Purdy v. Miller Hunter Co.

1923 OK 1165, 221 P. 490, 94 Okla. 209, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 507
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 18, 1923
Docket14571
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1923 OK 1165 (Purdy v. Miller Hunter Co.) 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
Purdy v. Miller Hunter Co., 1923 OK 1165, 221 P. 490, 94 Okla. 209, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 507 (Okla. 1923).

Opinion

Opinion by

PINKHAM, 0.

The controversy in this action grows out of a cross-petition died by' defendants in error, Miller Hunter Company, against plaintiffs in error, A. H. Purdy and A. J. Combs, who were defendants in an action wlierein Henry Hill sued the said A. H. Purdy and A. J. Combs and Miller Hunter • Company, in the district court of Creek county, for the cancellation of a tax deed and possession of certain land in which said action a .-judgment was rendered in said court in favor of the plaintiff Henry Hill, and against each of said, defendants canceling the tax deed and restoring the possession of the land involved to the said Henry Hill.

On March 22, 1921, the case was tried upon the issues presented by petition of the original plaintiff, Henry Hill, and the answers thereto of plaintiffs in error and defendants- in error, and after hearing the evidence the court held that the title under which Purdy and Combs claimed was illegal, and title to the land was quieted in plaintiff, Henry Hill, the tax title under-which Purdy and Combs claimed, and the oil and gas lease from them to these defendants in error, Miller Hunter Company, was canceled, set aside, and held for naught.

No appeal was taken from that judgment, so that the only question left for ‘ adjudication in the case was the question of whether these defendants in error. Miller Hunter Company, were entitled to recover of plaintiffs in error, under their cross-petition, the purchase money paid for the oil and gas lease in the sum of $1,000, with interest thereon, and $160 attorneys’ fees.

The answer to this crosis-petition on the part of the said Purdy and Combs admits the execution of the lease, the payment of the $1,000, and also admits “that said oil and gas lease contained a warranty of title by these defendants”, and then alleges that it was understood and "agreed 'between plaintiffs in error and these defendants in error that these defendants in error toofc the ■ lease subject to the validity of the tax title of plaintiffs in error; that these defendants in error would not hold plaintiffs in error responsible for said title, and further alleges that said oil and gas lease should he reformed and these defendants should be relieved from liability under said warranty, and that the lease should he so reformed as to exclude therefrom said warranty of title.

On the 23rd of March, 1921, plaintiffs in error, Purdy and Combs, filed a motion for a new trial. On the 2nd day of June, 1921, a judgment was rendered in favor of Miller Hunter Company upon their cross- • petition against the plaintiffs in error, I’ur-dy and Combs. On the 4th day of June, a motion for new trial in said action upon the judgment of .Tune 2, 1921, was filed. On November 3, 1921, the said motion for new trial was granted..

On December 5. 1921, Miller Hunter Company filed a petition to vacate order granting new trial.

On the 10th day of February, 1921. the trial court made an order finding the allegations as set forth in the petition of Miller Hunter Company, to vacate the order of November 3, 1921, to be true, and further found that, said order granting a new trial should he vacated, and therefore pronounced- judgment vacating said order, and ordering, adjudging and decreeing that the original judgment of June 2, 1921, in favor of Miller Hunter Company against Purdy and Combs be and remain in full force and effect, and in the same plight and- condition as if the order of the court pronounced herein, on November 3, 1921, granting said Purdy and Combs a new trial had been an order of that date, overruling and denying the motion for new trial. Exceptions were saved and the cause is here on appeal from the last mentioned judgment of the trial court.

The errors assigned are, first, that said judgment of February 10, 1923, was contrary to law, and was not supported W any testimony as to the amount due from the plaintiffs in error to the defendants in error; second, that said journal entry and judgment of February 10, 1923, was contrary to law in that the district court of Creek county, Okla., was without power and jurisdiction to set aside the judgment of said court -of November 3, 1921, by which a new trial was -granted upon the judgment of June 2, 1921; third, said order and judgment of February 10, 1923, was contrary to law in that the said court was without power and jurisdiction to reinstate said judgment of June 2, 1921, in favor of Miller Hunter Company against these plaintiffs! in error.

It is contended by counsel for plaintiffs in error that when the trial court has granted a new trial and vacated a judgment upon motion therefor, thereafter the order granting a new trial is conclusive and binding, and will not be disturbed except by a direct proceeding had for that purpose, that is, by exception and appeal; and further that the court would be without jurisdiction to entertain a motion to set aside the order by which a new trial was grant- *211 eel, but could- only, upon proper showing', correct the order granting a new trial, so as to make the same speak the truth.

. We do not question the soundness of this contention as a general proposition, and the eases cited to the effect that a judgment or order once regularly entered can be reviewed and set aside only in the modes prescribed ' by statute. Holtum v. Grief (Cal.) 78 Pac. 11.

•The facts of this case, however, are of such a character that the cases cited are not applicable. The judgment of the lower court canceling the title of plaintiffs .in error and the oil and gas lease of defendants in error was pronounced March 22, 1921, and on the following day plaintiffs in error filed their motion for a new trial.

The record discloses that on May 16, 1921, that motion for new trial was stricken from the files, because the suit had been settled as between, the original plaintiff, Henry Hill, and the defendants in that case, Pur-dy -and Combs. There is evidence in' the record that on that date, May 16, 1921, the plaintiff, Hill, paid the plaintiffs in error the amount of taxes and interest due them, and that an order was entered in the minutes kept by' the court clerk as follows:

“No. 8259, Henry Hill v. A. H. Purdy et al. Motion for new trial stricken from the flies, suit settled.”

It further appears that the court granted the motion for new trial on November 3, 1921, for the reason that it was not' at that time aware that thg. order of May 16, 1921, had been made striking that motion for new trial because the ease between the original plaintiff and Purdy and Combs had been settled. On December 6, 1921, the Miller Hunter Company, defendants in error, filed their petition to vacate that order of November 3, 1921. This petition sets out in detail all the proceedings, Orders, and judgments theretofore had in the case, and recited that the order of May 16, 1921, striking the motion of Purdy and Combs for new trial was done in the presence of counsel for Purdy and Combs, but not in the presence of these defendants or their counsel.

After hearing all the evidence and argument of counsel the court pronounced the judgment from which this appeal is taken ; that judgment, among other things, recites:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1923 OK 1165, 221 P. 490, 94 Okla. 209, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/purdy-v-miller-hunter-co-okla-1923.