Pfister v. Johnson

1935 OK 824, 49 P.2d 174, 173 Okla. 541, 102 A.L.R. 31, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 483
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 17, 1935
DocketNo. 20760.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1935 OK 824 (Pfister v. Johnson) 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
Pfister v. Johnson, 1935 OK 824, 49 P.2d 174, 173 Okla. 541, 102 A.L.R. 31, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 483 (Okla. 1935).

Opinions

OSBORN, Y. O. J.

On! February 21, 1922, the district court of Tulsa county rendered a judgment in an action pending in said court wherein one Ida Johnson was plaintiff and Tulsa Drew, a minor, was defendant, quieting title to certain real property situated in Tulsa county. On September 27, 1929, Tulsa Pfister, nee Drew, defendant in sa'id action, appealed from said judgment by petition in error and transcript of the record. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The petition in error recites that prior to her marriage defendant’s name (was Tulsa Drew; that she attained her majority on September 14, 1929; that the petition filed against her in the district court on October 21, 1921, alleged that plaintiff therein, Ida Johnson, was the owner and in possession of the property therein involved; that her title was derived through the sale of said property by the administrator of the estate of Emma Drew, deceased; that defendant was the sole heir of Emma Drew and was a minor under the age of 14 years; that one Earl Sneed was her guardian; that said land :was sold under the order of the county court of Tulsa county to one Rachel Perry-man ; that through a series of conveyances plaintiff became the owner thereof, and prayed that her title be quieted and that defendant be adjudged to. have no right or title therein.

The petition in error further recites that Earl Sneed was appointed guardian ad litem to represent defendant in said action; that he filed an answer which did not conform to the requirements of' the statute; that thereafter 'a journal entry of judgment was entered quieting title in plaintiff, but the judgment was vacated and the guardian directed to file an answer In conformity with the provisions of the statutes of Oklahoma. Thereafter an answer' :was- filed by Earl Sneed as guardian ad litem in which he denied each and every allegation in the petition prejudicial to the interests of the minor defendant. The cause was advanced upon the docket of the district court and on February 21, 192-2, a judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff and against defendant quieting title to said property.

When the petition in error was filed in this court an order was made directing the sheriff of Tulsa county to serve upon the defendant in error a writ of scire facias ad audiendum errores. On October 8, 1929, the return of the sheriff was filed showing service thereof upon the said defendant in error. An examination thereof discloses that it is sufficient to notify the defendant in error that said appeal had been- filed in this court.

We '.will consider first a motion to dismiss the appeal, filed by defendant in error. This involves a construction of certain statutes hereinafter set forth.

Section 547, O. S. 1931, provides:

“All proceedings for reversing, vacating or modifying judgments or final orders shall be commenced within six months from the rendition of the judgment o>r final order complained of; Provided, that in case the person entitled to such proceeding be an infant, a person of unsound mind or imprisoned, such person shall have si¿ months, exclusive of the time of such disability, to commence proceedings.”

In connection with the above statute, see Tinker v. Scharnhorst, 129 Okla. 118, 263 P. 645; Sawyer v. Ware, 36 Okla. 139, 128 P. 273, and Cudjo v. Harris, 119 Okla. 69, 248 P. 343. The right of a minor to appeal to this court within six months after reaching his majority is expressly granted by statute and recognized by these and other authorities.

Defendant in error contends, however, that the right of appeal in’ this case is lost to the defendant for failure to comply with the provisions of section 531, O. S. 1931, enacted as chapter 219, Session Laws 1917, the material portions thereof being as follows:

“Sec. 1. That section 5238, Revised Laws of 1910, be and the same is hereby repealed and the following enacted in place thereof:
“Sec. 5238. The proceedings to obtain such reversal, vacation or modification shall be by petition in error filed in the Supreme Court setting forth the error complained of; *543 but no summons in error shall b,e required, and the party desiring to appeal shall give notice in open court, either at the time the judgment is rendered, or within ten days thereafter, of his intentions to appeal to the Supreme Court. If said judgment shall be rendered within less than ten days of the expiration of any term of the court from which an appeal is to be taken, such notice may be given within ten days after the rendition of such judgment, and such notice of an intention to appeal shall be entered by the clerk of the court on the trial docket of said court. Upon the giving of such notice and entering the same on trial docket, all parties of record in the court from which such appeal is to be taken shall become parties to the appeal in the Supreme Court, and no further notice shall be required to be served upon them of such appeal, and no appeal shall be dismissed by the appellate courts of this state because any party in the court below is not made a party to the appeal, but such notice above provided and showing intention to appeal shall automatically make all parties of record in lower court parties in the appellate court.
“It shall not be necessary for the party appealing, to serve the case-made for such appeal on any party to the fiction who did not appear at the trial and take part in the proceedings from which the appeal is taken, or ,who shall have filed a disclaimer in the trial court; nor shall it be necessary to make any such person a party to the petition in error. Provided, that any party so omitted from the proceedings in error, who was a party to the action in the trial court, may be made a party plaintiff or defendant in the action in the Supreme Court upon such terms as the court may direct, upon its appearing that he might be affected by the reversal of the judgment or order from which the appeal was taken, with the right to be heard therein the same as other parties.”

Prior to the enactment of the above statute and under the provisions of section 5238, R. I/. 1910, which was expressly repealed, summons in error was required to be issued out of this court and served on the defendant in error. Since the enactment of the above statute summons in error is no longer required and the giving of notice within ten days after the rendition of the judgment is sufficient notice of appeal. It has been said that by the provisions of chapter 219, supra, summons in error .was abolished. Kershaw v. Board of Com’rs of Muskogee County, 135 Okla. 302, 275 P. 621.

■It has been repeatedly held that where a party desiring to appeal fails to give notice in open court either at the time the judgment is rendered or within ten days thereafter of his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court, this court acquires no jurisdiction and the appeal will be dismissed. Setzer v. Moore, 164 Okla. 70, 22 P. (2d) 998; Cruse v. Murphy, 153 Okla. 169, 5 P. (2d) 147; Chase v. Byrnes, 147 Okla. 118, 294 P. 786; Milliken v. Clark, 146 Okla. 55, 293 P. 186; Oliver v. Kelly, 129 Okla. 121, 263 P. 649.

It does not appear that in any of the above cases the party desiring to appeal was under disability at the time the judgment of the trial court was rendered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1935 OK 824, 49 P.2d 174, 173 Okla. 541, 102 A.L.R. 31, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pfister-v-johnson-okla-1935.