Woodmansee v. Woodmansee

1929 OK 135, 278 P. 278, 137 Okla. 112, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 409
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 19, 1929
Docket18404
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1929 OK 135 (Woodmansee v. Woodmansee) 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
Woodmansee v. Woodmansee, 1929 OK 135, 278 P. 278, 137 Okla. 112, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 409 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

DIFFENDAFFER, C.

On June 29, 1914, Tsa-Me-Tsa (Mary Buffalo), an Osage Indian, then a little past 15 years of age, and Manderville Woodmansee, were married at Independence, Kan. On November 21, 1916, she filed in the district court of Osage county a verified petition for divorce. As grounds therefor, she alleged abandonment for more than one year and extreme cruelty. She also made certain allegations to the effect that defendant had willfully misrepresented her age at the time he procured the marriage license, and that defendant had falsely and fraudulently represented to plaintiff that she was of the age that she could legally enter into the marriage relation with him. The prayer was:

“That she may be divorced from her said husband by reason of the fault of said defendant, and for such other and further belief as may be just and equitable.”

Summons -was issued, and the return of the sheriff shows personal service on defendant.

Defendant failed to appear, and filed no plea to the petition. On January 6, 1917, defendant being in default, the cause was tried, and at the close of the evidence the following entry was made by the clerk in a book referred to by him as a clerk’s minutes of court’s proceedings:

“34S9. Mary Buffalo Woodmansee v. Man-derville Woodmansee. Divorce. A. W. Corn-stock.
“Now on this 6th day of Jan., 1917, the same being one of the regular judicial days of the 1916 November term of court, Osage county, Oklahoma, this case was called on the regular call of the docket for trial. The plaintiff being present in person and by her counsel, the defendant defaults, although being duly and regularly served with summons, the court after, hearing the testimony and being fully advised in the matter, grants the plaintiff a decree of divorce as per journal entry.”

Thereafter on January 20, 1917, a formal journal 'entry of decree was filed in which are the findings of the court to the effect that all the allegations of the petition were true, and specific findings, as follows:

“The court further finds that said defendant had abandoned plaintiff more than one year next preceding the filing of said petition. and that said abandonment was continuous and without fault of • plaintiff.
“That at the time of the marriage, between plaintiff and defendant, said plaintiff was under the age of 16 years and did not have the consent of her parents or guardian to enter into said marriage contract and that the defendant made an affidavit, which he knew to be false, stating that she was over the age of 18 years in order to secure said marriage license
“That plaintiff has always conducted herself properly.”

Instead of the decree granting a divorce as prayed for and as indicated in. the minutes of the clerk, the decree was:

“It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed by this court that the parties hereto *114 u ere never legally married and that said pretended marriage is annulled and is null and void and both parties are released from the same.”

The plaintiff shortly thereafter was married to another party, and divorced from him in November, 1917. On June 29, 1920, she died without having been remarried, and without issue, father or mother, leaving surviving her, Eliza Bigheart, a sister, one of the defendants in error.

Proceedings were had in the county court in settlement of her estate, and on October 18, 1924, it appearing that deceased had left a will, a decree of final settlement of the estate was entered by stipulation between the parties claiming under the will and Mary Bigheart, her sister.

Manderville Woodmansee does not appear to have' been claiming any part of the estate at that time.

October 16. 1926. Woodmansee filed a motion in the original action in the district court to vacate, set aside, and hold for naught the decree entered on the 6th day of January, 1917, setting out as grounds therefor that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the action nor of the person of defendant: that the decree was outside, not responsive to. and beyond the issue alleged and relied upon by the plaintiff as grounds for a divorce.

An original action was also filed seeking the same relief, and some proceedings were commenced in the countv court to set aside the decree of final settlement. While the motion of Woodmansee was pending, the administrator. Eliza Bigheart. by her guardian. and the other defendants in error filed a motion in the original action for an order, “nunc pro tunc.” amending and correcting +ho decree bv- striking out that part thereof which reads:

“Tf iC! Ar)f>cM/lp,vp/-] flfli'iv'i'vp'l rmrl decreed bv tin's 'vmrf-. Hiit (-lie parties hereto r-rv--' p^-i-er ’pa-nllv marred and tliai- said n-g-Aiifipri rnm-rino-n annulled and is null end -i-md and both parpes are released from ‘ho same”

--■'ud inserting in lieu thereof the following:

“Tt ’s. therefore, considered, ordered and decreed hr the court thru the marriage re-i~'inn hei-ei-ofore existing between the plain-fiff. Tsa-Me-Tsa. whose Ene-lish name is Mnrv Woodmanepe. and the defendant Mnnd°rville Woodmansee. be and the same is hereby d!ssnived and set asid» and the said parties erp herebv released from the same. It is farther ordered that this decree do not become absolute an>l take effect utatil six <hp date hereof."

A hearing was had upon this motion at which evidence was taken, resulting in an order granting the motion and amending and correcting the original decree, nunc pro tunc, as prayed for by movants. From this order, defendant below prosecutes this appeal.

There are seven assignments of error. The first is: That the court erred in sustaining the motion of defendants in error for an order nunc pro tunc.

In Courtney v. Barnett, 65 Okla. 189, 166 Pac. 207, it was held:

“Jurisdiction is inherent in every court of record to cause its records to speak the truth and by nunc pro tunc order, on proper application and notice, to cause to be entered orders and judgments made by the court which by inadvertence or mistake the clerk or the court has omitted to record.”
“Jurisdiction to order entered, nunc pro tunc, orders and judgments made by the court, but omitted from the record by the clerk or the court, is not lost by lapse of time, where no intervening rights are affected.”

The only question in this case is: What is the truth as to the judgment or decree ordered to be entered by the court on January 6, 1917? That is, Was it the order of the court that the plaintiff in the action be granted a divorce, or was.it the order of the court, that there had never been a- valid marriage?

If the former, then we think, under the record here, that there was no error in the order of the court complained of. If the latter, then it would appear that the court entered an order for a judgment or decree which was entirely outside the issues submitted to the court, and to that extent a nullity.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 135, 278 P. 278, 137 Okla. 112, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodmansee-v-woodmansee-okla-1929.