Sutton v. Beidleman

1936 OK 95, 54 P.2d 167, 175 Okla. 578, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 51
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 28, 1936
DocketNo. 2592.4.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1936 OK 95 (Sutton v. Beidleman) 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
Sutton v. Beidleman, 1936 OK 95, 54 P.2d 167, 175 Okla. 578, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 51 (Okla. 1936).

Opinion

CORN, J.

The plaintiffs in error will hereinafter be referred to as defendants, and the defendant in error as plaintiff.

The plaintiff, Geo. C. Beidleman, brought this action in the lower court against the defendants, J. Monroe Sutton and Lula Sutton, to recover on a certain promissory note in the sum of $1,000 and to foreclose a, mortgage upon certain real estate situated in Okmulgee county, securing the payment of said note.

' The material allegations of plaintiff’s petition are that on the 29th day of June, 1927. the defendants. J. Monroe Sutton and Lula Sutton, for a good and valuable consideration, made, executed, and delivered to plaintiff their certain promissory note whereby they promised to pay to plaintiff or order, on June 29, 1932, the sum of! $1,000, vw'ith interest thereon at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum payable semiannually until paid, and .also promised and agreed to pay, if default should be made in the payment of the interest and principal, interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum after said default until paid, whereby they became liable and bound to pay said plaintiff said sum therein specified.

That at the same time and place, and as a part of the same" transaction, and for the purpose of securing the payment of said promissory note and the interest to become due thereon, the said defendants made, executed, and delivered to plaintiff their certain mortgage in writing thereby granting, telling, and conveying to said plaintiff certain real estate owned by said defendants, and which real estate is specifically described in said plaintiff’s petition.

That the conditions of said note and mortgage as to payment of principal, interest and taxes have been broken, and the plaintiff prays judgment against the defendants for the principal sum of $1,006 mentioned and set out in said note and mortgage, and for $80 interest from June 29. 1929, to June 29, 1930, making a total of $1,080, and for interest thereon at 10 per cent, from June 29, 1930, until paid, and interest at 10 per cent, on each of the annual interest payments alleged to have fallen due on June 29, 1931, and June 29, 1932, and for the further sum of $292.67, alleged to have been paid for taxes on said premises, with interest thereon at the rate of 8 per cent, from February 26, 1931, until paid, amounting in all to $1,728.64, and for the further sum of $100 attorney’s fees, and for further judgment foreclosing the mortgage lien on said real estate.

The defendants by a verified answer, admit the execution of the note for $1,000 to plaintiff and the mortgage securing the payment of said note, covering the land described in plaintiff’s petition, but deny that the terms of said mortgage have been broken, and deny that the plaintiff is entitled by reason of the default in the payment of said note to foreclose said .mortgage or maintain said action.

The defendants specifically deny that they are indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $240 interest on said note, and deny that they *579 are indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $292,-67 for taxes.

Tbe record discloses the following facts:

On the 25th day of January, 1934, the defendants, by a motion filed in said action, demanded a trial by jury of the Issues joined in said cause and asked that the setting of said cause on the equity docket be stricken 'and said cause be placed on the jury docket for the next jury term of said court.

Un the 29th day of January, 1934, said matter came on for hearing on the motion, and the request of the defendants was granted and the cause ordered set as the first ease on the next civil jury docket.

On the 26th day of March, 1934, the plaintiff filed in said cause a waiver of personal judgment against said defendants, and on the 27th day of March, 1934, the court, without notice to defendants and upon request of plaintiff, vacated the order of January 29, 1934, assigning said cause for trial by jury, and reset said cause on the equity docket of the court for trial by the court on the 9th day of April, 1934.

On the 7th day of April, 1934 the defendants filed in said action a written demand for a jury trial of the Issues joined in said cause and again asked that the assignment of said cause be stricken from the equity docket for trial on the 9th day of April, 1934.

On the 9th day of April, 1934, the matter came on for hearing before the court, and said demand for a jury trial was overruled. Whereupon, counsel for the defendants ’announced that said defendants were standing on their right for a trial by jury .and took no further part in the trial of the cause, and .were not present in court during said trial.

The court thereupon, on evidence offered by the plaintiff, rendered its decree of foreclosure in said cause, and which decree of foreclosure recites that the defendants, by their counsel, object to proceeding to trial without a jury, and that the court overruled said defendants’ objection.

The case is before this court upon petition in error and transcript of the record.

The assignments of error are as follows:

(11 That the court erred to the prejudice of the substantial rights of the plaintiffs in error in vacating and setting aside the order of court assigning said cause for trial on the first day of the regular civil jury term.

(2) That the court erred to the prejudice of the substantial rights of said plaintiffs in error in overruling the written demand of plaintiffs in error for ,a jury trial.

(3) That the court erred to the prejudice of the substantial rights of said plaintiffs in error in denying the said plaintiffs in error the right of trial by jury.

(4) That the judgment and decree, orders, and rulings of the court are contrary to law.

In presenting the foregoing assignments of error, we will not discuss them separately, since they all relate to the one proposition that the trial court erred in denying the defendants a jury trial. Therefore, In presenting said assignments, and for brevity, we will group them under one proposition, viz., Were defendants entitled to a trial by jury as a matter of right, and did the trial court err in denying said defendants the right of trial by jury?

The plaintiff asserts that the defendants were not entitled to a trial by jury in this case for the reason that he had filed in said cause long prior to. the day of trial a waiver of a personal judgment and asked only for foreclosure of his mortgage, and that this made the case an equitable action.

We are unable to find any authority holding that the filing of a waiver of a personal judgment in an action for the recovery of money, where issues are joined on the amount due, makes the case an equitable action, and the plaintiff does not cite any case so holding.

The case of Vose v. United States Cities Corp., 152 Okla. 295, 7 P. (2d) 132, cited by the plaintiff in support of his contention that the filing of the waiver referred lo makes the case an equitable action, is not applicable and can be distinguished from the case at bar in that no issues were joined in that case on the amount due, as in this case.

In that case, the execution of the notes and mortgage sued on was admitted, and there tvere no issues raised by the pleadings as to amount due.

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Bluebook (online)
1936 OK 95, 54 P.2d 167, 175 Okla. 578, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sutton-v-beidleman-okla-1936.