Guaranty State Bank of Okmulgee v. Pratt

1919 OK 120, 180 P. 376, 72 Okla. 244, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 363
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 15, 1919
Docket9167
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 1919 OK 120 (Guaranty State Bank of Okmulgee v. Pratt) 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
Guaranty State Bank of Okmulgee v. Pratt, 1919 OK 120, 180 P. 376, 72 Okla. 244, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 363 (Okla. 1919).

Opinion

RAINEY. J.

Previous to the transactions hereinafter set forth one R. M. Pratt was indebted to the Guaranty State Bank of Ok-mulgee, Okla., in the sum of $1,187.50, and was also' indebted' to the Bank of Commerce of Okmulgee, Okla., in the sum of aDout $800. The Guaranty State Bank had instituted an action against the said R. M. Pratt, and had recovered a judgment against him on October 16 1915, for the sum due it, and on November 17th thereafter execution was issued on said judgment, which was returned unsatisfied. On December 24, 1915, said bank filed its petition in the district court of Okmulgee county, wherein it allleged that it had a lien on a certain specific tract of real estate (describing it) belonging to R. M. Pratt by virtue of its said judgment; that 'Wright Thornburgh, R. M. Pratt, Belle Mangan, and the Bank of Commerce of Ok-mulgee, Okla , were each claiming some interest in said real estate, but that if they had any interest therein the same was inferior to plaintiff’s lien; that in order to have said real estate sold to the best advantage to all the parties interested therein said defendants be required to plead in said action, setting out the interest claimed by them; that the various liens claimed by the said defendants 'be marshaled and their priority established; that the plaintiff’s lien be declared a superior lien to all other liens; and that the land be sold and the proceeds distributed according to the interests of the respective parties. A. D. Kennedy was not made a party to the suit, but upon his application was given leave to file an answer, and was made party defendant.

The evidence adduced upon the trial reasonably tends to prove that the land on which the plaintiff asserted a lien was the allotment of one Ada Farnsworth, who conveyed the same to A. D. Kennedy, subject to a mortgage of $200 in favor of Wright Thornburgh; that Kennedy afterwards sold the land to Belle Mangan; and that by an agreement between the parties the title was transferred 'by Kennedy executing a quitclaim deed to R. M. Pratt, and Pratt giving a warranty deed to Belle Mangan, she executing her notes for $1,250 to Pratt, who immediately assigned them to the Bank of Commerce; that the defendant Kennedy and his brother owned practically all the stock in the Bank of Commerce; that Pratt never paid anything for said land, never had any interest therein, except that it was agreed by and between Pratt and the defendant Kennedy, acting for himself and the Bank of Commerce, that Pratt was to have one-half ct che proceeds of the sale of said land over $1,000. After the institution of said suit Thornburgh transferred and assigned the note and mortgage on said land, securing the same to Kennedy, and Belle Mangan, after process was served on her, reconveyed the land to the defendant Kennedy. She had never paid anything on the purchase price thereof, and her notes were reltimed to her. After hearing the evidence the court held that A. D. Kennedy, by virtue of the note and mortgage assigned to him by Thornburgh, had a first lien on the real estate in the sum of $200, with interest: that the Bank of Commerce had a second lien on said real estate in the sum of $800, with interest: that the said R. M. Pratt had an equitable interest in an undivided onc-hal-f of said real estate over and above $1,-000, the amount of the first and second liens, and that the Bank of Commerce was the owner of the other undivided one-half interest in said real estate over and above the first and second liens, and that the plaintiff, Guaranty State Bank of Okmulgee, by virtue of its judgment, had a third lien on ■the interest of Pratt in said land for the amount of its judgment. The court thereupon rendered judgment accordingly, ordered the land sold to satisfy said liens, and the proceeds applied, after (he payment of all costs etc., in the orde: of the priority -of so id liens. The Guaranty State Bank of Ok-mulgee has appealed from said judgment to this court, assigning numerous errors, which may be summarized as follows;

First. That the evidence in the case discloses "that the plaintiff had a first lien on the real estate involved in the controversy.

Second. That said judgment violates the lis pendens statute.

Third. That the judgment ivas without the issues, and not authorized by the plead ings in the case.

Plaintiff’s judgment was procu -ed long prior to the time the quitclaim deed was made by Kennedy to Prait, but counsel con tend when the title vested in Pratt that its judgment lien immediately attached there- . .. if the lien of a judgment attached to j-i-m mere legal title to the land in the name of the judgment debtor, counsel’s position would be correct, but it is well set. led in this jurisdiction that the judgment lien created by section 514,8. Rev. Daws 1010 is a lien oifiy on the ac ual interest of the judg *246 meat debtor, whatever that happens to be, and does not attach to the mere naked legal title when the equitable estate is in another. J. I. Case Thresh. Mach. Co. v. Walton Trust Co., 39 Okla. 748, 130 Pac 769; Lunn v. Kellison et al., 66 Okla. 168, 153 Pac. 1136; Okla, State Bank of Wapanucka v. Burnett et al., 65 Okla. 74, 162 Pac. 1124; Farmers’ State Bank of Ada v. Keen et al., 66 Okla. 62, 167 Pac. 207.

The evidence in the case amply supports the findings of the trial court that the only interest that R. M. Pratt ever had In the land in controversy was an undivided one-half interest in whatever sum the land sold for over and above $1,000. It further appears that R. M. Pratt merely held the legal title for the benefit of A. D. Kennedy and the Bank lof Commerce, and that in conveying to Belle Mangan he acted as the agent of the said Kennedy and the Bank of Commerce, the bank having advanced the purchase price of said land when it was originally purchased from the allottee; that at all of said times Thornburgh had a first lien by virtue of his. mortgage thereon; that ulien the land was conveyed to Belle Man-gan, Kennedy had a vendor’s lien for the i alance of the purchase price, which was superior to the lien of the plaintiff; that upon institution of this suit the sale from Kennedy and the bank to Belle Mangan, through Pratt, was rescinded by mutual agreement of the parties, and the legal title reinvested iu Kennedy for the benefit of himself, the Bank of Commerce, and Pratt, and that they were interested in said land, as found by the trial court.

As was said by this court in the ease of J. I. Case Threshing Mach. Co. v. Walton Trust Co., supra, a judgment creditor is in a very different position from one who has bought and paid, or who has loaned, money on the face of the recorded title, and he is not a bona fide purchaser, for the reason that ho has parted with nothing to acquire his lien, and when the real title prevails over the apparent title he is in no worse position than he was before he acquired his lien, and for that reason equity does not regard the judgment creditor, but assists those who have invested in, and therefore, have a substantial interest in, the real estate. This principle is clearly applicable to this case, and on the facts the court was right in awarding the plaintiff a lien only on Pratt’s interest in the land.

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Bluebook (online)
1919 OK 120, 180 P. 376, 72 Okla. 244, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guaranty-state-bank-of-okmulgee-v-pratt-okla-1919.