Geren v. Storie

1938 OK 289, 78 P.2d 819, 182 Okla. 534, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 626
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 26, 1938
DocketNo. 28180
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1938 OK 289 (Geren v. Storie) 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
Geren v. Storie, 1938 OK 289, 78 P.2d 819, 182 Okla. 534, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 626 (Okla. 1938).

Opinion

GIBSON, J.

This is a proceeding to determine heirship as incident to final distribution of a decedent’s estate. Section 1358. O. S. 1931, 58 Okla. St. Ann. sec. 631.

Robert Storie, as administrator of the estate of James A. Miller, deceased, filed his final account and petition for distribution in the county court of Oklahoma county, whereupon the plaintiff in error, Ada M. Geren, intervened claiming to be the widow of deceased by virtue of a common-law marriage, and as such entitled to all his estate to the exclusion of his collateral kindred who are named herein as defendants in error along with said administrator. The in-tervener’s petition was denied in county court, and that judgment was affirmed by the district court on appeal. The judgment of the district court is here for review. The parties in error will be referred to herein as plaintiff and defendants, respectively.

After plaintiff had lodged her appeal in district court, the county court, presuming to act pursuant to section 1081, O. S. 1931, 58 Okla. St. Ann. sec. 710, appointed counsel to represent the defendants, who were nonresidents and who had been suggested by the administrator as heirs of the deceased. On appeal the district court confirmed the appointment, or reappointed counsel.

This action of the trial court is assigned as error. The assignment is accompanied [536]*536with the argument that the court was not authorized to make such appointment where the question of heirship remains in dispute and undetermined, and in this connection it is urged that the court in appointing counsel for alleged heirs prejudged the question of heirship, thus manifesting an unfair attitude and prejudiced disposition toward plaintiff’s claims sufficient to constitute an unfair trial.

Said section 1081 provides that the court, at or before the hearing of a petition of this character, may, “in its discretion, appoint some competent attorney at law to represent in all such proceedings the devisees,'legatees, heirs, or creditors of the decedent, who are. minors and have no general guardian in the county, or who are nonresidents of the state, and those interested, who, though they are neither such minors or nonresidents, are unrepresented.” The section then provides for the allowance of counsel fee and the source of payment. The legality of such fee is not in question on this appeal. Neither the amount thereof nor the source of its payment is discussed. The assignment merely alleges that the action of the court in appointing an attorney for parties who were not admittedly heirs was sufficient to show that the judgment of the court on the question of heirship was actuated by bias and prejudice against the plaintiff. Plaintiff says the court is authorized to appoint counsel only for those parties who are admittedly heirs and entitled in any event to share in the estate. But plaintiff fails to suggest any substantial reason why the statute should be so restricted in its application. It grants discretionary powers; the court may “in its discretion” appoint counsel for “heirs.”, If in making the appointment the court clearly abuses its discretion, such abuse might, under the particular circumstances of the case, constitute some indication of bias on the part of the court sufficient upon proper application to require his disqualification, which, if the court declined, and if not waived by the complaining party, might, upon proper presentation for review, constitute reversible error.

But plaintiff concedes that the court’s appointment of counsel was proper except for the fact that the defendants were not admitted heirs. Upon that point we make no decision. Assuming, but not deciding, that the district court was unauthorized to make the appointment or to recognize counsel appointed in county court, we are aware of no decision where that act alone was held sufficient to warrant a reversal of the cause. Plaintiff cites no authority, and says there is none. But plaintiff insists that the act of the court revealed bias and prejudice in favor of the defendants and against ner.

Where the bias and prejudice or a trial judge first becomes evident in the rv nciilion of judgment in a cause tried without a jury, and too late to permit of a request, for disqualification a's required by statute, the alleged bias and prejudice, if shown to have entered into the judgment to the apparent detriment of the unsuccessful party, may constitute grounds for reversal., See Taylor v. Harmon, 120 Okla. 145, 250 P. 887, 890. However, where a litigant, at any time before a cause tried to the court stands for judgment, is aware of the particular circumstances from which the bias and prejudice of the trial judge may be or become manifest, he should proceed under the statute (secs. 2911, 2915, O. S. 1931, 22 Okla. St. Ann. secs. 571, 575) to suggest the judge’s disqualification. The procedure, under proper circumstances, may be by mandamus, or the party may object and save his exceptions to the overruling of his petition for disqualification and proceed with his cause, and thus save the question for review. In any event, the complaining party must proceed by application to the court as provided by statute, supra. If this is not done, the litigant is deemed to have waived the question (State v. Davenport, 125 Okla. 1, 256 P. 340), unless the circumstances are such that the demands of public policy would require disqualification. In such case the parties may not waive the disability. State v. Ledbetter, 156 Okla. 23, 9 P.2d 728.

In distinguishing matters of purely personal concern to the litigants and matters of public interest out of which bias and prejudice may arive, allowing waiver in the one instance, and prohibiting it in the other, the decisions are not entirely clear. We have on a prior occasion said, in effect, that disqualification by reason of personal interest of the judge may be waived (Mansfield, Sizer & Gardner v. Smith, 160 Okla. 298, 16 P.2d 1066); and other courts have held that prejudice of the judge is a matter of merely personal concern of the parties and may be waived as a ground of disqualification. 33 O. J. 1019. In view of these authorities we hold that the allegations of bias and prejudice in the instant case constituted circumstances which, if sufficient in the first instance to show bias and prejudice, were matters of purely personal concern to plaintiff, and that the matter has been waived by reason of plaintiff’s failure to proceed by application suggesting the the trial judge’s disqualification as required [537]*537by law. Sec. 2915, supra; Rourke v. Bevis, 171 Okla. 392, 42 P.2d 898. The ’question of bias and prejudice is not here for review.

Plaintiff’s request for trial by jury was denied, and error thereon is assigned.

Argument in support of this assignment is based upon the theory that the action is one for the recovery of specific real property involving the one issue whether the plaintiff was the wife of the deceased, and was triable to a jury as a matter of right. Section 350, O. S. 1931, 12 Okla. St. Ann. sec. 556.

That statute does not authorize a trial by jury as a matter of right in every action where title to real property is involved. Harjo v. Chilcoat, 146 Okla. 62, 294 P. 119.

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Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 289, 78 P.2d 819, 182 Okla. 534, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/geren-v-storie-okla-1938.