Serrato v. Hopkins

1925 OK 405, 238 P. 479, 113 Okla. 54, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 872
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 19, 1925
Docket15119
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1925 OK 405 (Serrato v. Hopkins) 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
Serrato v. Hopkins, 1925 OK 405, 238 P. 479, 113 Okla. 54, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 872 (Okla. 1925).

Opinion

CLARK, J.

The parties herein will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

On the 28th day of August, 1922, the plaintiff began this action by filing his petition in the district court of Grady county, Okla., alleging ownership in fee of certain lands in Grady county; and alleging further that on the 30th day of June, 1922, there was filed for record a certain pretended royalty deed purporting to convey to the defendant, W. A. Hopkins, the royalty rights and interest of the plaintiff in and to the oil and *55 gas and other mineral rights on and under the land described in said deed. The plaintiff further alleged that the pretended royalty deed was a forgery, made without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff, and that said pretended royalty deed, being so recorded, is a cloud upon the title, and he prays judgment canceling said deed and quieting title in plaintiff.

To this the defendant filed his answer, admitting. that the royalty deed had been placed of record, and alleging that said royalty deed was a valid and sufficient conveyance and conveyed to the defendant one-eighth of all the oil and gas and other minerals in and under the lands described in plaintiff’s petition. To this answer plaintiff replied, denying the validity of the royalty deed, and alleging that if such deed was valid it would be effective only for the purpose of conveying to said defendant a one-eighth part of such royalties as are reserved to plaintiff under outstanding oil and gas leases on the premises.

Upon the. issues so made, the cause went to trial before the court on the 7th day of July, 1923. The court after hearing the cause made its findings of fact in favor of the defendant, and upon such findings entered judgment against the plaintiff and in favor of the defendant, quieting the title of the defendant in a one-eighth royalty interest claimed by the defendant in the lands in controversy. A motion for a new trial was filed and by the count overruled, and the case is now here upon appeal for review.

Various assignments of error are made, the first two of which are as follows:

“(1) That the judgment of the court is contrary to the uncontradieted evidence and is not sustained by sufficient evidence.
“(2) Judgment of the court is against the clear weight of evidence in said cause.”

The royalty deed in question appears to have been dated on the 15th day of May, 1922, and acknowledged before Arthur Ersland, notary public, the 15th day of May, 1922, and recorded in the office of the county clerk the 30th day of June, 1922, the original of which is contained in the case-made for our inspection.

It is the contention of the plaintiff that he never signed or acknowledged said roy-alty deed, that he made no contract with the defendant conveying to him any interest in the land described in said royalty deed.

The notary public who took the purported acknowledgment testified as follows:

“Q. Did you live in Ohickasba in May, 1922? A. Xes, sir. Q. Were you a notary public duly commissioned and acting in Grady county at that time? A. Xes, sir. Q. Some time in May or June, 1922, Mr. Ersland, did Mir. Hopkins present to you as a notary public a purported royalty deed of any kind? A. Why, he presented it in blank; yes, sir. Q. What do you mean by ‘in blank?’ A. Well, he just got it of the printer, you see, and I filled it out on the typewriter for him. Q. Xou filled ou!t the form on the typewriter for him? A. Xes, sir. Q. Had anybody signed that royalty deed? A. No, sir. Q. Was there any signature on it? A. No, sir. Q. Did you put a certificate of acknowledgment on there? A. Xes. Q. Who did you certify appealed before you and acknowledged it? A. Well, there was nobody then. Q. I know, but in your certificate as notary, you certified that someone appeared before you and acknowledged the execution. A. Xes. Q. Who did you certify appeared before you? A. Well, the best I can remember is Gregorio Serrato. Q. Gregorio Serrato? A. Gregorio. Q. Xou say you filled the instrument out, the body of it, and the acknowledgment? A. Xes. Q. And then put this acknowledgment there? A. Xes. Q. Sealed it up? A. Xes. Q. Was Gregorio Serrato, Mexican Joe, there? A. No. Q. He didn’t appear before yiou ait all? A. No. Q. Was his signature, any signature, on this instrument at that time? A. No. Q. At any time after that, did Gregorio Serrato, or Mexican Joe, appear before you and acknowledge the execution of that instrument? A. Not that I remember of. Q. Did you ask him about it after that? A. Xes. Q. Did he deny signing it or admit signing it? A. He denied it.”

On cross-examination the notary testified as follows:

“A. Xes, I happened to meet him on the street and I said, ‘Joe, did you sell any of your lease?’ He said, ‘No/ I said, ‘Did you sell your royalty?’ He says, ‘No.’ I says, ‘Didn’t Bill Hopkins buy some of it?’ And he says, ‘No/ fío I thouught, well, the thing had been torn up, and that was all there was. to it; so I never paid any further attention to it at that time. Q. When did you see him the next time about it? A. The next time. I don’t remember the date, but be was running the restaurant on South See- and, and I went down there. I had a man with me, and I thought I would go down and see if he wouldn’t acknowledge it, and we went down to see him, but I don’t know the date of that; that was after the well came in. Q. What did he say about it then? A. Well, he denied it absolutely.”

The notary further testified that he had seen plaintiff’s signature twice, or had taken his acknowledgment to two different instruments, and that he thought he knew plaintiff’s signature, and that he supposed *56 the signature on the purported deed was plaintiff’s.

The notary was not qualified to testify as to the signature of the plaintiff, for the reason he admitted that he did not know his signature. To the question, “As a matter of fact, you don’t feel like you are qualified to testify as to his signature?” the answer was, “I wouldn’t hardly want to say about that.” And to the question, “Now, I hand you this exhibit No. 5; I will ask you if this is his signature?” the answer was, “It looks like it as far as I know.” All of this testimony was clearly incompetent, for the reason the witness was not qualified to testify as to the signature #of the plaintiff.

Exhibit No. 6 being the royalty deed in question and exhibit No. 5 being an oil and gas lease purported to be executed by Gregorda Oerraito to R. N. McClure, it is clear from the record that exhibit No. 5 was not properly admitted in evidence, for the reason that there was no proof that the plaintiff executed the same, or that the signature appearing thereon was the signature of the plaintiff. In fact, the plaintiff emphatically denied the execution of said instrument. And the instrument could have been admitted in evidence for no purpose except the comparison of the signature on said exhibit with the deed in question.

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1937 OK 382 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1937)
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Bluebook (online)
1925 OK 405, 238 P. 479, 113 Okla. 54, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/serrato-v-hopkins-okla-1925.