Morin v. Jeter

1926 OK 764, 249 P. 710, 121 Okla. 262, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 131
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 28, 1926
Docket17174
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1926 OK 764 (Morin v. Jeter) 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
Morin v. Jeter, 1926 OK 764, 249 P. 710, 121 Okla. 262, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 131 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

BRANSON, V. 0. J.

The position of thd parties in this court are the same as in the trial court. Ola Morin sued R. C. Jeter to recover a sum o1~ money alleged to be due her as a part of the selling price of a part Of the land allotted to her as a citizen by blood of the Choctaw Nation.

On June 3, 1924, she obtained a judgment in the district court, the Hon. George Grump, judge. presiding. He had been duly assigned to Pontotoc county. The~ following day the defendant filed a motion for a new trial under section 572, C. O. 3. 1921. This motion was not disposed of until the Hon. George Crump was again assigned at a later date, to said county. On February 16, 1925. the said motion for a new trial was overruled, to which the defendant excepted and gave notice as required by the statute of his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court of this state, and secured an extension of time to make and serve the case-made, but did not perfect his appeal from the order so entered on said Febru *263 ary 16, 1925. On the contrary, the defendant on April 2, 1925, filed a motion for new trial on the alleged ground of newly discovered evidence, which was not heard until October 12, 1925, when the Honorable •George Crump was again assigned to said county to hold court. On hearing the same the court overruled the said motion on the ground of newly discovered evidence and in so doing expressly found:

“That said motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence should be overruled for the reason that the evidence offered in support thereof is only cumulative and ¡impeaching in its nature.”

On entry of that order, notice was given by the defendant of his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court of the state, and he caused the said notice to be entered upon the trial docket and secured an extension of time to make and serve case-made 30 days from the said 12th day of October.

Thereafter, the Honorable A. C. Barrett was assigned to the said county of Pontotoc to hold court, and was so holding court on the 30th day of October, 1925, when the defendant caused to be presented to the said A. C. Barrett a motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence which incorporated in substance the same alleged newly discovered evidence as that presented to the said Honorable George Crump on October 12th theretofore. The motion further incorporated a prayer that the order of the Honorable George Crump of October 12th denying and overruling a motion on the ground of newly discovered evidence be vacated. A further ground was incorporated in this motion to the effect—

“That the evidence both at the trial of this cause and on the said motion for new trial was taken by Mr. A. F. Hall, the stenographer or court reporter of the judge who tried the cause, and that just a day or two, or as this pleader remembered, almost three days after said motion had been overruled, the attorney of the defendant wrote the trial judge asking that he have his stenographer make case-made; having failed to hear from either the judge or his court reporter, on or about the 25th day of October. 1925, the attorney for this defendant made diligent inquiry and finally learned the name of the said court reporter and called him over the telephone to know if he were making the desired case-made. The said court reporter replied that he had not received any order for a case-made nor had the fact that same had- been requested 'through the trial judge been com--munieated to him, and further stated that it would be impossible for him under the circumstances to make a ease-made within the time allowed; that it is therefore impossible for this defendant to appeal this case because it was" impossible to get the ease-made prepared within the time allow-1 ed by the trial court and' he is entitled to a new trial because of the impossibility of making case-made-.”

This motion was filed on October 30th, as said supra, and on the same date was presented to the said Honorable A. O. Barrett, and on the same date was granted. The order made by the Honorable George Crump on October 12th was vacated and set aside and this last motion for a new trial was sustained and thereby the judgment render-ed July 3, 1924, or -nearly 16 months theretofore, was vacated, set aside, and held for naught. No notice of any kind or character was given to the plaintiff or counsel for plaintiff that this last motion would be presented to the Honorable A. O. Barrett. On the following day, having been informed of this action, the plaintiff filed her except tions to the action of the court and notice of appeal to this court, also filed motion to vacate the order, which was denied. So it is apparent that her appeal here draws in question the right, propriety, power, and jurisdiction of the said Honorable A. C. Barrett to enter the order of October 30, 1925.

It is section 576, C. O. S. 1921, which authorizes the granting of a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence after the term at which the decision or judgment was rendered. The statute expressly provides that the motion shall not be filed later than the second term after the discovery of the alleged new evidence. It must be noted that the first motion on the ground of newly discovered evidence was filed April. 2, 1925. It is asserted by the defendant to have been within the term at which the former motion for new trial had been overruled, February 16. 1925. So certainly at the time of the discovery of the alleged new evidence the April term of the district court had not begun to run. The motion does not show when the alleged new evidence was in fact discovered. It may have been immediately after the trial in June, 1924. The terms of court are fixed by section 3072, C. O. S. 1921, and at that time the October term was still running. The second term of the said alleged new evidence was pleaded by the .first; such motion began on the first Monday of April and ended on the first Monday of October. The motion which was sustained on the ground of newly discovered evidence was filed October 20, 1925, which was during tl • *264 third term of the court after the discovery of the alleged new evidence had been pleaded, and may have been in fact many terms thereafter. So, under the statute which would permit the filing of the motion here drawn in question, there was no authority of law to file the same at the time it was filed and acted upon by the said Honorable A. O. Barrett. As a matter of law there was nothing before him on which he could vacate the judgment rendered July 3, 1924.

Again, we find this a novel occurrence in Oklahoma jurisprudence. To recapitulate: The motion for new trial under section 572 had been overruled on February 16, 1925, by the judge who tried the ease. Said sec-' tion provides in part:

“A new trial is a re-examination in the same court of an issue of fact after a verdict by a jury, the approval of the report of a referee or a decision by the court. * *

This section carries with it the clear import that the motion for a re-examination of the facts must be addressed to the court who tried the same except under circumstances not here presented. Section 576, C. O. S. 1921, which authorizes filing a motion on the ground of newly discovered evidence, clearly contemplates that the said motion shall be presented to the court presided over by the judge who tried the original action.

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Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 764, 249 P. 710, 121 Okla. 262, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morin-v-jeter-okla-1926.