Thomos v. Murray

1935 OK 908, 49 P.2d 1080, 174 Okla. 36, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 1355
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 1, 1935
DocketNo. 25407.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 1935 OK 908 (Thomos v. Murray) 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
Thomos v. Murray, 1935 OK 908, 49 P.2d 1080, 174 Okla. 36, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 1355 (Okla. 1935).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This action was originally instituted on December 6, 1924, in the districl court of Tulsa county, Okla., by James H. Thomas, administrator of the estate of Leonard R. Thomas, deceased, against Thomas Murray, who died during the pendency of the action, the same being thereafter revived in the name of the defendant, First National Bank & Trust Company of Tulsa, Okla., and removed to the court of common pleas, from which error is claimed in sustaining the demurrers of the defendant to the original, amended, and supplemental petitions.

Error was predicated upon the same grounds in all instances, the error, if any, in the ruling upon the original petition being waived by the pleader taking leave to amend, and amending, so the matter will be considered only upon the ruling of the trial court as to the amended and supplemental petitions, the latter of which served only to suggest the death of Thomas Murray. The parties will be referred to in the same manner that they appeared below.

The amended petition alleges two causes of action based upon identical facts, Ihe first of which contains all the usual averments of an 'action for damages for fraudulent misrepresentations, and the consequent loss of a legal remedy, specifically alleging the loss of a judgment obtained by the plaintiff in his representative capacity against Thomas Murray, in the sum of $1,000, plus interest and costs, obtained on November 8, 1909, by his fai'ure to issue executions and revive in tiie manner prescribed by our statutes, which the plaintiff alleged (o have been caused' by the fact that the defendant had fraudulently conveyed his property and concealed the same, and had stated upon numerous occasions and particularly during the month of July, 1919. and at a time when the judgment was in full force and effect, that he had' not property with which the same could be paid, which statements the plaintiff relied upon as true, the falsity of which was not discovered until the months of May or June, 1924, and allowed his judgment to become dormant and thereafter ineffective to his damage in the sum of $2,000, 'this sum representing the value of the judgment.

The second cause of action is couched in exactly the same language as the first, and alleges the loss of a judgment in the sum of $200, with interest and costs, for which the sum of $500 is prayed.

The defendant contends in support of the action of the trial court that the plaintiff, under our statute In 'aid of execution, had adequate means to have ascertained the truth of the statements, had he so desired, and that the action is barred by virtue of sections 442 and 583, O. S. 1931, while the plaintiff insists that the 'action being for damages, as distinguished from an action upon a judgment, or an action to reassert a lien, section 185, O. S. 193.1, subsection 3, in so far as it provides! an exception to the running oT the general statutes of limitation, for actions for fraud, is applicable, and that this action was properly brought *38 within two years oí the discovery o£ the fraud.

Section 442, O. S, 1931, provides:

“If execution shall not be sued out within five years * * * or if five years shall have intervened between the date of the last execution * * * such judgment shall become dormant.”
Section 590, O. S. 1931, provides that a dormant judgment shall be revived in the same manner as 'actions, and section 588, O. S. 1931, lays down a limitation of one year in which such revivor proceedings must have heen completed. Sections 479' and 480, O. S. 1931, provide, so far as here material, that when execution is returned unsatisfied, the judgment creditor may be required to appear and answer under oath concerning his property, and section 482, O. S. 1931, provides that he shall not be excused from answering on the ground that his examination will tend to convict him for fraud.

Judgments may be kept alive and effective by the issuance of successive executions before five years have elapsed from the date of judgment or last execution, or if five years shall have elapsed, by revivor within one year from the time the same first became dormant (Edward Thompson Co. v. Bristow, 116 Okla. 243, 244 P. 429, and Neal v. LeBreton et al., 14 Okla. 538, 78 P. 376), or by an action upon the judgment in a particular action, and it is generally held that general statutes of limitations, including the exceptions, imposed thereby, have no application to either actions or judgment or the limitation period prescribed specifically for judgments (Sager v. Jordon, 80 Okla. 25, 193 P. 876), and that where the issuance of execution is not prevented by civil process, such statutes will be strictly construed,’ and the court will refuse to engraft exceptions other than those contained in the statute itself. In speaking of an attempt to engraft an exception on the statute, the nonresi-dence of the judgment debtor from the state, the Kansas court, in the case of Smalley v. Bowling, 64 Kan. 818, 68 P. 630, uses the following language:

“For nearly a quarter of a century this court has held, in substance and effect, that, if, for any cause, a judgment becomes' dormant, it can only be revived within one year from the time such revivor could first have been had, and that, in cases where execution could have been lawfully issued at the 'instance of the plaintiff thereon, his failure to cause such execution to issue for a period of five years after its rendition would render such judgment dormant, and thereafter it must either be sued upon or revived by motion within the following or sixth year, or 'it will cease to be a judgment.”

It is upon this basis that it is held that a general statute of limitation, such as section 106, O. S. 1931, of our statutes, giving additional time where an action is reversed other than upon the merits, had no application to civil judgments. Berkley v. Tootle et al., 62 Kan. 701, 64 P. 620. That an appeal upon an .ancillary matter, execution not being stayed, would not toll the statute. Hoskins v. Peak et al., 100 Okla. 124, 228 P. 478. That the pendency of a creditor’s bill to enforce collection of a judgment out of hidden assets did not excuse performance under the statute. Miller & Co. v. Melone et al., 11 Okla. 241, 67 P. 479. That an agreement by which a creditor is prevented from taking steps to enforce his judgment will not extend the time Savings & Trust Co. of Cleveland v. Bear Valley Irrig. Co., 89 F. 32; Gardenhire v. King, 97 Tenn. 585, 37 S. W. 548, quoted with approval in McGinnis v. Seibert et al., 37 Okla. 274, 134 P. 396. And that an appeal, where supersedeas bond is not given, will not toll the statute. Delay v. Yost, 59 Kan. 496, 53 P. 482, and Bank of Stockham v. Weins, 12 Okla. 502, 71 P. 1073. That the general rule that limitations will not run against a person in trust capacity have no application to a judgment against a trustee. Mason v. Finley, Arm’r, et al., 134 Okla. 89, 272 P. 408. See, also, 21 A. L. R. 1039.

If this were an action niton a judgment and the pleader had attempted to plead around the statutes by alleging fraud, the same situation presented in the 'above authorities would have been presented; however, the plaintiff insists that, 'inasmuch as it is an action for fraud and deceit, these authorities are not applicable.

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Bluebook (online)
1935 OK 908, 49 P.2d 1080, 174 Okla. 36, 1935 Okla. LEXIS 1355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomos-v-murray-okla-1935.