WYANT v. BEAVERS

WYANT v. BEAVERS
1917 OK 51
162 P. 732
63 Okla. 68
Case Number: 7205
Decided: 01/09/1917
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

WYANT
v.
BEAVERS.

Syllabus

¶0 1. Justices of the Peace-- Jurisdiction--Title to Real Estate. Pleadings examined, and held not to draw in question the title to real estate.
2. Judgment--Verdict-- Interest. The judgment of the court must follow the verdict; and where the verdict is general and for a sum in gross, and the question of interest was not reserved by the court, and there is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury omitted interest, it will be presumed that it is embraced in the amount of their finding, and the court cannot add interest to the amount found by the verdict of the jury. Following Blackwell, E. & S. R. Co. v. Bebout,

R. Wyant, for plaintiff in error.
W. S. Pendleton, for defendant in error.

TURNER, J.

¶1 This cause is submitted to this court upon a transcript of the record; the court, upon motion of defendant in error to dismiss this appeal, having held that the case made was a nullity. Wyant v. Beavers,

"The next complaint arises upon the action of the court in adding to the amount of the verdict of the jury the sum of $ 109.20 as and for interest. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury did not in the assessment of damages include the total amount that they deemed the defendant in error entitled to, and, in the absence of any indication to the contrary, the presumption is that they included in their award of damages every element that the landowner was entitled to. * * * It was the duty of the jury to assess the entire damage, and we must presume that they did so. ''In an action for the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, * * * interest may be given in the discretion of the jury.'' Wilson''s Rev. and Ann. St. 1908, sec. 2727.

"In the state of the record, we must presume that the jury exercised its discretion. It was error for the court to add any additional sum to the verdict, and the amount so allowed must be deducted from the judgment. It was the duty of the court to render judgment upon the verdict."

¶2 The court in the above case, after deducting the amount of interest added to the verdict of the court, affirmed the judgment. The judgment herein is modified to the extent of the amount of interest added of $ 22.46, and affirmed.

¶3 All the Justices concur.