Swisher v. Clark

1949 OK 151, 209 P.2d 880, 202 Okla. 25, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 398
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 28, 1949
DocketNo. 33226
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1949 OK 151 (Swisher v. Clark) 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
Swisher v. Clark, 1949 OK 151, 209 P.2d 880, 202 Okla. 25, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 398 (Okla. 1949).

Opinion

HALLEY, J.

Mae T. Swisher, one of the defendants below, was the record owner of lots 21 & 22 and the south 10' of lot 20, blk. 8, Dale Addition to Oklahoma City, otherwise known as the Mayfair Apartments. On April 15, 1946, she entered into a contract with Anson L. Clark, by which she agreed to sell to Clark the foregoing real estate, together with all improvements thereon and all furnishings of every kind and description, for the sum of $90,000— $5,000 being paid at the time of the signing of the contract, $10,000 to be paid at the delivery, of the deed, and the remainder of $75,000 to be evidenced by note and secured by purchase-money mortgage, to be paid at the rate of $1,000 per month, beginning 30 days after the first of the month following closing of the transaction, and to bear interest at the rate of 4% per annum. Mrs. Swisher refused to go through with the transaction, and Clark brought suit on July 11, 1946, for specific performance of the contract entered into between him and the defendant Mae T. Swisher, and made George E. Swisher, her husband, a party defendant, because of the fact that a warranty deed was filed for record on July 3, 1946, in the office of the county clerk of Oklahoma county, conveying the property in question from Mae T. Swisher to George E. Swisher, and dated February 23, 1931. Clark asked for the cancellation of this deed.

The defendant Mae T. Swisher, by her separate answer, in which she admitted the execution of the deed to her husband on February 23, 1931, denied that she was ever the real and actual owner of the property in question, claiming that it was in her name as a convenience to her husband in order that she might execute a mortgage to him for his use as collateral in borrowing money from the First National Bank & Trust Company in Oklahoma City; denied that she ever put any money into the property, and claimed that her codefendant and husband, George E. Swisher, had been for more than 15 years in actual, open and notorious possession of the property; and denied that she ever claimed to be the legal owner of the property.

George E. Swisher fn-ed his separate answer, stating that he vas the owner, in actual possession, of the premises involved in this action, and that all of, the property, both real and personal, was purchased with his funds, and that he was the grantee in a deed from Mae T. Swisher dated February 23, 1931, and that by virtue of said deed, • and his continuous occupancy of the property for more than 15 years, he had clear title to the property.

It appears from the evidence that the plaintiff, who is a physician, had moved to Oklahoma City in the spring of 1946, and was attempting to rent an apartment from the defendant Mae T. Swisher, but at the time she had no vacancies; and that, in the course of the conversation, Dr. Clark stated that it looked like a person would have to buy an apartment house to find one to live in, and that Mrs. Swisher answered, “Well, why don’t you buy this apartment of mine?” Negotiations developed from this conversation, and later, Dr. Clark, together with his brother, Dr. LeMon Clark, went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Swisher at 17th and Shartel in Oklahoma City and discussed the mat-. ter of the purchase of the apartment house with them.

[27]*27The plaintiff’s testimony was to the effect that at no time did George E. Swisher ever claim ownership of either the real estate or the personal property in question. On April 8, 1946, a real estate agent named Henry Van Hook left the contract of purchase in this case, together with a check for $5,000, with Mr. Swisher, and on about April 11th he took a letter to Mrs. Swisher, in which attention was called to the fact that the time set out in the contract had expired, and that Mrs. Swisher would either have to give him the check back or the signed contract, but that she did neither at that time.

On April 15th, Dr. Clark was in the apartment building and talked to Mrs. Swisher, and she agreed to sign the contract, and they went to the office of Mr. Swisher in the apartment building, and there in the office, in the presence of George E. Swisher, Mrs. Swisher signed the contract. At no time, according to the testimony of the plaintiff’s witnesses, did George E. Swisher ever claim any title to the property, but Dr. Clark said that at the time Mrs. Swisher signed the contract, her husband did protest that the amount was not enough.

The testimony of George E. Swisher was that he did, in one of the conversations with Dr. Clark, mention the fact that he might have some claim to this property under the community property laws of the State of Oklahoma; that in about 1929 he made a first mortgage on the real estate for $40,000, and a second mortgage for $10;000, and then he had to foreclose these mortgages, and that when the sheriff’s deed was issued in the foreclosure proceeding it went to Mae T. Swisher (as M. T. Swisher), and that he put in sufficient money to complete the building and to furnish the same; that the building cost him around $120,000 and the furniture $35,— 000; that he received all the income from the apartments and paid all the bills; that he was in charge of the property from the time the apartment building was constructed until three years prior to the time of the trial, when he had a stroke, and that he went on the property practically every day except Sundays from the time it was built until he had his stroke; that he had moved his law office and his books and desks from the Colcord Building into the apartment building; that the warranty deed dated February 23, 1931, was delivered to him on that date, and had been in his possession until filed for record; that in 1931 he took a mortgage from his wife for $60,000 and assigned that mortgage over to the First National Bank to secure an indebtedness to them of $55,000; that he never agreed to take less than $120,000 for this property; that Mrs. Swisher came into his office on the day the contract was signed, with Dr. Clark, and that she did sign something there, but that he did not know what it was; that he had claimed this property at all times. Checks were offered in evidence, signed by George E. Swisher— one for $50,000, which went into improvements and furnishings of the Mayfair Apartments, and one for $35,000, which paid for furniture alone for the apartments.

It was stipulated that the furniture and mortgage indebtedness against the property was paid fox by George E. Swisher.

An inventory of all the furniture in the apartments, prepared by Dr. Clark’s secretary and Mrs. Swisher, was offered in evidence by the plaintiff.

A son of the Swishers, George W. Swisher, testified that he was associated with his father in his father’s business, and that he prepared the deed from his mother to his father dated February 23, 1931, and that the deed was kept in his father’s safe in the office of the apartment building, and that it was his understanding that the apartment building was owned by his father and mother jointly. That he did prepare a contract to convey the property to Dr. Clark for the amount of $90,000, which was to be substituted for the contract signed by his mother [28]*28and Dr. Clark, but that Dr. Clark would not sign the contract that he prepared.

The defendant Mae T. Swisher did not testify in this case, and no reason for her failure to testify was offered.

The contract is here set out:

“(Exhibit ‘A’)
“Offer to Purchase.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1949 OK 151, 209 P.2d 880, 202 Okla. 25, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swisher-v-clark-okla-1949.