Uphoff v. Meier

1939 OK 128, 87 P.2d 960, 184 Okla. 378, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 63
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided February 28, 1939·No. No. 28560.·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

HURST, ,T.

This is an action by an aged father against his daughter to cancel a deed to a 320-acre tract of land in Blaine county, Okla., alleged to have been procured by her through undue influence and fraud. From a judgment canceling the deed, the daughter, the grantee, appeals.

The record discloses the following facts which are not disputed: The plaintiff, George Meier, at the time of the transaction complained of was about 80 years old. He had been born in Russia and speaks German, but understands and speaks English very poorly. He testified very largely through an interpreter. He has been married twice and has five children by his first wife and seven children by his second wife. His children are all living. The defendant, Rachel Uphoff, is a daughter by his second marriage.

Plaintiff’s first wife has been dead for many years. Some years ago, after plaintiff had remarried, he conveyed the land involved in this action to his second wife. She died in 1934 and at the time of her death the title stood in her name. She left a will giving a life estate to plaintiff, her husband, with the remainder over to her *379 seven children, excluding the five children by plaintiff's first wife. At the time of her death the family lived in Lodi, Cal., where. they had resided for several years. The deed in question was executed there about a month after the death of plaintiff’s second wife. At the same time, plaintiff also executed a deed to defendant conveying to her a 10-acre “vineyard” located near Lodi. The only consideration for the deeds was love and affection. During the year 19-35, and before the instant case was filed, plaintiff sued defendant in the superior court in California to cancel the deed to the “vineyard” on the ground that it had been procured through undue influence and fraud, and the court there made findings of fact and conclusions of law and rendered judgment in favor of defendant. Thereafter, plaintiff instituted the present action to cancel the deed to the Oklahoma property and now elects to take under the law rather than under the will and claims an undivided one-third interest in the land.

Defendant’s first contention is that the court erred in refusing to admit in evidence duly authenticated copies of the record in the California case. Defendant in her amended answer pleaded the judgment of the California court as one of the defenses and alleged “that by reason of said judgment the matters and issues which are, or might be, presented in this court in this action are res adjudicata, and said plaintiff herein is estopped by said judgment to again raise the said matters and issues in this action.”

Plaintiff, in answer to this contention, argues that there is a distinction between res judicata and estoppel by judgment, and that although defendant pleaded res judi-cata, she did not plead estoppel by judgment, and therefore cannot rely upon such estoppel as a defense.

The distinction referred to is recognized in McKee v. Producers’ & Refiners’ Corporation (1935) 170 Okla. 559, 41 P.2d 466, where it is held:

“Distinction between doctrines of res adjudicata and estoppel by judgment is that where the two causes of action are the same, the first judgment is a complete bar to the second action, but where the two causes of action °are different the parties are estopped by judgment to deny only those matters which are common to both suits; the former is the doctrine of res judicata, the latter is estoppel by judgment.”

The distinction between the two rules is noted in Woodworth v. Town of Hennessey (1912) 32 Okla. 267, 122 P. 224; Deming Inv. Co. v. Shannon (1916) 62 Okla. 277, 162 P. 471; Cressler v. Brown (1920) 79 Okla. 170, 192 P. 417; Sartin v. Hughen (1932) 154 Okla. 155, 7 P.2d 151; Craig v. Roxoline Pet. Co. (1934) 170 Okla. 307, 39 P.2d 575; Black on Judgments, vol. 2, secs. 504 and 506; Freeman on Judgments (5th Ed.) vol. 2, sec. 627; 34 C. J. 742; 15 R. C. L. 951. The evidence excluded here was sought to be introduced only under the estoppel rule, for the California case and the instant ease are clearly based - upon different causes of action. For cases applying the “estoppel rule” see Johnson v. Gillett (1917) 66 Okla. 308, 168 P. 1031; Board of Com’rs of Grady County v. Lenochan (1921) 80 Okla. 169, 195 P. 116; Fulsom v. Mason (1924) 107 Okla. 70, 229 P. 1072: Hart v. Easson (1938) 182 Okla. 631, 79 P.2d 579.

We need not here determine whether it is necessary to specifically plead estoppel by judgment as distinguished from res judicata (see Freeman on Judgments, vol. 2, sec. 798; 34 C. J. 1055, sec. 1491; 15 R. C. L. 1045) for the reason that we think defendant did in fact sufficiently plead estoppel by judgment by the allegation that plaintiff “is estopped by said judgment to again raise the said matters and issues in this action.”

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Uphoff v. Meier, 1939 OK 128, 87 P.2d 960, 184 Okla. 378, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 63 (Okla. 1939).

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