Stewart v. Seigle, 36166
| Decision Date | 14 September 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 36166,36166 |
| Citation | 274 P.2d 395 |
| Parties | Charlie Claud STEWART, Plaintiff in Error, v. Maurice SEIGLE, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. When land has been sold for taxes and the tax deed purchaser seeks to rely on the statute 12 O.S.1951 § 93 to create a title by prescription or to bar an effort of the owner at time of tax sale to show the tax sale was void, such purchaser must show recordation of tax deed and occupancy of the premises, both for the period of five years provided by such statute.
2. In circumstances where the law could furnish adequate relief and one has failed to pursue this remedy at law and in the manner provided by law, there is no basis for the exercise of the equitable power of the court to hear his suit which is outside the limits of statutory authority.
C. R. Thurwell, Tulsa, Wm. O. Leach, Duncan, for plaintiff in error.
C. C. Wilkins, Marietta, J. P. Speer, Duncan, for defendant in error.
The plaintiff sued the defendant to quiet title to real estate. In petition filed February 12, 1947, the plaintiff alleged his ownership and possession of certain described real estate claimed under and by virtue of a tax deed executed and filed for record in February, 1946. The defendant was constructively summoned in the case. On December 31, 1948, a judgment was entered, quieting the title to the property in the plaintiff. In May, 1951, the defendant filed application to open and vacate the judgment, and tendered an answer in the case. The judgment was vacated and the defendant's answer was filed. In said answer the defendant made a general denial of the allegations in the plaintiff's petition, and averred that plaintiff's tax deed is void for certain stated reasons, and that plaintiff has never been in possession of the property, and that said property is a part of the property allotted to the defendant as a Chickasaw Indian under allotment patent issued to him on March 2, 1908, and that defendant since said date has been in possession of said property. The defendant prayed that said tax deed be cancelled and held for naught. In subsequent amendments to pleadings the parties each asserted the bar of the statute of limitations against the other. Reference was to the limitation provided in 12 O.S.Supp.1947 § 93, and as amended Laws 1949, and now 12 O.S.1951 § 93.
At trial the plaintiff introduced his tax deed with testimony to the effect that the property does not appear to have ever been occupied by anybody. The defendant presented a demurrer to the plaintiff's evidence.
The defendant testified that the property involved was allotted to him as a member of the Chickasaw Tribe of Indians, and that he had never sold, transferred or conveyed any part of it; that he had never lived on it; that it practically laid out ever since he had it; that he could not recall that he had ever received any rent on it; that at various times he had executed oil and gas leases covering the property.
The trial court specifically made no finding in reference to the validity or invalidity of the tax deed, and made a finding that the property involved is vacant and unoccupied property. The court, with reference to 12 O.S.1951 § 93, held that the defendant is barred from contesting the validity of the plaintiff's tax deed by reason of its recordation for more than five years before the defendant's answer was filed. Judgment was entered to the effect that the plaintiff's title to the land and right to possession be quieted against the defendant.
Since the rendition of the aforesaid judgment, in other appealed cases, this court has held:
'When land has been sold for taxes and the tax deed purchaser seeks to rely on the statute 12 O.S.1951, § 93 to create a title by prescription or to bar an effort of the owner at time of tax sale to show the tax sale was void, such purchaser must show recordation of tax deed and occupancy of the premises, both for the period of five years provided by such statute.' Williams v. Bailey, Okl., 268 P.2d 868, 869; Sarkeys v. Scott, Okl., 269 P.2d 779.
See, also, Jenkins v. Frederick, 208 Okl. 583, 257 P.2d 1058, and Woods v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 207 Okl. 490, 251 P.2d 505.
Herein, the plaintiff admitted that neither he nor any privy of his had ever been in the actual possession of the property described in his tax deed. The bar of the statute, 12 O.S.1951 § 93, as pertains to real property sold for taxes, is against an action for the recovery of the property, and does not afford any relief to a tax deed holder never in possession, but might be asserted against a tax deed holder not in possession. The...
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