Miller v. Scott

1928 OK 637, 273 P. 363, 134 Okla. 278, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 862
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 30, 1928
Docket18675
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1928 OK 637 (Miller v. Scott) 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
Miller v. Scott, 1928 OK 637, 273 P. 363, 134 Okla. 278, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 862 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

JEFFREY, C.

This action was begun in the district court of Okmulgee county by Thomas Harvey Scott, as plaintiff, against Laurence D. Miller, executor of the estate of Robert G. Miller, deceased,, for the recovery of the balance of purchase price under a contract to purchase an oil and gas lease on the southeast quarter of Section 28, township 15 north, range 11 east. The cause was tried to the court without a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff for $8,000, the amount sued for. From the judgment the defendant has appealed.

Off May 14, 1919, plaintiff, as party of the first part, entered into a written contract with Robert G. Miller and E. G. Hunter, whereby said first party agreed to make, execute, and deliver to second parties an oil and gas mining lease upon the above-described land for a period of three years, and as long thereafter as oii or gas is produced from the premises. The consideration to be paid by second parties was $16,000. The contract recited that it was agreed that first party was the owner of an undivided one-half interest in said land; and that $8,000 of the purchase price for the l'ease should be paid at the time of the execution of the lease. The contract further provided that if first party acquires a lease on the other one-half interest, he should be paid the balance of the purchase price upon the approval of the title to the sam'e. The concluding paragraph of the contract is as follows:

“Before the deferred payment of eight thousand ($8,000) dollars mentioned in th'e above contract shall become due and payable, party of the first part shall furnish to parties of the second part an abstract showing that parties of the second part have a good and valid oil and gas mining lease upon the premises described in the above and foregoing contract, and until parties of th'e second part acquire a good and valid oil and gas mining lease covering the entire fee simple title and all the oil and gas rights thereunder, said eight thousand ($8,000) dollars shall not be due or payable.”

There are several other provisions in th'e contract, but they are not pertinent to the questions here raised. It appears that at the same time the contract was made, an oil and gas lease was executed and delivered by plaintiff to Miller and Hunter covering the entire tract of land, and one-half of the consideration was paid as per the terms of the contract. It also appears that at said time an abstract of title covering the land in question was delivered to Miller and Hunter. The balance of th’e purchase price was not paid. Robert G. Miller having died, a claim was presented to the executor of his estate, and payment having been refused, this action was brought against Laurence D. Miller, as such executor. Upon application of plaintiff, and a showing by him that since the filing of the suit, he had conveyed the land in qu'estion and assigned all interest and rights in the action to E. St. Cyr, the court ordered the cause' continued in the name of the plaintiff for the use and benefit of E. St. Cyr.

At th'e trial of the cause, plaintiff offered in evidence the contract, the oil and gas lease, and the abstract which had been delivered at the time of the delivery of the oil and gas lease. The abstract of title shows an allotment surplus deed from the Creek Nation to Abraham Taylor on part of the land, and an allotment homestead deed on the balance of the land. The next transfer disclosed by the abstract is a warranty deed by Lillian Hanson, nee Taylor, and husband, to Wright Thornburg, covering an undivided on’e-half interest in said quarter section. And then appears an entry of a transfer of a guardianship case of Sammy Taylor, a minor, from the United States Court of the Western District of the Indian Territory to the county court of Okmulgee. Following that entry, a proceeding is shown whereby Wright Thornburg brought action against Sammy Taylor, a minor, for a partition of the land. A decree in partition was entered, commissioners were appointed who reported that the land could not be partitioned in kind, and appraised it at $3,500. The land was sold in the partition proceeding, and Wright Thornburg elected to take Sammy Taylor’s proposed interest for the appraised value. Thereafter, a sheriff’s deed was executed and delivered to Wright Thorn-burg for the other undivided one-half in *280 terest. The next and last transfer shown hy the abstract is a warranty deed from Wright Thornburg and wife to Thomas Harvey Scott, dated February 23, 1909, and covering the entire tract of land.

Defendant contends that the abstract does not show good and valid title, or as the contract states it, ‘that parties of the s'econd part have a good and valid oil and gas lease on th'e whole of the tract"; and that the balance of the purchase price, as provided by the contract, shall not become due and payable until such an abstract is furnished. At the trial of the cause, plaintiff sought to supply certain omissions by a witness who acted as attorney for plaintiff when the original contract was made. Thus witness testified that at the time the lease and abstract were delivered, it was verbally agreed between plaintiff and his attorneys on one side, and Miller and Hunter and their attorney on the other, that Sammy Taylor was an Indian of less than full-blood ; and that soon thereafter witness procured from the office of the Fiv'e Civilized Tribes of Indians at Muskogee proof of heirship of Abraham Taylor, and proof showing the degree of blood of Abraham Taylor and Sammy Taylor, and gave them to the attorney for Miller and Hunter. To all evidence pertaining to the title, other than the abstract itself, defendant objected, and insists here that it was error to admit such evidence; and that he should not be compelled to accept a title resting in part in parol. As to the one-half interest which came by way of Lillian Hanson Taylor, it appears that there never was any objection.

The contract provided that, before the deferred payment of $8,000 should become due and payable, first party should furnish second parties an abstract showing that parties of the second part have a good and valid oil and gas lease upon the land therein described. “Good title” is synonymous with a good marketable title. 2 Words & Phrases (2d Series) 761. Such a title is one that is free from palpable defects, missing links and grave doubts, and should consist of both legal and equitable title. It is the general rule that, where a contract provides that th'e abstract shall show a marketable or good title, the vendor will not be permitted to show by evidence outside the abstract that the title is good. The vendor cannot resort to parol evidence to supply missing links or correct defects if by the terms of the contract he is to furnish abstract showing good title. Thompson, Title to Real Property, sections 5 and 7, pp. 7 and 8. The leading case in this jurisdiction on th'e question is that of Campbell v. Harsh, 31 Okla. 436, 122 Pac. 127, wherein it was held that a purchaser, under a contract to make a perfect title, is not required to resort to evidence de hors the record, but may stand upon the record, and will not be required to accept any other title than that shown to be good by the record or abstract. This court has many times had occasion to affirm the doctrine announced in Campbell v. Harsh, supra. Anmerman v. Karnowski, 109 Okla. 156, 234 Pac. 774; Hausam v. Gray, 129 Okla. 13, 263 Pac. 109. This rule finds support in the. decisions from many other jurisdictions: Adkins v. Gillespie (Tex. Civ. App.) 189 S. W. 275; Brackenridge v. Claridge & Payne, 91 Tex. 534, 44 S. W.

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Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 637, 273 P. 363, 134 Okla. 278, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-scott-okla-1928.