Langford v. Phillips

1924 OK 632, 227 P. 413, 100 Okla. 63, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 919
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided June 17, 1924·No. 14480·Published

Opinion

Opinion by

-SHACKELFORD, C.

The undisputed facts out of which this lawsuit arose appear to be about as follows: An individual by the name of Bird Gee was the owner of 76 acres of land in the west half of the southwest quarter of sec. 4, twp. 12 N. rge. 2 W. I. M., and L. H. Smith was the owner and in actual possession of the remaining foiir acres of said tract, which was described as a “plat of land consisting of four acres in square form off of the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of sec. 4, twp. 12 N., rge. 2 W. I. M.” Bird Gee-arranged with a surveyor to plat his portion of the land, the 76 acres, into blocks; -but it seems that when the survey was made the entire 80 acres was platted and the pla-t filed of record; and the four acres were described in the plat as blocks 15 and 16. On the 24th of December, 3906, Bird Gee and wife executed a mortgage to Martha E. Langford, plaintiff in error, covering blocks-seven and fifteen inclusive in what was described as Gee and Jones subdivision of the west half of the southwest quarter of sec. 4, twp. 12 N. rge. 2 W., to secure a loan of $600. On, default made by the mortgagor the mortgagee filed suit to foreclose the mortgage on the property described in the mortgage; and I. N. Phillips, who at the-time of the foreclosure suit was the owner of the four acres “in square form” in the southwest corner of the west half of the southwest quarter of sec. 4, twp-. 12 N., rge. 2 W. was made a party defendant. I. N. Phillips filed answer disclaiming any interest in the Gee and Jones subdivision in the west half of the southwest quarter, and judgment was entered for the plaintiff in the foreclosure suit for the debt and for foreclosure of the mortgage. This judgment was entered and journal entry of judgment filed on the 20th of May, 1933. In due course sale was had as per judgment foreclosing the mortgage, and at the sale the mortgagee, Martha E. Langford, the plaintiff in error, bid off and purchased the mortgaged property, and the sale was confirmed. In making the mortgage and in the journal entry -of judgment, and in the sale and order of confirmation of the sale, block 15 in Gee and Jones subdivision -was included; and block 15 as shown in the plat was part of the four acres “in square form.”

On the 22nd of September, 1919. the plaintiff in error, Martha E. Langford, as plaintiff in the court below, commenced the present action by filing her petition in the district court of Oklahoma county. By her suit she seeks to recover possession, rents, and profits, and to quiet title to what was described in the plat of Gee and Jones subdivision as -block 15. I. N. Phillips and others, his grantees and successors to the title, were made parties defendant. The plaintiff deraigns her title to said block 15 through the mortgage of Bird Gee and wife *65 to plaintiff! Martha E. Langford, her foreclosure suit, the 'disclaimer of I. N. Phillips, and the judgment of foreclosure and sale of the property under foreclosure, and confirmation of sale, and the sheriff’s deed following- the confirmation.

I. N. Phillips answered alleging that defendant’s land described as four acres in square form was included in the plat of Gee and Jones subdivision by mistake of the parties making the survey, and having the platting done; and that it should not have been included in the survey; and the parties had no authority to include it in the survey as they had no right, title, or interest in the property described as the four acres “in square form”; that the part of the land described as block 15 of Gee and Jones subdivision was included in the mortgage given by Bird Gee and wife to plaintiff Martha E. Langford by mutual mistake, when in truth and in fact it was not a part of the Gee and Jones subdivision, and the mortgagors had no right, title, or interoat in the said property. He further answered that at the time he filed the disclaimer in the mortgage foreclosure case he did not know that by inadvertence and by mutual mistake of fact his property had been included in the mortgage, and that the plaintiff in the mortgage foreclosure case was claiming that a lien had been created upon his property or that plaintiff was claiming any rights in his property, described as four acres in square form; and by cross-petition sought to cancel' the instruments under which the plaintiff claimed in so far as they included the property of the defendants de- . scribed as “four acres in square form,” and to quiet title against plaintiff, Martha E. Langford.

The ease was tried to the court • after a jury trial waived by the parties, on the 10th of October, 1922. The court entered judgment finding that the defendant I. N. Phillips .and his successors are the owners of the fee simple title in and to the “four acres in square form,” and in the actual possession thereof: and that Martha E. Langford has no right, title, or interest in such tract of land; and canceled the instruments under which the plaintiff, Martha E. Lang-ford, claimed in so far as they affected any part of the four acre tract; and quieted title to the four acres in I. N. Phillips and his successor to the title, and perpetually barred and enjoined the plaintiff and all parties claiming by, through, or under her from setting up any claim to the title to the four acre tract. The plaintiff excepted to the judgment and in apt time filed motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and the case was brought here on appeal.

The plaintiff in error assigns many errors ; but they are reduced to the contention that Í. N. Phillips and those claiming under him are estopped from claiming title to the four acres in square form in the southwest corner of the west half of the southwest quarter of.4-12-2 by reason of I. N. Phillips having filed a disclaimer in plaintiff’s foreclosure suit wherein she sought to foreclose, the mortgage which included the four acres, or a part thereof, described in the mortgage as block 15.

It nowhere appears in the record that at the time the 76 acres in the west half of the southwest quarter -was platted that I. N. Phillips or those under whom he claims had any interest or claimed any interest in the 76 acres; and it does not appear that they were in any way concerned in platting out the 76 acres into what was called the Gee and Jones subdivision ; nor does it appear that the owners of the 76 acres claimed any right, title, or interest in the Phillips four acres “in square form” in the southwest corner of the tract. The plaintiff in error contends that Phillips took notice of the plat when it was placed of record. But even so, Was the plat any greater or stronger notice to Phillips that his land wasi included in the plat than Phillips’ actual physical possession of the four acres was to the plaintiff, Martha E. Lang-ford, when she took her mortgage from Gee and his wife? The deeds under which' Phillips and his grantor held were of record the same as the plat, and in addition to the record of the deeds the owners of the four acres were in the actual, physical possession thereof at the time the mortgage was taken, as appears from the evidence. At the time the foreclosure suit was filed, Phillips was holding under conveyance which described his land as “four acres in square form” in the southwest corner of the tract. The property covered by the mortgage, and referred to in the foreclosure petition, was described as certain blocks in the Gee and Jones subdivision in the west half of the southwest quarter.

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Langford v. Phillips, 1924 OK 632, 227 P. 413, 100 Okla. 63, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 919 (Okla. 1924).

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