Akers v. Hintergardt
| Decision Date | 15 March 1949 |
| Docket Number | 33070. |
| Citation | 203 P.2d 883,201 Okla. 213,1949 OK 44 |
| Parties | AKERS v. HINTERGARDT et al. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Texas County; F. Hiner Dale, Judge.
Action in replevin by Adolph Hintergardt and others, heirs of Adam Hintergardt, against Effie M. Akers to recover a frame house. Judgment for the plaintiffs, and the defendant appeals.
Cause reversed and remanded with directions.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. In the absence of a sufficient showing to the contrary, the law will presume that a building located upon a tract of land is a part of the land it occupies, and is therefore real property.
2. An action for replevin is one for the recovery solely of personal property, and cannot be maintained for the recovery of real property.
3. Real property, for the purpose of taxation, under 68 O.S.1941 § 15.3, includes the land itself and any buildings or structures thereon.
4. Where real property assessed for taxation under 68 O.S.1941 § 15.3 is sold for taxes, the purchaser acquires such property including the buildings and structures thereon.
5. The purpose of an action to quiet title, under the statute, is to determine who is the real owner of the property and to put at rest all adverse claims. Hence, in such action, all matters affecting the title of the parties thereto may be litigated and determined, and the judgment rendered therein is final and conclusive as against the parties and their privies. 12 O.S.1941 § 1141.
Hughes Ogden & Ogden and Vincent Dale, all of Guymon, for plaintiff in error.
LaMar & Bailey, of Guymon, for defendants in error.
In 1944, defendant Effie M. Akers filed an action in the District Court of Texas County against the plaintiffs in this action, to quiet title to certain lots in Block 51 of [203 P.2d 884] the original town of Hooker, Texas County, Oklahoma, and the basis of her claim was a resale tax deed issued by the County Treasurer of Texas County. A trial was had, and the plaintiffs in this action, the Hintergardts, were awarded Lots 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Block 51, and the plaintiff in that action, Effie M. Akers, was awarded Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9 and all the unnumbered lots in Block 51, original town of Hooker. On the lots awarded to Effie M. Akers was a four-room box frame house, built on a concrete foundation, which was located on the unnumbered part of Block 51.
Immediately following the entry of the judgment in her suit to quiet title, which was July 14, 1945, Effie M. Akers entered into possession of the property, including the four-room box frame house, and proceeded to make improvements thereon by having gas and electricity installed and a front porch built. On October 1, 1945, the plaintiffs in this action filed suit in District Court in replevin to recover the four-room box frame house, in which suit they claimed that their father, Adam Hintergardt, had built this home more than 15 years prior to the filing of their petition and that they had inherited the same from him, and that their guardian had failed to pay the taxes on the property upon which the house was located, and that the lots on which the house was located were bought by the defendant Effie M. Akers at a tax resale; and they claimed that the property was never assessed as improved property, but was assessed as vacant and unimproved town lots. The defendant Effie M. Akers demurred to this petition which was overruled, and she filed her answer in which she alleged that the land on which this house was standing was awarded to her by the judgment of the District Court. The cause was tried to a jury, and a verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiffs and judgment was duly rendered on the verdict, and from such judgment and the order overruling defendant's motion for a new trial, the defendant has appealed.
The house in question is real property. Title 60 O.S.A. §§ 5 and 7 are as follows:
'5. Real property defined.----
'Real or immovable property consists of:
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