In re CHILDS' ESTATE

In re CHILDS' ESTATE
1922 OK 281
209 P. 403
87 Okla. 83
Case Number: 10831
Decided: 09/26/1922
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

IN RE CHILDS' ESTATE.
SNEED
v.
SNEED ET AL.

Syllabus by the Court.

¶0 Where plaintiff in error has served and filed his brief in compliance with the rules of this court, and the defendant in error has neither filed a brief nor offered any excuse for such failure, the court is not required to search the record to find some theory upon which the judgment of the trial court may be sustained, but may, where the authorities cited in the brief filed appear to reasonably sustain the assignments of error, reverse the cause in accordance with the prayer of the petition.

Appeal from Superior Court, Okmulgee County; R. E. Simpson, Judge.

In the matter of the estate of Lucy Childs, deceased. Proceedings between Artra Sneed and W. S. Sneed and others. From a judgment of the superior court denying probate of the last will and testament of decedent, which affirmed the judgment of the county court, the former appeals. Reversed and remanded.

L. J. Meriwether and R. S. Gamble, both of Okmulgee, for plaintiff in error.

NICHOLSON, J.

¶1 This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court of Okmulgee county, denying probate of the last will and testament of Lucy Childs, deceased, which judgment affirmed the judgment of the county court of said county.

¶2 Plaintiff in error has served and filed her brief, but no brief has been filed by the defendants in error. It is a well-established rule in this jurisdiction that where the plaintiff in error has served and filed his brief in compliance with the rules of this court, and the defendants in error have neither filed a brief nor offered any excuse for their failure to do so, the court is not required to search the record to find some theory upon which the judgment of the trial court may be sustained, but may, where the authorities cited in the brief filed appear reasonably to sustain the assignments of error, reverse the cause in accordance with the prayer of the petition in error. Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Weaver (Okla. Sup.) 170 P. 34; Lawton National Bank v. Ulrich,

The brief of the plaintiff in error and the authorities therein cited appear reasonably to sustain the assignment of error, therefore the judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.