Kolp v. State Ex Rel. Commissioners of the Land Office

312 P.2d 483
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 21, 1957
Docket36545
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 312 P.2d 483 (Kolp v. State Ex Rel. Commissioners of the Land Office) 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
Kolp v. State Ex Rel. Commissioners of the Land Office, 312 P.2d 483 (Okla. 1957).

Opinion

HALLEY, Justice.

December 1, 1951, Louise C. Kolp filed a motion to vacate a judgment on note and foreclosure of mortgage rendered against her in the District Court of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, on November 1, 1937, in favor of the State ex rel. The Commissioners of the Land Office, and resulting in a sale of the land, order of confirmation and sheriff’s deed to the State.

The Commissioners demurred to the motion to vacate. Demurrer was sustained and motion dismissed when Louise C. Kolp elected to stand upon her motion to vacate. She has appealed from the order sustaining demurrer to her motion to vacate the judgment and sale proceedings had thereunder. She offered to satisfy the amount due the State if her motion to vacate was sustained.

The record shows that on April 29, 1937, the Commissioners filed a foreclosure action in the District Court of Cleveland County against Louise C. Kolp and others alleging that on August 15, 1929, she had executed a mortgage to secure the payment of a note for $5,500, bearing five per cent interest per annum, payable semi-annually, as shown by interest coupons attached, and providing that upon default the entire amount due would become due and payable, and that thereafter the entire debt would bear interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum. The total amount then due was alleged to be $8,868.75, plus interest afterwards accruing.

*485 Plaintiff prayed that a receiver be appointed, that it have judgment upon the note, foreclosure of its mortgage and that the land be sold to satisfy the judgment. The mortgage sought to be foreclosed recited that it was a continuation of a first lien created under a former mortgage executed to the Commissioners upon the same land by Louise C. Kolp on February 15, 1924.

The Phillips Petroleum Company, which was a party defendant, answered and filed a cross-petition alleging that it held an oil and gas lease covering part of the land involved, alleged to be superior to the mortgage sought to be foreclosed. The lease was dated December 24, 1927, but the mortgage sought to be foreclosed, was a renewal and continuation of a mortgage dated in 1924, making it clear that the mortgage was superior to the oil and gas lease dated December 24, 1927. Phillips Petroleum Company apparently made no objection to the action of the trial court in refusing to vacate its foreclosure judgment sought to be vacated by Louise C. Kolp, and is not a party to this appeal.

The motion to vacate the foreclosure judgment and proceedings had thereunder is based principally on alleged irregularities in obtaining service upon Louise C. Kolp by publication, erroneous calculations of the amount due under the note, the fact that the journal entry was not filed promptly, and that the signature of the trial judge on the journal entry filed on April 1, 1938, was procured by fraud, and fraudulent service by publication. We will discuss later the question of when a journal entry must be filed after the entry of judgment.

In her petition in error, Louise C. Kolp assigns as errors relied upon four propositions which are as follows:

“1. Error of the trial court in sustaining the demurrer of the plaintiff to the Motion (of said defendant) to Vacate and Set Aside Judgments, and the Amendment to Motion to Vacate and Set Aside Judgments;
“2. Error of the trial court in overruling said Motion and the Amendment thereto;
“3. Error of the trial court in refusing to sustain said Motion and the Amendment thereto; and
“4. Error of the trial court in ordering said Motion and the Amendment thereto dismissed.”

It is first contended that a void judgment is no judgment, but an absolute nullity. This is a correct statement of the law, but is it applicable to the facts before us and does it warrant the vacation of a judgment regular on its face or on the face of the judgment roll? This Court has decided many times that a judgment regular on the face of the judgment roll, requiring extrinsic evidence to disclose its invalidity, is only voidable, and can only be vacated in the manner and within the time provided by Section 1038, 12 O.S.1951. That statute provides in its last sentence that:

“* * * y0jd judgment may be vacated at any time, on motion of a party, or any person affected thereby.”

It is true that it is not important when a void judgment is attacked, but the time when attacked is important when the judgment roll is regular on its face and extrinsic evidence is necessary to show that the judgment is in fact void and not voidable. Plaintiff in error appears to base her contentions upon the assumption that the judgment here attacked is void and not merely voidable.

In Town of Watonga v. Crane Co., 189 Okl. 184, 114 P.2d 941, it is said in the second paragraph of the syllabus : .

“A judgment is void on its face when the judgment roll affirmatively shows that the trial court lacked either (1) jurisdiction over the person; (2) jurisdiction over the subject matter; or, (3) judicial power to render the particular judgment.”

In that case it was pointed out that in Crowther v. Schoonover, 130 Okl. 249, 266 *486 P. 777, it was held that a void judgment that may be vacated at any time on motion applies only when the invalidity of the judgment appears on the face of the judgment roll, consisting of the petition, process, return, pleadings subsequent thereto, reports, verdicts, orders, judgments and all material acts and proceedings of the court.

We find no merit in this contention. The service by publication is regular on its face and gave the court jurisdiction of the person of the defendant to render the judgment rendered. The record does not contain any evidence of fraud.

It is argued that where a party makes a false affidavit of residence in mailing notice, knows that the alleged residence as false, such party cannot assert that the judgment is regular on its face if based upon a false affidavit of residence and mailing. It should be kept in mind that Section 1031, 12 O.S.1951, specifies the manner in which a judgment may be vacated. The third and fourth subdivisions are as follows:

“Third. For mistake, neglect or omission of the clerk, or irregularity in obtaining a judgment or order.
“Fourth. For fraud, practiced by the successful party, in obtaining the judgment or order.”

Section 1038, supra, provides that proceedings to vacate a judgment under subdivision four, for fraud practiced by the successful party, must be commenced within two years from the date of judgment, and. under subdivision three, irregularities in obtaining judgment, must be commenced within three years from the date of the judgment'. Twelve years had elapsed since the rendition of the judgment here attacked.

The journal entry of judgment rendered November 1, 1937, was not filed until April 1, 1938, for the sum of $9,394.-59, plus interest at ten per cent per annum from November 1, 1937, attorney fees and costs. The notice of sheriff’s sale recited the same amount as did the order of sale.

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Bluebook (online)
312 P.2d 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kolp-v-state-ex-rel-commissioners-of-the-land-office-okla-1957.