O'Neal v. Harper

1937 OK 628, 75 P.2d 879, 182 Okla. 52, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 232
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 2, 1937
DocketNo. 27397.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1937 OK 628 (O'Neal v. Harper) 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
O'Neal v. Harper, 1937 OK 628, 75 P.2d 879, 182 Okla. 52, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 232 (Okla. 1937).

Opinion

HURST, J.

This is an action by Mrs. M. C. O’Neal to cancel and set aside a mineral deed convejnng an undivided one-half interest in the oil and gas royalty covering approximately 110 acres owned by plaintiff. The deed bears date January 5, 1935, and the defendant, W. R. Harper, was the grantee.

Plaintiff in her petition alleged that the defendant made certain misrepresentations regarding the value of her land for oil and gas purposes and 'agreed to pay her $110 for one-half interest in the royalty, but that upon execution and delivery of the deed the defendant gave plaintiff a check for the sum of $55 and before she could protest, he left the premises. It is further alleged that plaintiff still holds s'aid check and tenders same to defendant. Plaintiff then seeks a cancellation upon the .ground of fraud and misrepresentation and inadaquacy of consideration. Defendant answered denying all the allegations of plaintiff’s petition and alleged that $55 was the true consideration for the deed.

The testimony was conflicting throughout. Plaintiff testified that the defendant came to her home accompanied by one J. W. Fondren for the purpose of buying the royaltjr on her 110-acre farm, that after some negotiations they agreed to pay $110 for an undivided one-half interest, that the defendant and Fondren left the premises and returned the next day with a 'deed prepared and took the plaintiff and her husband to the town of Tipton, where the deed was acknowledged. She testified that they then returned to her home, and the following took place, to use her own langu'age:

“Well, we all got out and went in and we lit the lamp, and he (defendant) said, ‘Oh,’ he said, T guess I better pay you.’ So he wrote the cheek out at the table and handed it to this little boy of mine, this little grandson of mine, and he (the grandson) turned around and handed it to me. But before he handed it to the child he> stood there and held it a good while. And before he handed it to me, Mr. Harper got up and walked over towards the door, and the child handled the check to me. And I said, ‘Why, my goodness, this check is surely not right; it is not but for $55, and I thought it was supposed to be for $110.’ 1-Ie said, T never bought but a half interest in it.’ He said, ‘Fifty-five acres, fifty-five dollars would be that.’ I s'aid— My husband spoke up, ‘Gentlemen, that’s not right; she is not satisfied.’ Said, ‘That’s not right; we were supposed to satisfy her’.”

She then stated that Fondren said, “Come on, Harper, let’s go,” and they left; that she did not cash this check and tenders it into court. This testimony was corroborated by plaintiff’s husband.

The circumstances surrounding the physical delivery of the deed to the defendant are not shown. Plaintiff’s husband testified 'it was left with a notary public when the acknowledgment was taken, but the defendant testified he took it with him. The plaintiff’s grandson testified that he delivered the chec-k to plaintiff as she had stated, but upon cross-examination said that it was a newspaper and not a check which he handed plaintiff. Defendant’s testimony was that he agreed to pay $1 an acre for the roy'alty, and he flatly denied that plaintiff had made any objection 'to the amount of the check when he gave it to her. J. W. Fondren, who was interested in the transaction, corroborated the testimony of the defendant.

At the close of the trial the court made the following oral statement in part:

“In my.opinion, there is no fraud here to justify the rescission of this contract. Now, the other part presents a question more difficult to the court; that is, whether or not the minds of the parties met and whether or not there is a contract. * * * Now, I don’t agree with the plaintiff’s attorney that the minds of the parties didn’t meet. The minds of the parties did meet. In this action, plaintiffs intended to sell one-half the royalty on that 110 acres and the defendants intended to buy it. Now, there might be some misunderstanding as to the purchase price. *54 That wag the only thing left. * * * But it appears to me here there was an intent, that the minds of the parties met. And the plaintiff’s own testimony shows that the minds of the p'arties met on the sale of one-half of the royalty. That’s agreed by both parties. They evidently agreed on that. The plaintiff says they were to pay $1 an acre for a one-half interest in 110 acres; and I think the plaintiff thought that and that was the contract they made.
“And it will be the order and judgment of the court that the sale will be set aside ‘unless the ■ defendants immediately pay the balance of that purchase price. And the costs will be attached against the defendants.”

The court in its journal entry in favor of the defendant made the following finding:

“Second. The court further finds from the evidence th'at it was the understanding of the plaintiff that she was to receive $110 for the royalty conveyed by her to the defendant, and that it was the understanding of the defendant that he was to. pay the sum of $55 for the royalty conveyed in s'aid royalty deed.”

Plaintiff appealed to this court and filed her brief presenting the propositions that there was no meeting of the minds, no delivery, and that the court made 'a new contract for the parties which it was powerless to do, and further argument in favor of certain other assignments of error. Thereafter, by order of this court, the case-made was returned to the trial court, and the finding set out above replaced by the following finding:

“Second. The cdurt further finds from the evidence that the plaintiff and defendant agreed upon a consideration of $110 for the royalty conveyed by the plaintiff to the defendant, that $llo was the agreed consideration for the royalty deed involved in this suit, that upon a basis of said consideration of $110, the contract was made, that the defendant has paid on Jan. 5, 1935, to the plaintiff one-half thereof, or $55, and that the defendant should be required to pay immediately the remaining one-half thereof, to wit: the sum of $55, to the plaintiff. * * *”

In all other respects, the corrected journal entry was the same as the original one.

The defendant thereafter filed his brief, and. taking no exception to the plaintiff’s proposition that the meeting of tha minds is essential to the validity of a contract, asserts that the finding in the corrected journal entry was not against the clear weight of the evidence. Without discussing the other proposition raised by plaintiff and controverted by defendant, we must first determine whether there was mutual assent of the parties in making this conveyance.

The first consideration is whether this question can be adjudicated by this court, inasmuch as the petition contained no allegations regarding mutuality. Defendant contends that plaintiff is attempting to prosecute her appeal upon a different theory than that upon which the case was tried, contrary to the holding in Cooke v. Southwest Petroleum Co. (1936) 177 Okla. 458, 61 P. (2d) 16, but the trial court made a finding on this issue, and as there was no objection to the introduction of the testimony regarding the amount that plaintiff thought she was to receive and the defendant thought he was to pay, it was proper to treat the petition as amended to conform to the facts proved. Newman v. Kirk (1933) 161 Okla. 147, 23 P. (2d) 163.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mooneyham v. BRSI, LLC
682 F. App'x 655 (Tenth Circuit, 2017)
People v. Syrie
101 P.3d 219 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2004)
Scrivner v. Sonat Exploration Co.
242 F.3d 1288 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
Watkins v. Grady County Soil & Water Conservation District
1968 OK 24 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1968)
Dennis v. American-first Title & Trust Co.
405 P.2d 993 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1965)
Dennis v. AMERICAN-FIRST TITLE AND TRUST COMPANY
1965 OK 129 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1965)
Sarber v. Harris
1962 OK 4 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1962)
Cloud v. Winn
1956 OK 267 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1956)
Bond v. Chalfant
1949 OK 161 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1949)
Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. v. Russell
173 F.2d 620 (Tenth Circuit, 1949)
Harrell v. Nash
1942 OK 369 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1942)
J. P. C. Petroleum Corp. v. Vulcan Steel Tank Corp.
118 F.2d 713 (Tenth Circuit, 1941)
Maynard v. Taylor
1939 OK 225 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Ramsey Petroleum Corporation v. Davis
1938 OK 659 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Continental Insurance v. Portwood
1938 OK 567 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1937 OK 628, 75 P.2d 879, 182 Okla. 52, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneal-v-harper-okla-1937.