Jarecki Manufacturing Co. v. Fleming

1928 OK 195, 265 P. 628, 130 Okla. 95, 57 A.L.R. 802, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 461
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 20, 1928
Docket18655
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1928 OK 195 (Jarecki Manufacturing Co. v. Fleming) 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
Jarecki Manufacturing Co. v. Fleming, 1928 OK 195, 265 P. 628, 130 Okla. 95, 57 A.L.R. 802, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 461 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

LEACH, C.

This is an appeal from the judgment and order of the district court of Okmulgee county overruling plaintiff in 'error’s motion to recall, vacate, and quash an execution for possession of personal property, and to collect damages awarded plaintiff for withholding the property. The facts relating to the appeal, as we gather from the briefs and record, appear to be as follows :

Defendant in error here, Ed Fleming, as plaintiff below, originally filed the action against plaintiff in error here, Jareeki Manufacturing Company, to recover possession of certain drilling machinery alleged to be owned by plaintiff and acquired by him under foreclosure of a chattel mortgage. The defendant, manufacturing company, having previously acquired possession of the machinery in McIntosh county under foreclosure of a materialman’s lien, later removed the machinery to Okmulgee county. Yerdict and judgment were rendered in the district court of Okmulgee county for plaintiff below for possession of the machinery and for damages in the sum of $300 for the unlawful withholding of the same, from which judgment the defendant, manufacturing company, appealed, and which judgment was affirmed by this court in an opinion which will be found in 123 Okla. 147, 252 Pac. 17. The mandate from this court, upon such appeal, was spread of record in the district court of Okmulgee county on January 31, 1927. Thereafter, on February 7th, the defendant in writing, offered to surrender the drilling tools to the plaintiff at the place where they were located at the time of the service of the original writ of replevin. The plaintiff, Ed Fleming, refused to accept the machinery and tools at the place and point specified in defendant’s tender, and requested the same to) be delivered at his residence in the town of Morris, Okmulgee county, Okla. The defendant declined to pay the amount of damages awarded and costs unless plaintiff would accept the tools at the point tendered, and refused to deliver the tools at the place and point requested by plaintiff, whereupon the plaintiff caused to be issued out of the district court an execution directed to the sheriff of Okmulgee county, commanding him to forthwith cause restitution of the machinery described to be made, and that the plaintiff be nut in possession of such property and delivered to him in block 14, in the town of Morris, and further commanding the sheriff to enforce and collect as against the goods and chattels of the defendant the damages awarded to the plaintiff, with interest and costs of execution, and in case the property described could not be had, then that the value thereof, as fixed by the jury, be collected out of the goods and chattels of the defendant, whereupon the defendant, manufacturing company, filed its motion in the court to recall, vacate, and set aside the execution on the ground that the same was illegal and void; that the clerk was without authority to issue same; that such execution was at variance with the judgment in that it directed the sheriff to deliver the personal property at a certain specified place when such place was not designated in the judgment; that the property described to be delivered, by reason of its cumbersome nature, was not required to be surrendered and delivered to the plaintiff at the particular place designated; that defendant had previously tendered the prop *97 erty where the same was situated when re-plevined from the defendant; that prior to the issuance of the execution, tender and offer to pay the amount of damages and costs awarded plaintiff had been made by the defendant. Upon a hearing on such motion, the same was overruled and denied, and the defendant appeals from the action of the court denying such motion, and brings the same here for review.

The question first to be determined is: Did the defendant make a sufficient tender, or offer to return the property involved to the plaintiff? It is urged by the defendant, plaintiff in error here, that the tender and offer to deliver the property, it being of a heavy and cumbersome nature, at the place and point where it was replevined, such tender1 is sufficient, and that it should not be required to deliver the property at any other place.

Both plaintiff and defendant rely upon the case of Leeper, Graves & Co. v. First Nat. Bank of Hobart, 26 Okla. 707, 110 Pac. 655, to sustain their contentions in the matter.

It appears from an examination of that ease that the plaintiff replevined and took possession of certain steel bridges, which it was later determined and held plaintiff had no right to the possession of, and judgment was awarded the defendant for the return of such bridges, and some of the bridges were located in various parts of the county. The plaintiff loaded some portion and part of the bridges on wagonsi- and hauled the same to the defendant, a bank. The defendant bank refused to receive any portion of the property until it could invoice the same; thereafter it did invoice the property, and found some portion and parts of the bridges missing, whereupon it declined to accept the return of any portion or part of the bridges, and filed suit on the replevin bond and obtained a judgment for the value of the entire property.

Upon appeal to this court, it was held that the defendant should have accepted the property tendered and looked to the bond for the value of the undelivered parts.

While reference is made in that case to the question of tender and return of property, and cases from other jurisdictions are cited, it does not specifically determine, nor the question does not appear to have arisen, as to the particular place where the property must be returned or tendered to the party entitled to the same. It was said in the third paragraph of the syllabus in that case:

“In an action of replevin, where there is an alternative judgment rendered against plaintiff for the return of the property taken, or its value, it is a duty of plaintiff to promptly and in good faith tender all of the same in as good a condition as received, and a failure so to do will render his sureties liable on their undertaking for the full amount that defendant may be damaged thereby.”

Cobbey on Replevin (2nd Ed.) section 1179, p. 667, under the heading, “What is a Proper Return of Property?” says:

“* * * successful party may stand still and receive the property, or, if it is not tendered to him, may proceed to collect his money judgment, though he is not bound to do this, but may seize the property where-ever he can find it. Oi^ he may have a writ put in the hands of the officer; * * * which commands the officer to' take and return the property.”

And further, section 1182, paragraph .669:

“* * * Where the one holding the property pending the litigation is defeated' and judgment for a return is entered against him, it is the duty to seek the other party and deliver the property to him, if he will receive it.”

It was held in the cases of Dupree v. Jordan, 128 Okla. 91, 252 Pac. 67, and Gerber v. Wehner, 96 Okla. 48, 220 Pac. 648, that it was not necessary that the successful party in a replevin action cause a writ to be issued in order to procure a return of the property from the plaintiff before proceeding to enforce the alternative judgment for money, since it was the duty of the losing party to return the property within a reasonable time.

In the case of Deeper, Graves & Co. v. First Nat.

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Related

Brook v. James A. Cullimore & Co.
1967 OK 251 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1967)
Rostykus v. Fidelity Finance Co.
1950 OK 249 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1950)
Jarecki Manufacturing Co. v. Fleming
1937 OK 42 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1937)
Thacher v. International Supply Co.
1936 OK 136 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1936)
Universal Credit Co. v. Ogburn
1935 OK 722 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Hoeh v. Kirby
39 P.2d 657 (Montana Supreme Court, 1935)
Richey v. Stanley
38 S.W.2d 1104 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1931)
Lawer Auto Supply Co. v. Teton Auto Co.
284 P. 1001 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 195, 265 P. 628, 130 Okla. 95, 57 A.L.R. 802, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jarecki-manufacturing-co-v-fleming-okla-1928.