SAWYER v. W. R. THOMPSON & SONS LBR. CO.

SAWYER v. W. R. THOMPSON & SONS LBR. CO.
1926 OK 575
252 P. 1
123 Okla. 146
Case Number: 16542
Decided: 06/22/1926
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

SAWYER
v.
W. R. THOMPSON & SONS LBR. CO. et al.

Syllabus

¶0 1. Appeal and Error--Review--Sufficiency of Evidence in Equity Case. This court will weigh the evidence in a case of purely equitable cognizance, but will not reverse the same unless it be clearly against the weight of the evidence.
2. Judgment Sustained. Record examined; held, to be sufficient to support judgment in favor of the defendants.

B. B. Blakeney, Hubert Ambrister, W. R. Wallace, and Kathryn Van Leuven, for plaintiff in error.

Harry O. Glasser, for defendants in error.

STEPHENSON, C.

¶1 Frank S. Sawyer, who resided in Chicago, commenced his action against W. R. Thompson & Sons Lumber Company to quiet title to certain town lots in the city of Enid. The defendants filed their cross-action to quiet title in the property against the plaintiff. The trial of the cause resulted in judgment for the defendants, quieting title in the property in the latter. The plaintiff has perfected his appeal to this court, and assigns several of the proceedings had in the trial of the cause as error for reversal. The record title to the lots in question stood in D. S. Fisher about the 3rd day of April 1921. It appears that H. W. Sawyer, a brother of the plaintiff, contracted for the owner, with G. H. Bowdish, to sell the property to Bowdish. Bowdish constructed some improvements on the lots and purchased the material from the defendants. Bowdish failed to pay for the material, and the defendants filed mechanic's lien on the property against D. S. Fisher, G. H. Bowdish, and H. W. Sawyer. The defendants thereafter commenced their action to foreclose the mechanic's lien against the property, in which the parties named were made parties defendants in the foreclosure proceedings. The proceedings for the foreclosure of the mechanic's lien came on for trial on the 19th day of January, 1924. Attorneys appeared for D. S. Fisher, H. W. Sawyer, and G. H. Bowdish. Counsel for D. S. Fisher stated in court in the trial of the cause that the latter held the title to secure the payment of the remainder of the purchase price for the lots purchased by Bowdish. It was agreed among the parties that the remainder of the purchase price for the lots was in the sum of $ 382. The court found as a matter of law that the $ 382 was a prior claim to that of the lienholder, and the latter agreed to pay and did pay into court the sum of money for the benefit of the owner of the property. The court ordered the foreclosure of the liens against the record owner, D. S. Fisher, and the judgment also ran against H. W. Sawyer and G. H. Bowdish. The court ordered the sale of the property to satisfy the judgment. Notice was given that the sale of the property would be made, as provided by law, on the 7th day of April, 1924. The property was offered at public sale and was bid in at the sale by W. R. Thompson & Sons Lumber Company. The property was confirmed to the latter and deed executed and delivered by the sheriff.