Wilkin v. Shell Oil Co. Shell Oil Co. v. Wilkin

197 F.2d 42
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 11, 1952
Docket4299_1
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 197 F.2d 42 (Wilkin v. Shell Oil Co. Shell Oil Co. v. Wilkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkin v. Shell Oil Co. Shell Oil Co. v. Wilkin, 197 F.2d 42 (10th Cir. 1952).

Opinions

PHILLIPS, Chief Judge.

Shell Oil Company1 brought this action against Wilkin and others to quiet the title to three oil and gas leases held by it on the following described lands, situate in Beckham County, Oklahoma, to wit:

The Southeast Quarter (SE>4) of Section Nine (9) and the Northwest Quarter (NW%) of the Southwest Quarter (SW %) of Section Ten (10), Township Ten (10) North, Range Twenty-one (21) West, containing 200 acres.

The facts are not in substantial dispute. On January 11, 1929, C. C. Webb and Ruby I. Webb, his wife, gave a mortgage on the land to the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of Oklahoma to secure an indebtedness of $3500. -On August 7, 1931, C. C. Webb conveyed the land to Ruby I. Webb, subject to the mortgage to the State of Oklahoma.2 The deed was made without consideration and Ruby I. Webb never claimed any 'equitable interest in the land.

On July 7, 1937, the Webbs, by mineral deed, conveyed an undivided one-half interest to the minerals in the land to W. E. Hocker. On July 8, 1938, Hocker, by mineral deed, in which his wife joined, conveyed an undivided one-fourth interest in the minerals in the land to J. G. Scott. On September 21, 1939, W. E. Hocker died testate. By his will, he devised all of his interest in the minerals in the land to Martha M. Hocker, his widow, and Walter E. Hocker, Jr., his son.

On March 25, 1940, C. C. Webb executed and delivered a quitclaim deed to Wilkin. [45]*45Ruby I. Webb did not join in that deed. Wilkin immediately entered into possession of the land and collected the rents and profits from the occupying tenant and remained in such possession, through the tenant, until December 8, 1941, when a receiver for the land was appointed in the foreclosure proceedings referred to, infra.

On November 18, 1941, the State commenced an action in the District Court of Beckham County, to foreclose the mortgage. To that action it made the Webbs, Wilkin, Martha M. Hocker, Walter E. Hocker, Jr., Scott, and others, parties defendant. In November, 1941, personal service of process in the foreclosure suit was obtained upon all1 the defendants 'thereto, with the exception of the Webbs and Wilkin. Service was made on the Webbs and Wilkin by publication. Copies of the petition and publication notice were mailed to the Webbs on May 1, 1943.

Wilkin was inducted into the military service of the United States on April 18, 1942. He was honorably discharged on February 21, 1946. A copy of the petition and a copy of the publication notice were not mailed to Wilkin and he had no actual notice of such suit until' after his discharge from the military service.

On June 24, 1943, an attorney for the State in the foreclosure suit filed an affidavit in that proceeding in which he averred that he did not know and could not ascertain, by any means within his control or within the control of the State, whether Wilkin was or had been, within sixty days prior to the date of the filing of such affidavit, in the military or naval service of the United States, and in which he requested that an attorney be appointed to represent the interests of any defendants in the military or naval service within the meaning of 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 520. The affidavit was false. The affiant knew, at the time he made it, that Wilkin was in the military service of the United States, that a copy of his address could be obtained, and that a copy of the petition and of the publication notice could be served upon him by mail.

On June 24,1943, a judgment was entered in the foreclosure proceeding adjudging that the Webbs were indebted to the State in the amount of $6630.03 with interest thereon at ten per cent per annum from June 24, 1943, until paid, $23 abstract expense, $350 attorney’s fee, and the costs of the action, and further adjudging that if the defendants failed, for a period of six months from the date of judgment, to pay the State the amount of such judgment, together with interest, costs, and attorney’s fee, that an order of sale should issue directed to the Sheriff of Beckham County, commanding him to advertise and sell “without appraisement” the land to satisfy such judgment Appraisal was expressly waived in the mortgage.

On January 24, 1944, an order of sale issued. The State was the successful bidder at the sale. On March 13, 1944, an order was entered confirming the sale and directing the Sheriff of Beckham County to issue to the State a deed to the land. On April1 20, 1944, a Sheriff’s deed was issued to the State, which was recorded April 24, 1944, in the records of Beckham County. Immediately thereafter, the State went into possession of the land under claim of title thereto.

On May 7, 1945, Carl S. Ford, acting for Shell, obtained from the State three oil and gas leases covering in the aggregate the 200-acre tract of land, each running for a period of five years and containing a provision for delay rentals and a provision that the leases should be void unless a well, producing oil or gas in paying quantities, should be completed on the land within the five-year period. The leases were duly recorded on July 14, 1945. On September 14, 1945, Ford assigned the leases to Shell. The assignments were duly recorded on October 5, 1945. Prior to the purchase of the leases by Ford on behalf of Shell, Shell examined an abstract of title to the land, which included a transcript of the foreclosure proceeding. Shell ■relied upon the validity of the judgment rendered in the foreclosure suit.

On April 13, 1946, within 60 days after Wilkin was discharged from the military service, and within three years after the date of the foreclosure judgment, Wilkin filed an application in the fore[46]*46closure suit to set aside the Sheriff’s deed, vacate the judgment, and permit him to redeem the land from the mortgage. In his application he alleged that at the time the foreclosure action was instituted he was the record owner of the land; that at the time the State filed its affidavit to obtain service by publication, he was in the active service of the United States Army, stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia; that he was inducted into the Army, April 18, 1942, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, in December, 1942, transferred to Camp Wheeler, Georgia, in December, 1942, and transferred to the 96th Division in September, 1943; that on January 4, 1944, he embarked for the South Pacific combat area; that he returned to the United States, November 29, 1945, and was 'honorably discharged from the Army, February 21, 1946;’ that he did not receive a copy of the petition nor a copy of the notice of publication in the foreclosure suit and had no notice of such suit; that by reason of the foregoing facts, he was deprived of any opportunity of defending the foreclosure suit and of any opportunity to redeem the land from the judgment entered therein; that if the State had exercised due diligence and made reasonable inquiry, it could -have ascertained the fact that he was in the military service and his address; that the foreclosure suit should have been stayed by reason of the provisions of 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 520, and that by reason of the fact the proceeding was not stayed, he was deprived of any opportunity to defend the action and was prevented from redeeming the property from the foreclosure judgment.

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Wilkin v. Shell Oil Co. Shell Oil Co. v. Wilkin
197 F.2d 42 (Tenth Circuit, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
197 F.2d 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkin-v-shell-oil-co-shell-oil-co-v-wilkin-ca10-1952.