous that the demurrer was sustained “for the reason and upon the ground that the petition of plaintiff fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in favor of the plaintiff and against said defendants, in that said petition fails to show that the defendant John A. Bell was at the time of the institution of this action insolvent, and that the judgment prayed could not be enforced as against said defendant.”

The reason assigned by the trial court for the sustaining of the demurrer is not good. Section 6134, C. O. S. .1921, provides that a guarantor of payment or performance is liable to the guarantee immediately upon the default of the principal and without notice or demand. That statute came from the territory of Oklahoma, and the territorial Supreme Court, in Walter A. Wood M. & R. Co. v. Farnum, 1 Okla. 375, 33 Pac. 867, held that it was not necessary to allege the insolvency of the principal or that an effort had been made to collect from the principal or diligence in making collection from the principal, and that a petition failing to allege diligence is not bad on demurrer.

This court, in Masters v. Boyes, 44 Okla. 526, 145 Pac. 363, held that a lack of notice and demand, or the fact that the principal at maturity of his obligation was not insolvent, does not constitute a defense that will discharge the guarantor from liability.

It is contended by the defendants that the demurrer was sustained generally. Since it is not necessary to determine whether the minutes of the clerk entered on the journal or the journal entry controls, we will express no opinion thereon and will consider whether the demurrer was properly sustained on any ground.

In considering a demurrer to a petition it is the duty of the court to examine the petition and the exhibits thereto attached, and if the petition, together with the exhibits, states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against the defendant, it is the duty of the court- to overrule such demurrer. Rhode Island Insurance Co. v. Glass, 131 Okla. 108, 267 Pac. 840.

A demurrer to a petition admits every material fact properly stated in the petition. Adams v. Hoskins, 96 Okla. 239, 221 Pac. 726.

The allegations of the petition, when challenged by a general demurrer, must be construed liberally in favor of the pleader. Ross v. Breene, 88 Okla. 37, 211 Pac. 417.

A demurrer to a petition admits the truth of the facts pleaded, but does not admit the truth of the inference of the pleader based on facts pleaded unless the facts themselves are sufficient to authorize such inference. Matthews v. Oklahoma Publishing Co., 103 Okla. 40, 219 Pac. 947.

We will set out only such portions of the exhibits as we deem necessary to a proper consideration of the ease.

Under date of January 28, 1927, the defendants, who were attorneys at Claremore, Okla., wrote to Burford, Miley, Hoffman & Burford, attorneys for plaintiff, as follows:

“You -will recall that in conversation with your Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 473, 293 P. 214, 146 Okla. 128, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-savings-loan-assn-v-bell-okla-1930.