Sarkeys v. Haas

1965 OK 83, 402 P.2d 894, 1965 Okla. LEXIS 346
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 25, 1965
Docket40627
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 1965 OK 83 (Sarkeys v. Haas) 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
Sarkeys v. Haas, 1965 OK 83, 402 P.2d 894, 1965 Okla. LEXIS 346 (Okla. 1965).

Opinion

IRWIN, Justice.

Defendant in error, Fielding D. Haas, referred to as plaintiff, commenced proceedings against S. J. Sarkeys, an individual, .and Sarkeys, Inc., a corporation, referred ■to as defendants, to recover attorney’s fee allegedly due him. Plaintiff’s action was predicated on the grounds that he had, at the request of defendants and each of them, commenced to perform and did perform professional services as an attorney in connection with an action pending against defendants in Dewey County, Oklahoma.

In addition to defendants’ challenge to fhe venue and jurisdiction of the Cleveland County District Court, several pleadings were filed by both parties. The cause was submitted to a jury and it returned a verdict for plaintiff.

Thereafter, plaintiff filed a motion to assess costs against defendants. In this motion plaintiff sought to assess as costs certain expenditures made by plaintiff in the prosecution of the action against defendants and his attorney fees. The trial court ordered part of plaintiff’s expenditures be assessed as costs against defendants and denied other costs which included plaintiff’s attorney fees.

Defendants filed a motion for a new trial which challenged the judgment rendered on the verdict of the jury and the trial court’s order assessing costs. Plaintiff filed a motion for a new trial challenging that portion of the trial court’s order which denied him an attorney’s fee in the prosecution of the instant action.

Plaintiff’s and defendants’ motions for new trials were overruled. Defendants perfected an appeal and plaintiff cross-appealed and seeks a new trial on the issue of attorney fees.

PROPOSITION I

Defendants contend that at the time of the commencement of the action, defendant Sarkeys was a resident of Oklahoma County; that the defendant corporation’s offices were in Oklahoma County; and as between Cleveland County and Oklahoma County, the venue was in Oklahoma County and not Cleveland County; that since plaintiff is suing for reasonable value of services rendered, and since the services were rendered in defending an action in Dewey County, venue of the present action would be limited to either Dewey County or Oklahoma County; and that the question of venue is a matter of jurisdiction and the question of venue having been raised, the motion to quash the service of summons should have been sustained and the cause dismissed because the trial court was with- ■ out jurisdiction.

*897 Without question, the agreement for the employment of plaintiff to perform the legal services was entered into in Cleveland County. This was the testimony of plaintiff and the same was not denied by Sar-keys. One witness, who said he was in charge of defendants’ operations, admitted that Sarkeys consented to the employment of plaintiff in defendants’ offices located in Cleveland County.

Therefore, the question of venue can be resolved by determining the following issue: “Where an attorney enters into an agreement with a corporation and an individual in Cleveland County for the attorney to defend an action pending against the corporation and the individual in Dewey County, and the corporation subsequently moves its offices to Oklahoma County and the individual moves to Oklahoma County, does the Cleveland County Court have venue of an action brought for recovery of the attorney’s fees under the agreement of employment against the corporation and individual where service of summons are had in Oklahoma County and the corporation and individual challenge the venue of the Cleveland County Court?”

Title 12 O.S.1961, § 154, provides that where the action is rightly brought in any county, a summons shall be issued to any other county against any one or more of the defendants, at the plaintiff’s request. Therefore, if the present action was rightly brought against the corporate defendant in Cleveland County, the Cleveland County Court had venue of the action and jurisdiction over the corporate and individual defendants.

Title 12 O.S.1961, § 134, provides that “An action, * * * against a corporation * * * may be brought * * * in the county where the cause of action or some part thereof arose.”

In American Body & Trailer Co. v. Higgins, 195 Okl. 349, 156 P.2d 1005, the case of Consolidated Fuel Co. v. Gunn, 89 Okl. 73, 213 P. 750, was cited with approval. In the Consolidated case this Court held that “ * * * [Wjhere the plaintiff gave an order in Canadian County to a traveling salesman of the defendant, a domestic corporation, which order was approved at the home office of the corporation in the city of Muskogee, Muskogee county, by letter, said order and letter of confirmation constituting the contract by the terms of which the defendant sold to the plaintiff 60 cars of coal to be delivered f. o. b. the cars at the mines of the defendant in Okmulgee county, that, in an action by plaintiff for damages for breach of the contract of sale for failure to deliver the coal, the venue of such action was in Muskogee or Okmulgee county, and not in Canadian county.”

In the body of the opinion, it was pointed out that venue was in Muskogee County because the contract became an effective agreement in that county and that “It was there that the primary right of the plaintiff came into existence and the duty and obligations of the defendant became fixed toward the plaintiff.”

Whether venue of the present action could have been in Oklahoma County or Dewey County is not an issue but we are only concerned as to whether venue was in Cleveland County. Since the agreement for the contract of employment was made in Cleveland County the primary right of the plaintiff came into existence and the duty and the obligations of the defendants became fixed in Cleveland County. It could not be said that this is not some part of the cause of action for it forms the basis for plaintiff’s cause of action. We therefore hold that the Cleveland County court had venue of the present action and the trial court did not err in overruling defendants’ motion to quash the service of summons and refusing to dismiss the action.

PROPOSITION II

Defendants contend the trial court committed error in admitting incompetent evidence which prevented defendants from having a fair trial.

One part of this contention relates to the introduction of testimony by plaintiff *898 of one attorney and the deposition of another attorney concerning the value of legal services rendered by plaintiff to defendants in the Dewey County case. The two attorneys were the opposing counsel in the Dewey County case.

Although there were some objections lodged against the testimony and the deposition, such objections do not relate to the error complained of in this appeal nor did defendants move that the testimony and deposition be stricken.

In Colorado Interstate Gas Company v. Lorenz, Okl., 330 P.2d 583, we held:

“This court will not consider alleged errors of the trial court as to admission or rejection of testimony unless such alleged errors appear in the record of the case, and objections were made thereto in the trial court.”

See also, Vol. 2, Oklahoma Digest — Appeal and Error, <®=3204(1).

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Bluebook (online)
1965 OK 83, 402 P.2d 894, 1965 Okla. LEXIS 346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sarkeys-v-haas-okla-1965.