NEAL v. LYMAN

NEAL v. LYMAN
1943 OK 428
144 P.2d 113
193 Okla. 406
Case Number: 31182
Decided: 12/21/1943
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

NEAL
v.
LYMAN et al.

Syllabus

¶0 APPEAL AND ERROR--Failure of defendant in error to file brief--Reversal with directions.
Where plaintiff in error has served and filed brief, but the defendant in error has neither filed a brief nor offered any excuse for his 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, with directions.

Appeal from District Court, Pottawatomie County; Clyde G. Pitman, Judge.

Action to quiet title by Edwin S. Neal against Vina Lyman and Delbert Lyman. From a judgment for the defendants, plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.

Homer Caldwell, of Oklahoma City, and John T. Levergood, of Shawnee, for plaintiff in error.
M. M. Chapman, of Shawnee, for defendants in error.

PER CURIAM.

¶1 Plaintiff has appealed from a judgment rendered in favor of the defendants in the trial court, and on April 10, 1943, filed his brief. The authorities therein cited reasonably sustain the allegations of error. The defendants have filed no brief and have offered no excuse for such failure. Under such circumstances, as stated in Gooldy v. Hines, 186 Okla. 583, 99 P.2d 498, it is not the duty of this court to search the record for some theory upon which to sustain the action of the trial court, but the cause will be reversed and remanded with directions.

¶2 The cause is, therefore, reversed and remanded, with directions to vacate the judgment for the defendants and to grant a new trial.

¶3 CORN, C.J., and RILEY, OSBORN, BAYLESS, WELCH, HURST, DAVISON, and ARNOLD, JJ., concur. GIBSON, V.C.J., absent.