Tidal Oil Co. v. Flanagan

• Decision Date: 28 March 1922
• Docket Number: Case Number: 11209
• Citation: 87 Okla. 231,209 P. 729,1922 OK 115
• Parties: TIDAL OIL CO. et al. v. FLANAGAN.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1922 OK 115

209 P. 729

87 Okla. 231

TIDAL OIL CO. et al. v. FLANAGAN.

Case Number: 11209

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: March 28, 1922

Syllabus

¶0 1. Quieting Title -- Action -- Who May Maintain.

Under c. 19 Session Laws 1910-11, one not in possession of real property may bring an action for the possession thereof and to quiet title thereto by invoking the jurisdiction of the court to cancel conveyances of record which constitute a cloud upon his title.

2. Deeds--Quitclaim Deed--Interest Conveyed.

Under section 1161, Revised Law1s 1010, a quitclaim deed conveys all of the right, title, and interest of the grantor to the grantee to the premises therein described, where such deed is executed in substantial compliance with c. 13, Revised Laws 1910.

3. Indians--Restricted Lands--Conveyances--Validity.

A conveyance of allotted restricted Indian lands made in violation of a federal statute authorizing the alienation of such lands is against public policy and absolutely void, and in no manner can any right, title, or interest in such lands be acquired under such a conveyance.

4. Same--Minor Allottees--Jurisdiction of State Courts--Quieting Title.

The district courts of this state are without jurisdiction to enter a valid judgment divesting an Indian minor allottee of title to his allotted lands by entering a decree quieting title in a party asserting title to such lands under void conveyances executed in violation of a federal statute prescribing the manner by which title may be acquired to such lands. The title to such lands may be acquired only under a regular probate sale as provided for by law.

5. Guardian and Ward--Oil and Gas Lease--County Courts--Jurisdiction.

The county courts of this state have jurisdiction, where it is made to appear to be for the best interest of a minor, to authorize the guardian to sell an oil and gas lease upon its lands as provided by the applicable statutes and the probate rules of the Supreme Court; but such courts are without power or authority to enter a valid order validating a void oil and gas lease executed in violation of the law.

6. Estoppel--Elements.

An essential element of estoppel is that the party invoking it must have been misled to his injury by the wrongful conduct of the party against whom it is invoked.

Error from District Court, Creek County; Lucien B. Wright, Judge.

Action by J. P. Flanagan against the Tidal Oil Company et al. in ejectment and to quiet title. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant brings error. Modified and affirmed.

West, Sherman, Davidson & Moore, Biddison & Campbell, and W. C. Franklin, for plaintiffs in error.

Edw. H. Chandler, Summers Hardy, George T. Brown, and B. B. Blakeney, for defendant in error.

KENNAMER, J.

¶1 This action involves the title to 120 acres of land located in Creek county, Okla., originally allotted to Robert Marshall, enrolled as a Creek freedman opposite roll No. 5449. The action was instituted by J. P. Flanagan against the Tidal Oil Company et al., as defendants, to quiet title to the lands and for an accounting as to the amount of oil and gas extracted from the lands by the defendants. The plaintiff asserted title to the lands under a general warranty deed dated January 22, 1916, executed by Robert Marshall, the allottee, purporting to convey to him the lands in controversy, and a quitclaim deed executed October 13, 1916. The Tidal Oil Company in its answer admitted the lands in controversy were allotted to Robert Marshall; the execution of the deeds under which the plaintiff asserted title, but denied that the plaintiff held the lands adversely to the defendant Tidal Oil Company; alleged that it, long prior to the purchase of the lands by the plaintiff, was in the actual possession thereof, with the knowledge and consent of the plaintiff, operating the lands for oil and gas under certain oil and gas mining leases set up in the answer. E. M. Arnold, one of the defendants, disclaimed any interest in the lands. The answer of Eleanor Arnold, in substance, was the same as the answer of the Tidal Oil Company, except she asserted that she was entitled to three-fourths of the royalties due under the leases pleaded by the defendants.

¶2 The cause was tried in the district court of Creek county in July, 1919. The trial court, at the conclusion of the introduction of the testimony of the plaintiff and the defendants, found the issues in favor of the plaintiff; decreed him to be owner of and entitled to the possession of the lands in controversy, and that the defendants have no right, title, or interest in or to the lands or any part thereof. The court appointed a referee to take an accounting of the oil and gas extracted from the premises since October 13, 1916; ordered that the referee report his findings, conclusions, and evidence to the court in writing before the 15th day of September, 1919. Upon the report of the referee subsequently filed, the court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Flanagan, for possession of the lands, quieting title in him, and for the sum of $ 108,140.91, against the defendant Tidal Oil Company, the value of oil, gas, and petroleum extracted from the lands since the 13th day of October, 1916, and for $ 10,135.20 against the defendant Eleanor Arnold, the value of 3/32 of all the oil, gas, and petroleum extracted from the premises since October 13, 1916.

¶3 This appeal is prosecuted by Tidal Oil Company and Eleanor Arnold to reverse the judgment of the trial court. Numerous assignments of error are assigned for reversal of the judgment. The essential facts necessary to be considered to a decision in this cause appear to be as follows: In July, 1909, Robert Marshall, a Creek freedman, the allottee of the lands in controversy, while a minor 14 years of age, was married. In October, 1909, the district court of Creek county entered an order conferring majority rights upon Marshall. After the marriage and the order conferring majority rights upon Marshall he executed an assignment of the oil and gas royalties upon his allotment, a deed to portions of it, and an option contract for the sale of the other portion of his land not covered by the deed which he had executed. All of these instruments, it is conceded, were executed while Marshall was a minor. After the execution of the deed by Marshall attempting to convey portions of his land, the grantees in the deed executed an oil and gas lease upon part of the land to the Arkansas Oil Company and an oil and gas lease to other portions of the land to the Orient Oil & Gas Company, which instruments were assigned to the Oklahoma Oil Company, now the Tidal Oil Company.

¶4 The allottee, Robert Marshall, after the execution of these various instruments, filed an action in the district court of Creek county to cancel the conveyances made by him upon his allotment. On the 16th day of May, 1910, the district court of Creek county rendered judgment against him in favor of the defendants in the action. Arnold, Hymans, and Lawson, who were the grantees in the respective conveyances executed by Marshall. A motion was filed to vacate this judgment, which was overruled in June, 1913.

¶5 Thereafter, on the 11th day of June, 1910, Robert Marshall was by the county court of Creek county declared an incompetent and a guardian appointed for him. After the appointment of a guardian for Marshall, an attempted settlement of the litigation which had been instituted by Marshall in the district court to recover his allotted lands was entered into between the guardian of Marshall and the defendants in the action. Under the terms of this settlement the lands were reconveyed to Marshall, but the oil and gas leases executed by Arnold, Hymans, and Lawson, after they had received their conveyances from Marshall while a minor, were ratified and confirmed by the guardian of Marshall and the agreement of settlement approved by the county court of Creek county. Marshall, under the compromise settlement, was to receive one-fourth of the royalties accruing upon his lands under the leases which had been executed by Hymans and Lawson.

¶6 The guardian of Marshall, thereafter, on the 24th day of August. 1915, assigned and quitclaimed to the defendant Tidal Oil Company all the oil and gas mining rights and privileges in and to the lands in controversy, reserving to the minor allottee one-fourth of the one-eighth royalties and the remaining three-fourths of the royalties to be paid to Arnold. This contract was approved on the same date by the county court of Creek County.

¶7 On January 22, 1916, while Marshall was still under guardianship as an incompetent, the plaintiff, Flanagan, in this action purchased the lands from Marshall under warranty deed, and it is conceded that this deed is void. It is admitted by the parties that on October 13, 1916, after Marshall had been discharged from guardianship and had reached the age of majority, he executed to the plaintiff, Flanagan, a quitclaim deed conveying to him the lands in controversy.

¶8 The first proposition argued by counsel for the Tidal Oil Company and Eleanor Arnold is that Flanagan could not maintain this action to quiet title under section 4927, Revised Laws 1910, for the reason he was not in the actual possession of the lands on the date of the institution of the action. There is no merit in this contention. This section of the statute, supra, was amended by c. 10, Session Laws 1910-11, p. 25, which section as amended permits a party to maintain an action to quiet title to real property out of possession by joining with it an action to recover possession. The section of the statute as amended reads as follows:

"An action may be brought by any person in possession by himself or tenant of real property, against any person who claims an estate or any interest therein adverse to him, for the purpose of determining such adverse estate or interest, and such action may be joined with an action to recover possession of such real property by

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