Hawkins v. Potter

1972 OK 139, 503 P.2d 192
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 31, 1972
DocketNo. 45998
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1972 OK 139 (Hawkins v. Potter) 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
Hawkins v. Potter, 1972 OK 139, 503 P.2d 192 (Okla. 1972).

Opinion

SIMMS, Justice:

Petitioner/Appellant is a lawyer who was appointed by the District Court of Osage County for the purpose of representing an indigent defendant, for the purpose of appealing to the Court of Criminal Appeals a Denial of Post-Conviction Relief of the trial court.

The appeals from Denial of Post-Conviction Relief were, factually, perfected, and thereafter the Court of Criminal Appeals denied the appeals.

On March 21, 1972, Petitioner/Appellant forwarded a written claim upon the court fund of Osage County for legal services rendered the indigent defendant on appeal. The total amount of the claim, including out-of-pocket and actual expenses, totaled $2,917.00. On March 30, 1972, Petitioner/Appellant filed a Motion for Approval of Attorney Fees and an Application to set his Motion for hearing before the trial judge in Osage County who had appointed Petitioner/Appellant to perfect the appeals.

An Evidentiary Hearing pertaining to the reasonableness of the claimed attorney fees, was had before the Honorable Mer-mon H. Potter, Associate District Judge in and for Osage County on April 21, 1972. At the termination of the hearing, Respondent/Appellee Judge found a reasonable fee to be in the sum of $250.00, basing his finding upon long established custom in Osage County.

Apparently, no journal entry of judgment was filed because none is contained within the record on file in this Court. However, on May 9, 1972, Petitioner/Appellant filed an instrument in the District Court of Osage County styled “Designation of Record and Request for Transcript of Testimony in Accordance with Notice of Intent to Make Application for Writ of Mandamus.”

On August 25, 1972, Petitioner/Appellant attempted to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court by filing what is styled “Petition for [194]*194Writ of Mandamus/or in the Alternative, a Petition in Error on Appeal.” He seeks to mandamus the Trustee’s of the Court Fund of Osage County to approve his claim in the sum afore designated, and prays in the alternative, that in the event mandamus be denied, his petition filed with this Court be treated as a Petition in Error on appeal.

An examination of the record on file with this Court leads one to the conclusion that it becomes unnecessary for this Court to pass upon the issue of the adequacy or inadequacy of the attorney fee allowed to Petitioner/Appellant for the following reasons.

If we are to treat the instrument filed by Petitioner/Appellant as a Petition for Writ of Mandamus, a cursory examination thereof indicates he has complied neither with the statutes governing petitions for writ of mandamus nor the written Rules of this Court.

His pleading is not verified, nor is there attached thereto, an affidavit, which is required by 12 O.S.1971, § 1455.

“The motion for the writ must be made upon the affidavit, and the court may require a notice of the application to be given to the adverse party, or may grant an order to show cause why it should not be allowed, or may grant the writ without notice.”

In the very early case of Collett v. Allison, 1 Okl. 42, 25 P. 516, this Court held that a writ of mandamus cannot be issued when the motion is not based upon affidavit, as was required by the then existing code. Also, in Pallidy et al. v. Beatty et al., 15 Okl. 626, 83 P. 428, the Court again recognized, under the then existing statutes, that as pertains to mandamus, “The motion for the writ must be made upon affidavit.”

In Cook v. Board of Education, 61 Okl. 152, 160 P. 1124, we find the following language in the body of the opinion:

“The only grounds argued in the brief for reversal are, first, that the petition was not properly verified. The verification attached to the petition is as follows : ‘State of Oklahoma, County of Atoka — ss.: W. A. McBride, Sr., being first duly sworn, makes oath and states that the facts stated in said petition are true ‘ — which affidavit is signed and sworn to. The statute authorizing the issuance of the writ (§ 4911, Revised Laws 1910) provides that the motion for writ must be made upon affidavit.” (Emphasis ours.)

Concededly, the defect in the petition for writ of mandamus for the reason same is not verified nor based on affidavit, is an objection which can be waived by the adverse party by filing their return to an alternative writ of mandamus or by further pleading to the writ by way of answer. In the instant case, Petitioner/Appellant sought neither a peremptory writ of mandamus nor did he seek an alternative writ as is provided by 12 O.S.1971, § 1454. Therefore, Respondent/Appellee have not filed a return of any alternative writ nor have they pled to the petition filed in the case. It therefore follows they have not entered such an appearance as to waive the defect in the instrument filed by Petitioner/ Appellant.

In addition to overlooking the provisions of 12 O.S.1971, § 1455, supra, Petitioner/Appellant has overlooked our Rule Number 37, which governs Special Rules Applicable to Original Proceedings in this Court, Other Than to Review Orders and Awards of the State Industrial Commission. Rule 37 provides, among other things, that:

“(4) No such applications except application for writs of habeas corpus will be heard without notice to the adverse party unless by reason of an emergency this Court determines the application should be heard without notice. Such notice shall state that the application, a copy of which must be attached to the copy of [195]*195the notice served on the adverse party, has been filed on the date and time on which such application will be presented to the Court. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, all such notices must designate a Tuesday, at 1:30 p. m., or as soon thereafter as may meet the convenience-of the Court, as the day and time on which such applications will be presented to the Court. The original notice showing service on the adverse party shall he filed with the Clerk at the time the application with briefs attached are filed. Amended Oct. 5, 1964, effective Nov. 1, 1964.”

The record before us shows a complete absence of notice to be served upon the adverse party as provided not only by statute but by specific Rule of this Court. Non-compliance with the Adopted Rules of the Supreme Court may be grounds to dismiss the cause. (See, Rule 1, Oklahoma Supreme Court. 12 O.S.1971, Ch. 15, Appendix 1)

Even had Petitioner/Appellant’s petition for writ of mandamus been properly made upon affidavit or verified, under the circumstances of this particular case, mandamus would not be a proper remedy.

Title 22, O.S.1971, § 1074 provides, in part:

“Whenever the judge of any court of record within this state shall determine that any person convicted of a crime within his court is without adequate funds or resources to employ legal counsel for the perfection of an appeal, he shall upon request of said convicted person appoint counsel for appeal. Said counsel shall be provided adequate compensation, as fixed by the fudge, from the court fund of the county in which the defendant was convicted. * * * ”

In the instant case, the trial court factually fixed the attorney fee. Petitioner/Appellant’s complaint goes directly to the amount of the compensation allowed by the trial judge, which involves discretion on the part of the trial judge.

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Related

Court Fund of Tulsa County v. Cook
1976 OK 180 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1972 OK 139, 503 P.2d 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkins-v-potter-okla-1972.