Schuber v. McDuffee

1917 OK 507, 169 P. 642, 67 Okla. 160, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 376
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 30, 1917
Docket7068
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 1917 OK 507 (Schuber v. McDuffee) 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
Schuber v. McDuffee, 1917 OK 507, 169 P. 642, 67 Okla. 160, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 376 (Okla. 1917).

Opinion

HARDY, J.

This action w.as commenced in the district court of Alfalfa county by G. J. McDuffee against J. L. Blanchard, Nellie E. Blanchard, D. ,S. Schuber, and Rein-hard Meier to recover upon certain promissory notes executed by J. L. and Nellie E. Blanchard to Byron State Bank, and foreclosing a certain real .estate mortgage given 'to secure same, which notes and mortgage were duly assigned to M. A. Blanchard, and by him assigned to G. J. McDuffee prior to the filing of this suit. Defendants J. L. and Nellie F. Blanchard answered, admitting the execution and delivery of said notes and mortgage, and admitted the balance due thereon and prayed a foreclosure of said mortgage be had, and any deficiency after a sale of the property be made off defendants Schuber and. Meier. Defendants Schuber and Meier answered by way of general denial, and alleged that defendant J. L. Blanchard induced then to purchase said property by fraudulently misrepresenting its value; that the mortgage sued upon was not assigned for value; that plaintiff did- not purchase same for value or in due course; that the deed in which it was recited that the said defendant assumed the payment of said mortgage was not executed on the date alleged, but was, in fact, executed and delivered on a later date; .and that at the time J. L. and Nellie Blanchard procured the loan represented by said notes and mortgage they were officers and stockholders of said bank, and by reason thereof said loan was prohibited by law and the notes and mortgage were void. Plaintiff filed motion to strike certain portions of this answer and demurred thereto. The motion and demurrer were by the court sustained, whereupon defendants asked and were granted time to file amended answer, and thereafter, on August 10th, amended answer w.as filed, which, in substance, alleged the same matters set out in the original answer. Motion to strike portions of the amended answer and demurrer thereto *161 were filed, and by .agreement of parties the ruling of the court upon the motion and demurrer to the original answer was set aside and said motion and demurrer considered as filed -to the amended answer, and 'upon consideration were by the court sustained. The ruling on the motion to strike 'eliminated from the answer of defendants a portion of the allegations of fraud alleged to have been made by J-. L. Blanchard to induce said defendants to purchase said property, also the allegations that the notes and mortgage had not been assigned by the payee to M. A. Blanchard or by M. A. Blanchard to plaintiff for value, or that plaintiff was the holder for value, and also that portion alleging that the notes and mortgage were void because executed in violation of the banking laws of the átate. On the 21st of August, 1914, motion for judgment on pleadings was sustained, and judgment rendered for plaintiff for the amount claimed and decreeing the foreclosure of said mortgage, from which judgment defendants 'Schuber and Meier prosecute this appeal.

The judgment appealed from was rendered on the pleadings, and a motion for •new trial was neither essential nor proper, one! an assignment of error predicated thereon presents nothing for review. Dun v. Claunch, 15 Okla. 27, 78 Pac. 388.

When defendants .asked leave to file amended answer after motion and demurrer thereto were sustained, and in pursuance of the leave granted filed an amended answer, the error, if any, in the action of the court in sustaining the motion and demurrer to the original answer was waived. Wallace v. Blasingame, 53 Okla. 198, 155 Pac. 1143; Guess v. Reed, 49 Okla. 124, 152 Pac. 399; Campbell v. Thornburgh, 57 Okla. 231, 154 Pac. 574.

The judgment being rendered upon the motion therefor, the motion for judgment was in the nature of a demurrer, and had the effect otf testing the sufficiency of the pleadings and presenting to 'the court a question of law whether the facts alleged constituted a defense to the plaintiff’s action. Peck v. First Nat. Bank, 50 Okla. 252, 150 Pac. 1039.

If the amended answer set up any defense to plaintiff’s action, ox alleged any issuable fact which defendants were entitled •to have determined at the trial, the judgment of the court cannot be upheld. On -the contrary, if there was no fact in issue and no defense stated to -the plaintiff’s petition, -the ruling of the court was correct and the judgment should be affirmed. In support of ■the judgment, defendants in error contend that the answer admitted every essential fact necessary to establish, plaintiff’s cause of action, and -therefore there was nothing which plaintiff was required to prove. ,

The cause of action as Stated was one fox judgment upon certain promissory notes and for foreclosure of a mortgage given to secure the payment of same. The notes and mortgage w-ere executed by J. L. and Nellie Blanchard, and the property described therein had been conveyed by warranty deed to defendants, who assumed the payment of said indebtedness, as appears -by a recital in the deed of conveyance. Although the answer of defendants contained a general denial, this was qualified by other allegations therein contained, which had the effect of admitting the -execution and delivery 'of the notes and mortgage sued upon and of the deed, which contained a recital that the indebtedness secured -by said mortgage was assumed by said defendants. Pugh v. Stigler, 21 Okla. 854, 97 Pac. 566; Atkins v. Arnold, 32 Okla. 167, 121 Pac. 186; Long v. Shepard, 35 Okla. 489, 130 Pac. 131; De Groat v. Focht, 37 Okla. 267, 131 Pac. 172; Acton v. Culbertson, 38 Okla. 280, 132 Pac. 812; Chambers v. Kirk, 41 Okla. 696, 139 Pac 986.

It was alleged, in substance, that said defendants deny that on the 7th. day of April, 1913, the said J. L. and Nellie Blanchard executed and delivered to said defendants their warranty deed conveying said premises, hut that in tru-th and in fact said deed was made, executed, and delivered on the 27th, day of June, 1913. This allegation constituted a negative pregnant which admitted the execution and delivery of the deed in question, but denied that it was executed on the 7-th day of April, 1913. Spencer v. Turney & Co., 5 Okla. 683, 49 Pac. 1012; Barnum v. Kennedy, 21 Kan. 181.

The exact date of its execution was not a material issue. By admitting the execution 'of said deed they dispensed with proof thereof. St. L. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Lindsey, 39 Okla. 439, 135 Pac. 1053.

To avoid the legal effect of the admission that said deed had been executed an-d delivered, defendants 'attempted to set up three affirmative defenses; first of which was that they were fraudulently induced to purchase the mortgaged premises by defendant, J. L. Blanchard. The answer nowher-e alleges -that the Byron State Bank was a party to the alleged fraud, neither does it allege *162 that M. A. Blanchard or the plaintiff were parties thereto. The allegations of fraud relate to misrepresentations claimed to have been made by J. L. Blanchard, as owner of the mortgaged property, to defendants, as' prospective purchasers tU^retaf, respecting the value of the property. These alleged fraudulent misrepresentations had nothing to do with the execution of the notes and mortgage, but were made more than a year after toe had -been .executed. Whatever may have been the effect of these allegations as against defendant J. L.

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Bluebook (online)
1917 OK 507, 169 P. 642, 67 Okla. 160, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schuber-v-mcduffee-okla-1917.