Wilson v. Hartin

1932 OK 205, 8 P.2d 1104, 155 Okla. 257, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 141
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 8, 1932
Docket22922
StatusPublished

This text of 1932 OK 205 (Wilson v. Hartin) 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
Wilson v. Hartin, 1932 OK 205, 8 P.2d 1104, 155 Okla. 257, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 141 (Okla. 1932).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This action was commenced in the district court of Marshall county by E. I. Hartin to recover from J. H. Wilson, George H. Wright, H. T. Helman, Harry E. Reynolds, and Leo Ring, plaintiffs in error here, for the sum of $455, alleged to be due on wages, and for foreclosure of mechanic’s lien. The cause was tried, to the court and judgment rendered in favor of the defendants on March 9, 1931, and a second motion for new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence was filed on April 11, 1931, and on said date the trial court made and entered its order overruling the motion filed on March 10, 1931, but sustaining the motion for new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence. To reverse this order, the defendants appeal to this court.

The defendant in error has filed motion to dismiss on the ground that the appeal is frivolous, without merit, and for the purpose of delay, and attached thereto brief in support of said motion. No response to the motion to dismiss appeal has been filed by the plaintiffs in error, but previous to the filing of the motion to dismiss the appeal, plaintiff in error filed brief on the merits.

The only assignment of error in the petition in error and argued in the brief of plaintiff in error, is, that the court erred in sustaining the motion of the defendant in error for a new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence. The first *258 proposition discussed in the brief of plaintiff in error is, that plaintiff’s motion for new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence is not verified as required by law and the holdings of this court; second, that there is not sufficient showing of diligence to procure the alleged newly discovered evidence before the trial; third, that the alleged newly discovered evidence is not such that it would probably change the result if a new trial were granted; that the alleged newly discovered evidence is merely cumulative to the former evidence; and fourth, that the alleged newly discovered evidence is merely to impeach or contradict the former evidence.

The record discloses that the motion for new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence was supported by affidavit of the plaintiff and the affidavit of the witness, and a further affidavit by the attorney as to diligence; said affidavits were duly sworn to before a notary public. No controverting affidavits were filed. The applicable part of section 575, O. O. SI 1931,. reads as follows:

“The causes enumerated in subdivision 2, 3, 7 and 9 of section 5033 (572, O. O. S. 1921) must be sustained by affidavit, showing their truth, and may be controverted by affidavits.”

It appears that the requirements of the statute were sufficiently met in this case, and we think there is no merit in the contention that the motion or application for new trial was not properly verified.

From the records in this cause, it appears that the newly discovered evidence was material to the plaintiffs cause of action, and that it was purely within the discretion of the trial court in granting a new trial upon the showing made. In Richards v. Claxton, 79 Okla. 133, 192 P. 199, this court held:

“The discretion of the trial court in' granting a new trial is so broad that its action in so doing will not be disturbed on appeal unless the record shows clearly that the court has erred in its views of some pure and unmised question of law.”

And this has been the uniform holding of this court in an unbroken line of decisions. Conservative Loan Co. v. Saulsbury, 75 Okla. 194, 182 P. 685; Black v. Bell, 128 Okla. 160, 261 P. 222; Taylor v. Monday, 104 Okla. 241, 231 P. 75: Isaacs v. Tull, 131 Okla. 138, 267 P. 1049.

In Richards v. Claxton, supra, the appeal was from the judgment and order of the lower court granting a new trial, and the only assignment of error presented by the plaintiff in error was that the* court erred in sustaining the motion of the defendant in error, plaintiff below, in granting a new trial, and this court dismissed the appeal on the grounds that it was manifestly without merit. In Black v. Bell, supra, the trial court sustained the motion on the grounds of newly discovered evidence, and plaintiff appealed to this court. And in Taylor v. Monday, supra, the appeal was taken on similar grounds. It was alleged, as in the instant ease, that the newly discovered evidence referred to in the motion for new trial failed to meet the essential requirements, the same as set out in the plaintiff in error’s second proposition herein. And in the body of the opinion, the court used the following language :

“If the motion of plaintiff for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence has been denied, the holding of the court would not be disturbed unless the requirements above enumerated were met by the newly discovered evidence; however, this rule does not obtain where the court in the exercise of its sound discretion grants a new trial in the furtherance of justice.”

In Isaacs v. Tull, supra, in a well considered opinion by Mr. Justice Lester, this court adopted the rule announced in K. K. K. Medicine Co. v. Harrington, 83 Okla. 201, 201 P. 496, in the following language:

“A motion for new trial is addressed to the sound, legal discretion of the trial court, and where the trial judge who presided at the trial of the case sustains such motion, every .presumption will be indulged that such ruling is correct.”

In this cause the sole question involved in the case was the amount of wages or salary to be paid under a verbal contract of employment, and the testimony of the plaintiff and that of the defendant, Helman, was in direct conflict. In his affidavit in support of the motion for new trial, plaintiff in error states that he first learned of the witness, Pulsom Arbuckle, on or about the 5th day of April, subsequent to the trial; that he had made diligent search to procure witnesses to prove his contract with the defendant, prior to the trial. The affidavit of the witness Eulsom Arbuckle, who did not reside in Marshall county at the time of the trial, and was not present, states that the plaintiff knew nothing of his knowledge as to what salary he was to receive, and nothing of the statement made to the witness by the defendant in regard to the amount of the salary; that he is and was attorney in fact for Carrie Arbuekle, his mother, and had ' charge of looking after the leasehold described in *259 plaintiff’s petition: that within a week or 10 days after the operations were commenced on the leasehold, he talked with defendant, Helman, and, in discussing matters, the said defendant stated that B. I. Hartin was an excellent worker, was doing the pumping- and working on the drilling machine, “and he told me at that time he was paying him tool dresser’s wages and that he was paying him $150 per month, double the amount he received while he was working for Wilson.” That the witness was residing at Allen, Okla., at the time of the trial, and that on or about the 1st day of April, 1931, he was in Madill, and called at the office of the attorney for the plaintiff, and learned that Hartin, the plaintiff, had lost his case, and at that time he told the attorney for the plaintiff what he knew about the contract. The affidavit of the attorney substantiates the statement made by the witness in this regard.

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Related

Conservative Loan Co. v. Saulsbury
1919 OK 246 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1919)
Black v. Bell
1927 OK 388 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1927)
Goldie v. Corder
1912 OK 837 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1912)
Kkk Medicine Co. v. Harrington
1921 OK 361 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1921)
Lambert v. Monarch Cement Co.
1929 OK 513 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1929)
Taylor v. Monday
1924 OK 1069 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1924)
Holiby v. Poteet
1930 OK 159 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1930)
Isaacs v. Tull
1928 OK 289 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1928)
Richards v. Claxton
1920 OK 285 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1920)
Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State
1912 OK 830 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1912)

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Bluebook (online)
1932 OK 205, 8 P.2d 1104, 155 Okla. 257, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-hartin-okla-1932.