Prince v. Gosnell

• Decision Date: 08 June 1915
• Docket Number: Case Number: 5901
• Citation: 1915 OK 418,47 Okla. 570,149 P. 1162
• Parties: PRINCE v. GOSNELL.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1915 OK 418

149 P. 1162

47 Okla. 570

PRINCE v. GOSNELL.

Case Number: 5901

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: June 8, 1915

Syllabus

¶0 1. JUDGMENT--Res Judicata--Matters Affected. In an action in ejectment, a former judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction between the same parties and involving the same subject-matter is conclusive, not only as to every matter involved in the former case, but as to every matter which might have been pleaded or given in evidence, whether same was pleaded or not.

2. SAME--Failure to Plead Facts--Effect. In the absence of exceptional facts excusing a failure so to do, a party should plead all the material facts that constitute his claim or defense, and a failure to do so cannot be made the basis of another action.

3. PLEADING--Supplemental Pleading--Terms. By section 4795, Rev. Laws 1910, a party may, upon such terms as to costs as the court may prescribe, file a supplemental petition, answer, or reply, alleging facts material to the case occurring after the former petition, answer, or reply was filed.

Error from District Court, Tillman County; Frank Mathews, Judge.

Action by R. L. Gosnell against J. E. Prince. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

See, also, 19 Okla. 175, 92 P. 164; 36 Okla. 445, 129 P. 27.

J. A. Fain, W. D. Berry, and Mounts & Davis, for plaintiff in error.

McElhoes, Ferris & Rhinefort and Ahern & Searcy, for defendant in error.

HARDY, J.

¶1 Defendant in error, plaintiff below, R. L. Gosnell, brought ejectment against J. E. Prince, on October 25, 1907, for a certain lot in the town of Frederick, and on November 10, 1909, amended answer was filed in said suit, and thereafter a reply and rejoinder were filed. On January 12, 1913, trial was commenced, and after the introduction of testimony the court directed a verdict for the plaintiff for possession of the lot, and submitted to the jury the question of damages for detention of the possession thereof. In his amended answer defendant alleged that the plaintiff, through an agent, made and delivered to the Frederick Townsite Company a bond for deed to the lot in question, and that the townsite company, with the knowledge and consent of the plaintiff, sold said lot to the defendant, and that therefore plaintiff was estopped from setting up any right or title to said lot. In his amended reply plaintiff alleged that on March 27, 1902, defendant filed his petition in the district court of Comanche county against the plaintiff, seeking to have a constructive trust established against said lot, and that plaintiff be decreed a trustee for the use and benefit of said defendant, and in said petition alleging in detail the facts upon which he based his right of recovery. On September 13, 1905, a demurrer was sustained to the petition in that cause, and defendant herein, plaintiff in that case, electing to stand upon his petition, judgment was rendered in favor of defendant thereon, and the case appealed to the Supreme Court, where the judgment was affirmed. 19 Okla. 175, 92 P. 164. Thereafter Gosnell brought suit to recover possession of the lot, and evidence of the matter relied upon herein was offered in that suit. At the trial of the case the court permitted evidence to go to the jury of certain contracts and agreements held to be void on the former appeal, and the judgment was reversed because of the admission of this evidence. Gosnell v. Prince, 36 Okla. 445, 129 P. 27.

¶2 In the case at bar it was claimed in the trial court that the plaintiff in error was entitled to prevail by reason of an agreement alleged to have been entered into by defendant in error with the Frederick Townsite Company, a corporation, in the early part of the year 1903, by which he agreed to convey to the townsite company certain lands, including the lot in controversy, in consideration of $ 5,000 stock in the townsite company being issued to him, and a quitclaim deed, dated July 15, 1908, from the townsite company. It is insisted that the judgment of September 13, 1905, is not res judicata as to the rights of the parties herein, although the matters relied upon at this time accrued in the early part of the year 1903, being more than two years prior to the date of the judgment. In the former opinion (36 Okla. 445, 129 P. 27) it is said:

"It may well be doubted whether the facts pleaded constituted a defense to the action, because they were all in existence and within defendant's knowledge at the time he brought the suit to quiet the title to the land. Farmers' State Bank v. Stephenson, 23 Okla. 695, 102 P. 992; El Reno v. Cleveland Trinidad Pav. Co., 25 Okla. 648, 107 P. 163, 27 L. R. A. (N. S.) 650. It seems to be a case for the application of the maxim, 'Nemo debet bis vexari pro una et eadem causa.'"

¶3 It is contended that this statement in the opinion is dictum, and therefore is not binding at this time. The evidence on the trial herein shows that the matters relied upon occurred long prior to the judgment of September 13, 1905, and that plaintiff in error at all times had claimed to be the equitable owner of the lot; and plaintiff in error could have amended his petition in the former action and alleged the facts upon which he now relies. Sec. 4795, Rev. Laws 1910, provides:

"Either party may be allowed, on notice, and on such terms as to costs as the court may prescribe, to file a supplemental petition, answer or reply, alleging facts material to the case, occurring after the former petition, answer or reply."

¶4 Plaintiff had the right to file supplemental petition, bringing upon the record any facts that had transpired subsequent to the filing of the petition and up to the date of the order sustaining the demurrer. The purpose of this statute, as we understand it, is to permit parties to avail themselves of any fact or matter that would have a bearing upon the litigation, so that the entire controversy may be settled in one lawsuit, and thereby obviate the necessity of trying a case by piecemeal. This court is committed to the doctrine that a judgment, when once rendered in a case, is conclusive as to every matter that might have been pleaded or given in evidence, whether same was in fact pleaded or not.

¶5 In Pratt v. Ratliff, Sheriff, 10 Okla. 168, 61 P. 523, it is said:

"A judgment

...