First Nat. Bank of Enid v. Headrick

1941 OK 406, 121 P.2d 566, 190 Okla. 164, 1941 Okla. LEXIS 392
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 16, 1941
DocketNo. 29163.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1941 OK 406 (First Nat. Bank of Enid v. Headrick) 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
First Nat. Bank of Enid v. Headrick, 1941 OK 406, 121 P.2d 566, 190 Okla. 164, 1941 Okla. LEXIS 392 (Okla. 1941).

Opinion

OSBORN, J.

This action was instituted in the district court of Garfield county on November 3, 1937, by V. L. Headrick, as guardian of the estate of Bettie L. Shobe, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, against the First National Bank of Enid, Okla., as administrator with will annexed of the estate of Marshall Parker Shpbe, deceased, wherein plaintiff sought to have canceled a warranty deed to certain real property executed by Bettie L. Shobe to Marshall P. Shobe during his lifetime, on the ground of the mental incompetency of the grantor. Plaintiff also sought an accounting of some money and personal property involved in the transaction. Issues were joined and the cause was tried to the court. The trial was concluded on September 22, 1938, and the court, after extensive findings of fact, entered judgment in favor of plaintiff decreeing the cancellation of the warranty deed involved herein upon certain conditions hereinafter stated. Bettie L. *165 Shobe died on October 3, 1938, at Hamburg, Germany, and immediately V. L. Headrick was appointed administrator of her estate and this cause was revived in his name as administrator and in the names of John P. Kramer, Joe Ann Kramer, and Mary Edna Kramer as heirs at law of Bettie L. Shobe, and defendant appealed to this court.

The record and briefs are voluminous. We shall endeavor in our narration of facts to relate only the facts which are essential to outline the issues of law herein presented.

The record shows that Bettie L. Shobe and her husband, John Shobe, were pioneers of Garfield county, having lived in the vicinity of Enid since the opening of the Cherokee Strip. They had two children, Marshall P. Shobe, a son, and Edna Shobe, a daughter. Marshall P. Shobe was educated for the profession of dentistry. He moved to Hamburg, Germany, in 1904, where he continued to live and practice his profession until December 25, 1936, the date of his death. Edna Shobe married one Frank Kramer and moved to the State of Kansas; to their union were born the three children above named. Edna Shobe Kramer died in February, 1920. John Shobe died in March, 1920. It is shown that Bettie L. Shobe owned the home in which she lived and certain business property in the city of Enid from which she derived a substantial income. The appraised value of the two pieces of property was $30,000. For some time prior to November 19, 1932, the evidence discloses that Bettie L. Shobe, on account of her advanced years, began to develop a disability known as senile dementia. The record discloses that one Stella Berry, a niece of Mrs. Shobe, learned of her condition and notified Marshall P. Shobe by letter that his mother was not physically or mentally able to care for herself; that he left his home in Hamburg, Germany, and came to Enid for the evident purpose of taking his mother with him to Germany in order that he might care for her. On November 19, 1932, a warranty deed was executed by Bettie L. Shobe to Marshall P. Shobe in which she conveyed to him all of her real property. At the same time a contract was entered into between the two parties wherein it was provided that in consideration of the transfer of said real property to Marshall P. Shobe, he agreed to provide and maintain a home and support and care for his mother during the remainder of her natural life.

Bettie L. Shobe and Marshall P. Shobe returned to Hamburg, Germany. The evidence discloses that he provided for and maintained his mother and received the income from the Enid property until the date of his death, to wit, December 25, 1936.

On May 23, 1934, Marshall P. Shobe executed his last will and testament, wherein he appointed one Miss Karla Winter, referred to in the will as “my friend,” as executrix and trustee. He provided that said trustee should take and hold all of his property, specifically describing the property located in Enid, Okla., and invest and maintain said property in such manner as to produce and provide an income to support and care for Bettie L. Shobe during the'remainder of her natural life. The will further provided that upon the death of Bettie L. Shobe all of the estate of Marshall P. Shobe should become the property of Miss Karla Winter, her heirs and assigns.

It appears that in November, 1935, Bettie L. Shobe was placed in an institution at Ahrensburg, Germany, where she remained until November, 1936, when she was placed in an institution for the care of mental cases located in the suburbs of Hamburg, Germany; that she remained in that institution until the date of her death.

It is urged, first, that the trial court erred in overruling a special demurrer of defendant to plaintiff’s amended petition and erred in overruling the motion of defendant to require plaintiff to elect upon which of two causes of action he would proceed. Plaintiff’s amended petition contained two counts. In the first count it was alleged that *166 prior to November 19, 1932, Bettie L. Shobe, who was a woman of advanced age, became afflicted with bodily infirmities and mental deterioration and was so afflicted by loss of memory, lack of comprehension and understanding that she was mentally incompetent to manage her property and engage in any transaction affecting her property or property rights and was subject to be deceived and imposed upon by artful and designing persons. It was further alleged that Marshall P. Shobe secured certain dominion and control over his mother on account of her physical and mental condition and, in pursuance of a plan and design to obtain all of her property, induced her to sign the conveyance involved herein. In the second count in plaintiff’s petition it was alleged that at the time of the execution of the conveyance involved herein, Bettie L. Shobe was wholly incompetent to manage her property and to engage in any transaction affecting her property or property rights or to understand or comprehend the nature and effect of the transaction involved herein.

Plaintiff contends that even though there is some inconsistency between the theory of utter incompetency on the part of the grantor and the theory of such mental weakness on her part that her free will was overcome by the exercise of improper dominion and influence over her by the grantee, nevertheless, under our established rules of procedure, thé two theories of recovery were properly presented in separate counts in plaintiff’s petition. In the case of Southern Surety Co. v. Gilkey-Duff Hdw. Co., 166 Okla. 84, 26 P. 2d 144, 89 A.L.R. 888, it was held:

“When the plaintiff has two or more separate theories of, or reasons for, recovery, each of them may be set forth in a different count. This form of pleading is especially appropriate when there is some uncertainty as to the ground of recovery, and may be employed even though there is some inconsistency in the different counts.”

See, also, Southern Surety Co. v. Sparlin, 166 Okla. 89, 26 P. 2d 738; Mellon v. Fulton, 22 Okla. 636, 98 P. 911, 19 L.R.A. (N. S.) 960; Roxanna Pet. Co. v. Covington State Bank, 98 Okla. 266, 225 P. 375, 35 A.L.R. 774; 21 R.C.L. 470, par. 35; 49 C. J. page 158, para. 174; Bancroft on Pleadings, vol. 1, page 175.

The trial court did not err in overruling the special demurrer to plaintiff’s petition nor in refusing to require plaintiff to elect upon which of the two theories of recovery he would proceed.

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Bluebook (online)
1941 OK 406, 121 P.2d 566, 190 Okla. 164, 1941 Okla. LEXIS 392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-nat-bank-of-enid-v-headrick-okla-1941.