Sneed v. Yarbrough

1933 OK 312, 23 P.2d 703, 164 Okla. 253, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 826
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 9, 1933
Docket20772
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1933 OK 312 (Sneed v. Yarbrough) 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
Sneed v. Yarbrough, 1933 OK 312, 23 P.2d 703, 164 Okla. 253, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 826 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

BUSBY, J.

The plaintiff in error, plaintiff below, prosecutes herein his second appeal in the same ease from a second judgment in favor of defendant in error, defendant below, in the trial court. For the sake of convenience, the parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The original action was commenced in the district court of Creek county, Okla., on March 30, 1922. Since it was instituted, two amended petitions have been filed. The second and last amended petition was filed in the trial court on the lltli day of September, 1928. This was after the opinion in this court dated March 15, 1926, 123 Okla. 17, 253 P. 40. Inasmuch as this second amended petition did not purport to adopt as a part thereof any of the allegations in the original petition, it constituted an abandonment thereof, and the ease went to trial the second time upon the second amended petition of the plaintiff, the answer thereto by the defendant, and the reply of the plaintiff.

The action as tried the second time from which this appeal is perfected, was in the nature of ejectment. In the second amended petition the plaintiff alleged, in substance, that he was a. citizen of the Creek Nation duly enrolled opposite Roll No. 10081 as a three-sixteenth Indian blood, and, that according to the enrollment record, he became 21 years of age a short time prior to June 27, 1913, and that as a citizen of the Creek Nation he received an allotment of land described as lot (3) and the N. W. 11.47 acres of lot (4) and the north 5.74 acres of the 8. W. 11.48 acres of lot (4) and the E. 20 acres of lot (4) and the S. E. of the S. W. all in sec. (7), twp. 14 north, range (9) east, situated in Creek county; that the plaintiff became and now is the owner of the legal and equitable estate in fee simple in and to the land above described by virtue of the allotment deed. The plaintiff also alleged that the defendant unlawfully and without right had kept the plaintiff out of possession of the land since the plaintiff had reached his majority, and that he was entitled to the immediate possession of the land described. Plaintiff prayed judgment against the defendant decreeing him to be the owner of the fee-simple title of said lands and for possession thereof. In his second cause of action in the second amended petition, plaintiff prayed for and accounting by the defendant for the rents, crops, incomes, and profits derived from the said land during the time of defendant’s possession thereof.

The answer of the defendant to the second amended petition consists of a general denial, containing, however, an admission that the land described in the petition was allotted to the plaintiff but denying specially that the plaintiff was at the time of the commencement of the action or at any subsequent time the owner of said lands. Defendant also specially pleaded that the statute of limitation barred the rights of the plaintiff to recover possession of the land. A reply was filed in behalf of the plaintiff, which was in the nature of a special denial, asserting that the statute of limitation did not bar the plaintiff’s right to recover possession.

On the issues thus framed by the pleadings, the cause was tried the second time in March, 1929, to the court, both sides having waived a jury.

The testimony as disclosed by the record now before us on the second appeal is very brief. It consists of the examination of the plaintiff, Charles Sneed, Jr., who, as a witness in his own 'behalf, testified that he *255 was the grantee named in his allotment deed set out in his petition. The allotment deed was introduced in evidence as a part of his examination. When asked whether he was the owner of the real estate in question, he answered that ho did not know whether he was or not; that he had been out of possession of the land since 1913, and the defendant had been in possession of the land since that time. He denied that he had ever given the defendant possession of the land or told him that he could take possession thereof. On cross-examination he admitted the execution of a quitclaim deed bearing date of November 3, 1921, purporting to convey any interest that he might have in the land in question to the defendant in this action. This testimony was objected to by the plaintiff on the theory that it was not proper cross-examination. Plaintiff also admitted the execution of a general warranty deed bearing date of the 25th day of March, 1914, purporting to convey the land in question to the defendant. This testimony was also objected to by the plaintiff on the theory that it was not proper cross-examination. On re-direct examination plaintiff undertook to prove that the deeds were procured by fraud. To the questions asked and the offer of proof in connection therewith, the defendant objected, and the objection was sustained by the trial court on the theory it was not within the issues in the case. In addition to his own testimony, tne plaintiff offered to prove by the deposition of three witnesses that the reasonable market value of the land involved in the case was from $20 to $25 an acre on March 25, 1914, and that it was $50 an acre on November 3, 1921. The evident purpose of this offer was to establish that the consideration paid for each of the two deeds was grossly inadequate. The objection to this testimony was sustained. Thereafter, the plaintiff rested and the defendant demurred to the evidence. This demurrer was sustained. The action was dismissed and judgment rendered accordingly in favor of the defendant. From the judgment rendered, this second appeal is perfected. Other matters essential to the determination of the legal issues involved in this case will appear in the subsequent portions of this opinion.

In his petition in error plaintiff refers to the first trial had on January 5, 1924, wherein the trial court rendered judgment in his favor. Further, to the fact that a motion for a new trial was filed by the defendant, Yarbrough, and was overruled, and that Yarbrough gave notice of his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. Before such appeal was perfected, however, and on March 15, 1924, the trial court sustained a motion by Yarbrough for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. From that, order and judgment granting the new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, plaintiff, Sneed, perfected the former appeal to this court, which was cause No. 15758, and styled “Sneed v. Yarbrough,” and which was decided in this court on March 16, 1926, 123 Okla. 17, 253 P. 40. That decision affirmed the judgment of the trial court, and remanded the case for a new trial. A petition for rehearing was filed and denied, and application for a leave to file a second petition for rehearing was denied.

Plaintiff in error Sneed, in his petition in error herein, complains of the former decision of this court, alleging that the same was erroneous, and refers to the case-made and record therein. By allegation in his petition in error he undertakes to adopt the same as a part of the record in this second appeal and seeks to supplement the present record with the record in the former appeal and to have the former decision of the court reviewed and the matters involved therein readjudieated.

Plaintiff in his bric-f in this second appeal devotes considerable space to alleged errors in the former decisions of this court, and to a consideration of the evidence and issues therein involved.

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Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 312, 23 P.2d 703, 164 Okla. 253, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sneed-v-yarbrough-okla-1933.