Stinson v. Oklahoma Ry. Co.
Decision Date | 26 May 1942 |
Docket Number | 30299. |
Citation | 126 P.2d 260,190 Okla. 624,1942 OK 216 |
Parties | STINSON et al. v. OKLAHOMA RY. CO. et al. |
Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The law is opposed to forfeitures of estates; and conditions subsequent are not favored or to be raised by inference or implication.
2. A grant of real property for a particular use, without words of forfeiture, does not create a condition subsequent, but is a covenant.
3. The term or language of a conveyance will not be construed to create an estate on condition unless the language used, by its own force, imports a condition, or unless the intention of the grantor to create a condition subsequent is clearly expressed by the terms of the instrument itself. Priddy v. School District et al., 92 Okl. 254, 219 P. 141, 39 A.L.R. 1334.
Appeal from District Court, Oklahoma County; Clarence Mills, Judge.
Action by M. E. Stinson and I. M. Putnam against the Oklahoma Railway Company and the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, to recover damages for the alleged wrongful use and occupancy of realty, for ejectment, and to quiet title, wherein the Oklahoma Railway Company filed a cross-petition. From an adverse judgment, the plaintiffs appeal.
Judgment affirmed.
Chas H. Garnett, of Oklahoma City, for plaintiffs in error.
John Embry, M. M. Gibbens, and Calvin Boxley, all of Oklahoma City, for defendant in error Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church.
This is an appeal from an order sustaining the demurrer of the defendant, Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, hereafter called the church, to plaintiffs' third amended petition and to the answer and cross-petition of the defendant Oklahoma Railway Company. Plaintiffs elected to stand upon their petition and the trial court entered judgment for the church, dismissing plaintiffs' petition with prejudice from which judgment they appeal.
June 9, 1904, I. M. Putnam conveyed a certain described parcel of land to the Metropolitan Railway Company by warranty deed, the pertinent portions of which recited as follows:
June 15, 1904, the Metropolitan Railway Company conveyed all of its holdings to the Oklahoma Railway Company, including that tract which is the subject of the deed and this litigation.
Thereafter, May 24, 1920, the Oklahoma Railway Company quitclaimed this parcel of land to the church. October 1, 1924, Putnam executed a quitclaim deed to the same tract to the plaintiff, Stinson. The church went into possession of the land upon receipt of its deed in 1920, and has held possession since that time.
In the original petition plaintiff Stinson sought to recover damages for the alleged wrongful use and occupancy, ejectment, and to have the title quieted in herself. By amendment to the petition, Putnam, the original grantor, was joined as a necessary party plaintiff. The amended petition set up that neither the Metropolitan Railway Company nor the Oklahoma Railway Company, its successor, ever went into possession of the land.
The matter was heard upon plaintiffs' third amended petition and the separate demurrers of the church and the railway company, and the separate answer and cross-petition of the railway company. The church's demurrer was sustained as to the petition and the answer and cross-petition of the railway company. Plaintiffs' petition was dismissed, with prejudice, and the church was adjudged to hold fee title to the premises and title thereto was quieted in the church as against both the plaintiffs and the railway company.
From this judgment plaintiffs have appealed. As grounds for reversal of this judgment three propositions are set up. These propositions are:
Plaintiffs first contend, as the basis of the first proposition, that 66 O.S.1941 § 7, is the applicable statute. This section of our statute provides:
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