Henderson v. Pebworth

1923 OK 179, 216 P. 472, 90 Okla. 187, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 1143
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 27, 1923
Docket10891
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1923 OK 179 (Henderson v. Pebworth) 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
Henderson v. Pebworth, 1923 OK 179, 216 P. 472, 90 Okla. 187, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 1143 (Okla. 1923).

Opinion

HARRISON, J.

The facts in this appeal are that defendant in error, Pebworth, purchased an automobile from plaintiff in error, Henderson, paying some cash, and executing his promissory note to Henderson in the sum of $625 for balance due. At the same time and place it was verbally agreed between the two parties that Pebworth should have his car insured for $850, the price of the car new. Henderson, the seller, suggested' that he would procure the" insurance for Pebworth, the buyer, so that in case of loss the insurance would protect both parties. He also computed the amount of premium, which was $17, whereupon Peb-worth paid the $17 premium on an $850 policy to Henderson and signed a written application for such insurance and left it with Henderson, Henderson promising to take the premium and the signed application and procure the insurance. Henderson was to hold the policy and title to the ear until the note for balance due was paid. Henderson failed to procure the insurance, and there was testimony in the record tending to show that he acknowledged that his failure to do so was due to his own carelessness; later, the automobile was totally destroyed by Are. Whereupon Pebworth sought information as to what had become of his insurance policy, and found that Henderson had never obtained the policy, but had appropriated the premium to his own use.

In the meantime the note which Peb-worth had given to Henderson had been indorsed by Henderson to the Oity National Bank of McAlester, Okla., as collateral security on a note for $600, given to the bank by Henderson. Henderson not having paid his $600 note to the bank at maturity, the bank brought suit on same against both the maker and indorser of the collateral note, Pebworth and Henderson. Both parties appearing, after other preliminary proceedings, each Aled his separate answer to the bank’s cause of action. Henderson’s separate answer consisted of a general denial; Pebworth’s separate answer contained an allegation in the nature of a cross-petition against his codefendant, Henderson, for the $850 insurance policy which Henderson had failed to obtain for Peb-worth, and prayed for judgment for the difference between the $625 note given to Henderson and the $850 insurance policy. The bank demurred to Pebworth’s separate answer for the reason that it stated no defense to the bank’s cause of action.

The court overruled the bank’s demurrer to Pebworth’s separate answer, and thereafter on the same day the codefendant, Henderson, filed a jnotion to make Peb-worth’s answer more definite and certain. The court sustained the motion to make Pebworth’s separate answer more definite and certain, and Pebworth asked five days in which to amend, which request was by the court denied. This was on February 19th. The bank at this time renewed the demurrer to Pebworth’s cross-petition, and the court sustained the demurrer, Peb-worth excepted, and refused to plead further. After some further proceedings immaterial to the questions raised herein, the court proceeded to render judgment in favor of the bank against the codefendants, Pebworth and Henderson, both defendants *189 acknowledging that, the note had come into the hands of the bank in due course and for a valuable consideration, and neither of the defendants complaining of the judgment in favor of the bank; hence at this point the bank dropped out of the case.

Defendant Pebworth upon application was granted leave to amend his cross-petition against codefendant, and filed an amended cross-p'etition on the next day, February 20th, stating all the facts as to the agreement between himself and Henderson, viz., that Henderson should procure the policy of insurance and of his paying the premium to Henderson, and of Henderson’s failure to procure the insurance and to return the premium, $17, and praying for judgment against Henderson for $850.

Thereafter, and after further proceedings immaterial to the questions now presented, and after Henderson had filed his answer to the amende^ cross-petition, a jury was impaneled and in a distinctly separate trial to that between the two defendants and the bank the issues raised by the amended cross-petition of Pebworth and answer thereto of Henderson were tried, and a verdict and judgment rendered in favor of Peb-worth for $850, from which judgment Henderson appeals to this court, upon specification of eleven errors; these, however, are grouped into four controlling issues, which we will notice in the order presented.

The first is that the court erred in holding that, it had jurisdiction to hear and determine the issues presented between Peb-worth and Henderson. The contention made in this regard is, in substance, that the counterclaim against Henderson was not germane to the original action between the bank and the two defendants, was not such a counterclaim as grew out of the cause of action between the bank and the two defendants, and that if a valid counterclaim at all, it was not such a one as the court had jurisdiction to try in connection with the ease between the bank and the two defendants.

In support of this contention, plaintiff in error cites and relies upon Tracey v. Crepin et al., 40 Okla. 297, 138 Pac. 142, and Patterson v. Central State Bank et al., 75 Okla. 147, 182 Pac. 678, wherein this court, in an opinion by Mr. Justice McNeill, followed a rule laid down by the court in Tracey v. Crepin et al., supra, in an opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Hayes.

In Tracey v. Crepin et al., supra, the law announced by the court in par. 2 of the syllabus is as follows:

“A cause of action set up in a cross-bill must be germane to the original controversy; and where a defendant seeks to set up new and distinct matter, not maintainable under the provisions of the Code as a counterclaim, unless such matter is involved in a proper determination of the subject-matter of the original suit, a defendant will be required to litigate it in a separate action.”

And in Patterson v. Central State Bank, supra, the law announced by the court in par. 1 of the syllabus is as follows:

“A cause of action set up in a cross-bill against a party who has been made a co-defendant on motion of" the original defendant must be germane to the original controversy, and, where the defendant seeks to litigate a new and distinct controversy between himself and a codefendant ■ in said cross-bill, the same is not maintainable under the provisions of the Code as a counterclaim or cross-hill; the defendant will be required to litigate said counterclaim or cross-bill against his codefendants in a separate action.”

In Tracey v. Crepin et al., supra, the co-defendant moved to strike the cross-petition on the ground that it was not germane to the subject, and plaintiff demurred to same as constituting no defense against his claim. The trial court sustained the demurrer and the motion to strike the cross-petition on the ground that it was not germane to the subject. The trial court sustained the demurrer and the motion to strike, holding, in effect, that under the law the counterclaim should be tried in a separate action, and this court sustained the trial court in so holding.

In Patterson v. Central State Bank, supra, practically the same thing was done, and this court closed the opinion with the following words:

”We therefore hold that the court did not commit error in so holding, and dismissing the cross-petition”

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State Nat. Bank of Shawnee v. Central Nat. Bank of Tulsa
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Henderson v. Pebworth
1924 OK 772 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1924)
Johnson v. Cullinan
1923 OK 1177 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1923)

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Bluebook (online)
1923 OK 179, 216 P. 472, 90 Okla. 187, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 1143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-pebworth-okla-1923.