State ex rel. Oklahoma Employment Sec. Com'n v. Eddie
| Decision Date | 12 December 1944 |
| Docket Number | 31367. |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. OKLAHOMA EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION v. EDDIE et al. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Jan. 16, 1945.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. It is the general rule that unless the statute provides to the contrary or unless the state is necessarily included by the nature of the mischief sought to be remedied, the statute of limitations does not apply to states when suing in their sovereign capacity.
2. When the State of Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma Employment Security Commission seeks to recover contributions exacted of employers as provided by ch. 52, S.L.1936, Ex.Sess., now contained in Title 40, Ch. 6, O.S.1941, it is acting in a sovereign capacity and seeks the enforcement of a public as distinguished from a private property right and is therefore immune from the operation of the general statute of limitations, Title 12 O.S.1941, § 95.
3. In construing a statute of limitations, it must, so far as it affects rights of action in existence when the statute is passed, be held, in the absence of a contrary provision, to begin when the cause of action is first subjected to its operation.
Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, Oklahoma County; Glen O. Morris Judge.
Proceeding by the State of Oklahoma, on relation of Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, against K. Eddie and others individually, and as co-partners, doing business as Superior Feed Mills, to recover and collect contribution required of employers under the Oklahoma Unemployment Compensation Law of 1938, 40 O.S.1941 §§ 211-229. From a judgment for defendants based upon application of Statute of Limitation, the plaintiff appeals.
Reversed and remanded.
Bruton Wood, Burton Duncan and Mark L. Neumann, all of Oklahoma City, for plaintiff in error.
Twyford & Smith, of Oklahoma City, for defendants in error.
This is an action for the recovery and collection of contributions exacted by the provisions of Ch. 52, S.L.1936, Ex.Sess. Now contained in 40 O.S.1941,§§ 211-229.
The action was commenced on January 6, 1942, and sought recovery upon contributions alleged to have become due and payable in 1936 and 1937. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the petition upon the theory that the causes of action were barred by limitation, from which action and judgment of the court this appeal was taken.
The statutes upon which the action is based were enacted in 1936 and among other things Sec. 14(b) thereof provided as follows (40 O.S.1941 § 224(b)(1): The act contained no clause limiting the time within which such actions might be brought.
By Sec 15, Ch. 6, S.L.1941, Title 40, Sec. 224(b)(4), O.S.1941, said section 14 of the former act was amended as follows: "Civil actions brought hereunder to collect contributions, interest or penalty thereon, from an employer, must be commenced within three years after the date on which the report or return was filed or was required to be filed."
More than three years had elapsed after the date on which these reports and returns were filed or were required to be filed at the time of the 1941 amendment.
We have to determine herein whether the general statutes of limitation applied prior to the 1941 amendment, and if not, the effect of such amendment.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Eureka Printing Co. v. Division of Employment Sec., Dept. of Labor and Industry
...(1952); 39 Yale L.J. 757 (1930); 6 U.Cinn.L.Rev. 100 (1932); 32 Chi-Kent L.Rev. 346 (1954). Cf. State ex rel. Oklahoma Employment Security Comm. v. Eddie, 195 Okl. 26, 154 P.2d 763 (1944). The cases which have given prospective application to statutes of limitation have relied heavily on th......
-
State of Okl. v. Children's Shelter, Inc., CIV-84-364-W.
...Co. v. State ex rel. Fallis, 525 P.2d 638 (Okla.1974); Sears v. Fair, 397 P.2d 134 (Okla.1964); State ex rel. Oklahoma Employment Securities Comm'n v. Eddie, 195 Okla. 26, 154 P.2d 763 (1945); Herndon v. Board of Comm'rs for Pontotoc County, 158 Okla. 14, 11 P.2d 939 (1932)). The state cour......
-
State ex rel. Cartwright v. Tidmore
...ex rel. Fallis, 525 P.2d 638 (Okl.1974); Sears v. Fair, 397 P.2d 134, 55 A.L.R.2d 554 (Okl.1964) ; State ex rel. Oklahoma Employment Security Com'n v. Eddie, 195 Okl. 26, 154 P.2d 763 (1945); Herndon v. Board of Com'rs in and for Pontotoc County, 158 Okl. 14, 11 P.2d 939 (1932). The determi......
-
Karbs v. Bouse
... ... statute similar to the Oklahoma statute, hold that remarriage ... of the widow, ... ...