Scarberry v. Carr

1977 OK 211, 571 P.2d 458, 1977 Okla. LEXIS 766
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 8, 1977
DocketNo. 50341
StatusPublished

This text of 1977 OK 211 (Scarberry v. Carr) 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
Scarberry v. Carr, 1977 OK 211, 571 P.2d 458, 1977 Okla. LEXIS 766 (Okla. 1977).

Opinion

BARNES, Justice:

This action was brought by Plaintiffs-Appellants pursuant to 11 O.S.1971, § 530, to correct the plat of Carr Acres Third Addition (Carr Third) to the Town of Newcastle, McClain County, Oklahoma, which plat Appellants contended contained an error in the legal description. The Appellants all own lots within the addition, and the Appellees own all of the remaining lots in said addition, except the Appellee, Town of Newcastle, which was made a party pursuant to 11 O.S.1971, § 531, since the correction would affect a public street, and except the Appel-lees, J. L. Carr, Jr., individually and as Administrator of the Estate of James L. Carr, deceased, and of Norma F. Carr, deceased, Bruce Carr and Margaret Griffiths, who are the heirs at law and legal representatives of the original platters of said addition, who are now both deceased.

Appellee, Town of Newcastle, filed its answer admitting the allegations of the Appellants’ petition and joined the Appellants in requesting that the plat of Carr Third be corrected.

Appellees, J. L. Carr, Jr., individually and as Administrator of the Estate of James L. Carr, deceased, and of Norma F. Carr, deceased, Bruce Carr and Margaret Griffiths, filed an answer neither admitting nor denying the ownership of lots within Carr Third (Appellees later in Answers to Request for Admissions specifically admitted such ownership), and specifically denying that there was error in the plat of Carr Third.

In addition, Appellees filed a Cross-Petition containing three causes of action. The first cause of action was for reasonable damages against the owners of Lots 15 through 28, Carr Third, for wrongful possession and taking of lands belonging to Appellees. The second and third causes of action sought to cancel and/or reform a certain correction deed executed and delivered to Appellee, Eugene C. Dobbs, also known as Gene Dobbs.

Appellants’ Reply and Answer to the Cross-Petition of Appellees alleged that the titles of the Appellants and Appellee-own-ers were all deraigned from warranty deeds given by James L. Carr and Norma F. Carr, and that by reason of the warranties of title contained in said deeds the Appellees were legally and equitably estopped to claim any interest in the property of the Appellants and other Appellee-owners.

The following facts appear to be undisputed. On or about April 23, 1971, James L. Carr and Norma F. Carr, both now deceased, dedicated and platted Carr Third, as shown by the recorded plat thereof in Book 368, page 413, of the public records of McClain County, Oklahoma. The lots and streets of Carr Third, as constructed, developed and laid out on the surface, do not correspond to the location shown on the recorded plat. There is no vacant 160-foot strip of ground between Carr Third and Carr Acres Second Addition, notwithstanding that the recorded plats reflect existence of such a strip. The plat of Carr Third overlaps the plat of Carr Acres Fourth Addition. There is no satisfactory way to correct the physical location of the lots and streets of Carr Third to correspond to the recorded plat thereof since there is no vacant land available on either the east or west side thereof.

Prior to trial, Appellants filed a Motion for Judgment on Uneontroverted Facts, supported with an Affidavit of- Roger Mayes, the County Surveyor of McClain County, stating he had resurveyed the area covered by the plat of Carr Third and determined the recorded plat did not correspond to the location of the addition as actually developed and laid out on the surface of the ground. He further stated that the plat of Carr Third described the point of beginning at a point 661.75 feet South and 1160 feet West of the Northeast Corner of the NWVi of Section 15, Township 9 North, Range 4 West, but, in truth and in fact, the point of [460]*460beginning of said addition is located at a point 661.75 feet South and 1000 feet West of the Northeast corner of the NEVi of Section 15. Affiant stated that in the process of his resurvey he was able to locate some surveying pins that were already in place and which corresponded to his findings, and at the point of 1000 feet section line is located a surveying pin which had a red flag upon it. Based upon the color of the flag, he stated it had been there for some period of time, but he had no personal knowledge as to who placed it there, other than it was a surveying pin. Affiant stated that if the court would order the recorded plat corrected by this 160 feet it would correspond to the location of the addition as developed and constructed on the surface and that the plat would then not overlap Carr Acres Fourth Addition. It was Affi-ant’s opinion that the erroneous call in the plat resulted from either a scrivener’s error or from a mismeasurement of the actual distance on the ground.

Both parties submitted briefs to the court. The day prior to trial, November 3, 1976, the Trial Court overruled Appellants’ Motion for Judgment on Uncontroverted Facts.

The matter came on for trial November 4, 1976. Appellants offered the testimony of three witnesses, including Roger Mayes, whose testimony was not completely taken, but was stipulated to by the parties and followed generally the statements made in his affidavit.

Loretta Fancher, Town Clerk of the Town of Newcastle, Oklahoma, testified she was familiar with the location of the houses in Carr Acres Second and Third Additions and that there was no vacant 160-foot strip between the additions as laid out on the surface. The same testimony was given by Bobby Joe Scarberry, owner of Lot 3 in Carr Acres Third Addition. Appellees offered no evidence, but demurred to the evidence of the Appellants. The Trial Court sustained the demurrer on the basis that it was not established that the plat was erroneously placed at 1160 feet, and stated:

“Alright, gentlemen, this is what I believe is going to happen in this matter. The plat will be reformed. There is no question in my mind but what that plat will be reformed. I don’t believe that I have received enough evidence to do it either under that statute or in equity. I believe that enough evidence is available to do it in equity, and I don’t believe that any of you all have got the witnesses here to establish an equity case today, and, I don’t believe any of you have got witnesses here to establish values and that is why I don’t believe you are prepared to proceed on the damages issue and I know that I am not prepared.”

The Trial Court made no ruling on the Cross-Petition, but suggested that to expedite the matter on appeal the case should be tried independently of the statute, 11 O.S. 1971, § 530, infra. No motion for new trial was filed. This appeal followed.

Subsequent to the filing of Appellants’ Petition in Error in this Court, several of the Appellees, Billy J. Stow and Mary R. Stow, husband and wife, and Appellee, Town of Newcastle, Oklahoma, filed Confessions of Error in this Court, confessing error by the Trial Court and consenting to a reversal by this Court and entry of a judgment correcting the plat of Carr Third, or remand for a new trial.

On appeal, Appellants urge that the Trial Court erred in overruling their Motion for Judgment on Uncontroverted Facts, erred in sustaining Appellees’ demurrer to the evidence of the Appellants, and that the Trial Court’s judgment is contrary to law.

Appellants brought their action pursuant to 11 O.S.1971, § 530, which provides as follows:

“The district court shall have the jurisdiction to correct city and town plats and plats of additions thereto.

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Related

Arnold v. Hanson
204 P.2d 97 (California Court of Appeal, 1949)
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Bluebook (online)
1977 OK 211, 571 P.2d 458, 1977 Okla. LEXIS 766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scarberry-v-carr-okla-1977.