State Ex Rel. Morrison v. McCarrell

295 P.2d 1088, 80 Ariz. 243, 1956 Ariz. LEXIS 208
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 17, 1956
Docket6217
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 295 P.2d 1088 (State Ex Rel. Morrison v. McCarrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Morrison v. McCarrell, 295 P.2d 1088, 80 Ariz. 243, 1956 Ariz. LEXIS 208 (Ark. 1956).

Opinion

PHELPS, Justice.

This is an appeal by the state of Arizona from a judgment dismissing with prejudice plaintiff’s complaint in which it was sought to set aside a default judgment theretofore entered against the state, arising out of an action to quiet title to certain land located at Sanders in Apache County adjacent to the Santa Fe Railroad and U. S. Highway 66 running through that town. The facts will be hereinafter more fully set out.

The details as to the quiet-title action, being Cause No. 3057 (our Docket No. 6072 on appeal), 80 Ariz. 240, 295 P.2d 1086, are fully set forth in the companion decision handed down this date.

After the quiet-title action (our No. 6072, supra,) had been appealed to this court, the instant equitable action was filed in the superior court asking that said default judgment be set aside upon the ground of extrinsic fraud in its procurement. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint upon the ground (1) that it failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted; (2) that the court lacked jurisdiction over the person of the defendants and over the subject matter of said action in that there was another action pending at the time, being cause No. 3057, supra, between the same parties and relating to the same subject matter; and (3) that this action amounts to a collateral attack upon that judgment.

The defendants also filed a plea in bar or abatement based upon grounds Nos. 2 and 3 set forth in the motion to dismiss. The court granted both motions upon the ground that the issue in this case and in Cause No. 3057, supra, were “ * * * almost identical and the allegations of intrinsic fraud do not meet the requirements of our statute. * * and thereupon ordered the complaint dismissed and the cause abated. This appeal is from that judgment.

Appellant assigns as error the dismissal of the complaint upon the ground stated by the court that parties and issues involved are the same as in Cause No. 3057 and that “the allegations of intrinsic fraud do not meet the requirements of our statute,” and asserts that its complaint was based upon extrinsic fraud in the procurement of the default judgment here involved.

Under the circumstances we must look to the allegations of the complaint to ascertain if they are sufficient to charge extrinsic fraud. For the purpose of determining its sufficiency or lack of suffi *246 ciency we must treat the allegations therein as true.

The complaint alleges that the attorney general was at all the times here involved the legal advisor of the state highway department and that the land involved in this litigation had been occupied by the state highway department within a fenced enclosure since 1935; that it was first occupied under a lease from defendant Balcomb for approximately 10 years; that in 1944 the property was conveyed to the state by warranty deed and that the highway department has at all times since then continuously occupied said property openly and notoriously; that at the time of the filing of the quiet-title action the state had made permanent improvements thereon of approximately $10,000 in value.

It alleges that the complaint in the quiet-title action contained the allegation that said land was occupied by the highway department ; that the attorney for defendants had, in April, 1949, more than five years after the state had occupied the land as owner, sought to have the description of the land conveyed to the state corrected so (as they claimed) it would conform with the description of the land occupied by the state and upon which the improvements were made.

It further alleges that after investigation through the assistant attorney general the state highway department declined to accede to the request upon his advice that the description in the deed correctly described the land used by the highway department as its camp; that between 1949 and 1954 at various times defendants’ attorney sought to induce the state to reconvey a part of the land to them and in 1953 defendants’ attorney requested a correction of the description and again upon advice of an assistant attorney general specially assigned to it, the highway commission refused to reconvey any portion of said land and entered upon its minutes its decision to refuse to reconvey any of the land it had occupied for years upon the ground that it had title thereto.

The complaint further alleged that said assistant attorney general began to prepare to answer any action that might be •filed against the state and to procure evidence to defend said action by procuring a statement from the grantor in the deed to the state that the property occupied by the highway department was correctly described in the deed and was the identical property he intended to convey to it.

It is further alleged that the attorney general upon receipt of service of process upon the state in the quiet-title action referred the matter to the commissioner of the state land department and upon being informed by that office that the records of his department “did not show this to be state land” the attorney general wrote a letter to the county attorney of Apache County that the state land department had *247 advised that there was no state land involved in the quiet-title action and requested the county attorney to appear and answer for the state when he answered for Apache County. It appeared from the pleadings that Apache County was not a party to the action and the county attorney filed no answer for the state.

The complaint further alleges that the attorney general did not advise the highway commission that an action had been filed against the state involving land occupied by it although the complaint alleged the land was claimed by the highway department; that no notice was given to the highway department nor the assistant attorney general representing that department of the existence of such action and that they had no knowledge that any action was pending until 1955 when the highway department received a letter from the attorney for the defendants bearing date January 31, 1955, inquiring if it would be necessary for him to procure a writ of restitution provided for in the judgment.

It is further alleged that there is no statutory or inherent power in the office of the attorney general to dispose of or abandon property belonging to the state and that the highway commission did not authorize the attorney general or any person to abandon the state’s claim or title to said property; that the commission did not authorize and had no knowledge that the attorney general had advised the county attorney of Apache County that the state had no interest in the title to said land and no action was ever taken by the highway commission approving the action of the attorney general in abandoning the state’s title thereto.

It is further alleged that both the counsel for defendant and the assistant attorney general assigned to represent the highway department well knew both before and at the time of the trial of Cause No. 3057 that there was no act, purpose or intention on the part of the highway commission to give up or abandon the right, title and interest of the state in and to such land.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Catz v. Chalker
142 F.3d 279 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
Bill by and Through Bill v. Gossett
647 P.2d 649 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1982)
Huff v. Mendoza
109 Cal. App. 3d 677 (California Court of Appeal, 1980)
Perper v. Pima County
600 P.2d 52 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1979)
Cooper v. Commonwealth Title of Arizona
489 P.2d 1262 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1971)
Application of Hathcock
450 P.2d 419 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1969)
Schwamm v. Superior Court in and for County of Pima
421 P.2d 913 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1966)
Stone v. Arizona Highway Commission
381 P.2d 107 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1963)
McCarrell v. State ex rel. Morrison
357 P.2d 139 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1960)
Griffin v. Buzard
342 P.2d 201 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
295 P.2d 1088, 80 Ariz. 243, 1956 Ariz. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-morrison-v-mccarrell-ariz-1956.