Kerr v. McKinney

1918 OK 27, 170 P. 685, 69 Okla. 88, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 625
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 22, 1918
Docket8282
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 1918 OK 27 (Kerr v. McKinney) 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
Kerr v. McKinney, 1918 OK 27, 170 P. 685, 69 Okla. 88, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 625 (Okla. 1918).

Opinion

Opinion by

COLLIER, C.

This is an action brought by defendant in error against plaintiffs in error to recover upon a promissory note and for the foreclosure of a mortgage given to secure the payment of said note. Hereinafter the parties will be designated ■as they were in the trial court.

The note is set out in the petition and shows that there has been paid upon said note three payments aggregating the sum of $500 ; that said payments are indorsed upon the back of said note; and that said note provides for the payment of 10 per cent, additional as attorney’s fees (in caste of legal proceedings to collect the note. The note is executed by W. S. Kerr only, but the mortgage securing the payment of said note, the property mortgaged being the homestead of defendants, is executed by W. S. Kerr and his wife, Maggie E. Kerr.

Plaintiff filed motion to auash service of summons, which was overruled and excepted t&.

The petition describes the note and mortgage and avers that the plaintiff is the duly and legally appointed and qualified guardian of the minor heirs of George H. McKinney, deceased.

The defendant demurred to the petition upon the ground that the court had1 no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant or the subject-matter of the action; that plaintiff had no legal capacity to sue; that there is a defect of parties, both plaintiff and defendants; that several causes of action are improperly joined; that the petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action — which demurrer was overruled and excepted to.

’On motion, judgment on the pleadings was rendered against W. S. Kerr -in the sum of *89 $3,079.95, with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum from the 18th day of November, 1915, and decreed a foreclosure of the mortgage given to secure the payment of said note against both of the defendants, and costs, including in said costs an attorney fee in the sum of $307.99, to which defendants duly excepted.

Within the time provided by law, the defendants made a motion for a new trial, which is as follows:

“Come now the defendants, W. S. Kerr and Maggie E. Kerr, and move the court to grant a new trial in this cause for the reason: First. The decision of the court is contrary to the law. igeeond. The court erred in rendering judgment on the pleadings filed in said cause. Third. The court erred in sustaining plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings of said cause.”

Which motion was overruled and duly excepted to, and error brought to this court.

On the unbroken line of decisions in this court, only such errors as are called to the attention of the court by motion for new trial can be considered' by this court.

In Vandenberg v. Winne, 55 Okla. 679, 155 Pac. 245, it is said:

“Error occurring during the trial cannot be considered by the Supreme Court, unless a motion for a new trial founded upon and including such errors has been made by the complaining party, and acted upon by the trial court, and its ruling excepted to, and afterwards assigned for error in the Supreme Court.”

In De Vitt et al. v. City of El Reno et al., 28 Okla. 315, 114 Pac. 253, it is said:

“The limit of appellate inquiry under an assignment of error to the effect that the judgment was contrary to law is this: On the pleadings and findings, was the proper judgment entered?”

It therefore follows that the only error property presented for review by this court is “that the court erred in rendering judgment upon the pleadings in favor of plaintiff.”

The answer is not verified and, not being-verified, the allegation that the plaintiff is the duly appointed and qualified guardian of said heirs of George McKinney, deceased, is admitted.

Section 4759, Revised Laws 1910, provides :

“In all actions, allegations of the execution of written instruments and endorsements, thereon, of the existence of a corporation or partnership, or of any appointment of authority, or -the correctness of any account 'duly verified by the affidavit of the party, his agent or attorney, shall be taken as true unless the denial of the 'same be verified by the affidavit of the party, his agent or attorney.”

That the plaintiff could legally bring this action without joining with her the person for whose benefit it is prosecuted is conclusively shown by section 4683, Revised Laws 1910, which reads as follows:

“An executor, administrator, guardian, trustee of an express trust, a person with whom, or in whose name, a contract is made for the benefit of another, or a person expressly authorized by statute, may bring an action without joining, with him the person for whose benefit it is prosecuted. Officers may sue and be sued in such name as is authorized by law, and official bonds may be sued upon in the same way.”

The action being properly brought in the name of the plaintiff and the petition stating a good cause of action, and the execution of the note and mortgage being admitted by the nonverified answer, and there being no legal defense set up in said answer, and no question of fact left to be determined, the court did not err in sustaining the motion of plaintiff for judgment on the pleadings.

The mortgage sought to be foreclosed, which is made a part of the petition by exhibit and whose execution is admitted by the answer of the plaintiff, shows that the debt thereby secured was a debt of W. S. Kerr; that Maggie E. Keirr was his wife, and,' notwithstanding no consideration moved to her, the mortgage is valid and enforceable.

In Reeves & Co. v. Dyer et al., 52 Okla. 750, 153 Pac. 850, it is sa'id:

“A wife has the right to join her husband iii a mortgage of the homestead, to -secure a, note of the husband, where the consideration of the same came to him alone: and such a mortgage is valid and enforceable without any consideration moving directly to the wife.”

And the contention of the defendants that a foreclosure cannot be maintained without a personal judgment being rendered against Maggie E. Kerr is not well taken.

In Echols et al. v. Reeburgh, 62 Okla. 67, 161 Pac. 1065, it is held:

‘^Suit to foreclose a real estate mortgage may be maintained without seeking personal judgment for the mortgage indebtedness.”

Upon the overruling of the demurrer to petition, the defendant answered, frankly admitting the execution and delivery of the note and mortgage, averred that the designation of plaintiff as “Gdn” is not sufficient, *90 that ■ the real owners of the note are the children of plaintiff, that said note and mortgage were executed while the said children were minors, and that since then the said male children have reached their majority and.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1918 OK 27, 170 P. 685, 69 Okla. 88, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kerr-v-mckinney-okla-1918.