La Bellman v. Gleason & Sanders, Inc.

1966 OK 183, 418 P.2d 949, 25 Oil & Gas Rep. 215, 1966 Okla. LEXIS 509
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 4, 1966
Docket39350
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 1966 OK 183 (La Bellman v. Gleason & Sanders, Inc.) 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
La Bellman v. Gleason & Sanders, Inc., 1966 OK 183, 418 P.2d 949, 25 Oil & Gas Rep. 215, 1966 Okla. LEXIS 509 (Okla. 1966).

Opinion

HODGES, Justice.

This is an appeal upon the original record from an order of the District Court of Caddo County, Oklahoma wherein the court overruled and denied a motion to vacate a default judgment.

The record shows that the defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, filed a petition against the plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as defendant, for a money judgment and foreclosure of a lien upon an oil and gas leasehold estate. The defendant was a resident of the State of Texas and service of process was obtained by publication. The defendant made no appearance in person or by pleading and was declared by the trial court to be in default. On January IS, 1960, the trial court, after a hearing, entered judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $3286.80 and for foreclosure of a lien for said amount upon the oil and gas leasehold estate. The judgment not only declared a lien upon the leasehold as described in the plaintiff’s petition, but declared a lien upon the NWj4 SEi/j NWj4 and SWJ4 NEi/j. NW}4 of Section 27, Township 6 North, Range 9, West I. M., Caddo County, Oklahoma, which was not described or mentioned in the plaintiff’s petition or in the notice of publication. The judgment further ordered that the purchase price of certain oil runs owed to the defendant by the Anderson-Pritchard Oil Corporation, hereinafter referred to as Anderson-Pritchard, be applied as a credit to the plaintiff upon the judgment rendered. After receiving judgment the plaintiff attempted to garnish assets of the defendant held by Anderson-Pritchard.

On May 2, 1960, the defendant filed during the term a motion to vacate judgment alleging that he was not indebted to the plaintiff in the amount sued for and that the judgment should be vacated and set aside and the defendant be permitted to file an answer demanding an accounting to determine the true and correct amount, if any,, the defendant owes to the plaintiff. The motion was later amended by the defendant, within the term, on May 20, I960, to further allege that the trial court did not acquire-jurisdiction of the defendant and could not enter judgment in personam upon the debt, and that the trial court did not obtain jurisdiction of any funds belonging to the defendant in the possession of Anderson-Pritchard because the defendant was not apprised either by publication notice or by the petition of the plaintiff that judgment was sought against these funds. The motion to vacate the default judgment was. denied by the tral court on July 1, 1960, and the defendant then perfected his appeal to-this court.

On appeal, the defendant contends that judgment of the trial court is void and should be vacated because (1) the notice by publication was fatally defective in that it did not inform the defendant of the property to be seized; and (2) the judgment of the trial court exceeded the issues invoked by the plaintiff’s petition.

It is the position of the plaintiff that the defendant by filing the motion to vacate judgment, which contained nonjurisdictional allegations, entered his general appearance and cannot at this time be heard to complain that the judgment and decision of the trial court is not valid in all respects..

*953 We have held that where a defendant moves to vacate a judgment and alleges hoth jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional grounds, he has entered a general appearance for all purposes as though appearance had been made at trial. Gaghagen v. Lehmer, 170 Okl. 372, 40 P.2d 1046; Richardson v. First Nat’l Bank, 186 Okl. 203, 97 P.2d 39. This rule does not however presuppose that a trial court’s judgment is rendered valid in all respects by such an appearance.

In Griffin v. Jones, 45 Okl. 305, 147 P. 1024, 1028, it was contended by the plaintiff that by filing a motion to vacate a judgment the defendants made a general •appearance and thereby submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the court, which had the effect of validating the judgment rendered. In rejecting this argument we •said:

“ * * * (W)hen a motion to vacate a judgment * * * is filed, and the party’s motion alleges jurisdictional as well as nonjurisdictional grounds, he thereby makes a general appearance and waives jurisdiction over his person. Notwithstanding this fact, it is the duty of the court to investigate and ascertain whether or not the proceedings resulting in the judgment and the judgment itself are so irregular that they would be held to be fatal upon appeal direct from the judgment, and that in case injustice has been done, and it is clear the judgment is inequitable, it should be vacated, to the end that the controversy may be heard upon the merits in the interest of justice. * *

Furthermore, the jurisdiction necessary to empower a court to render a valid judgment is of three types: (1) Jurisdiction of the parties; (2) jurisdiction of the general subject matter; and (3) jurisdiction of the particular matter which the judgment professes to decide. If any one of these requisites is lacking, the purported judgment is a nullity and is void. Jefferson v. Gallagher, 56 Okl. 405, 150 P. 1071; Oklahoma City v. Robinson, 179 Okl. 309, 65 P.2d 531; Hinkle v. Jones, 180 Okl. 17, 66 P.2d 1073. Our statute provides that a void judgment may he set aside at any time. 12 O.S.1961, § 1038.

It is apparent from the foregoing that the assertion of nonjurisdictional grounds in defendant’s motion to vacate judgment constitutes a general appearance and a waiver of defects in the judgment relating to jurisdiction over the person of the defendant. It is equally clear that such an appearance does not waive either substantial irregularities in the proceeding or failure of the trial court to acquire jurisdiction other than over the person of the defendant.

It is unnecessary to consider the first contention of the defendant that the notice by publication was defective, because the requirement for such notice was waived by the general appearance of the defendant. Daniel v. Daniel, Okl., 348 P.2d 185; Porter v. Oklahoma Bacone College Trust, Okl., 346 P.2d 335, cert. denied 363 U.S. 927, 80 S.Ct. 754, 4 L.Ed.2d 746; Griffin v. Jones, supra.

The second contention of the defendant that the trial court rendered judgment beyond the issues framed by the petition of the plaintiff is unrelated to jurisdiction of the person, and will be considered on its merits.

The jurisdiction of the trial court is limited to the particular subj ect matter presented by the pleadings, and any judgment which is beyond the issues framed by the pleadings and proof is in excess of the court’s jurisdiction and is void. Central Nat’l Oil Co. v. Continental Supply Co., 119 Okl. 190, 249 P. 347; Henson v. Oklahoma State Bank, 165 Okl. 1, 23 P.2d 709; Home Finance Corp. v. Ponder, Okl., 357 P.2d 220. In Roth v. Union National Bank, 58 Okl. 604, 160 P. 505, 507, it was held that:

‘Although a court has jurisdiction of the subject-matter of an action or of the parties, its power to render a valid judgment is nevertheless limited by the nature of the suit and the issues made by the plead- *954 in'gs, and if it transcends such limits, its judgment is without jurisdiction and void.’ ”

And in Standard Sav. & L. Ass’n v. Anthony Wholesale Grocery Co., 62 Okl. 242, 162 P.

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Bluebook (online)
1966 OK 183, 418 P.2d 949, 25 Oil & Gas Rep. 215, 1966 Okla. LEXIS 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/la-bellman-v-gleason-sanders-inc-okla-1966.