Court Opinion

ID: 9529085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:47:22.394845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:39.869409
License: Public Domain

WILLIAMS, Vice Chief Justice
(dissenting) .
I do not concur in the majority opinion. Such opinion holds that the lease in question could not be assigned without the consent or approval of the owner of the land. There is no provision to that effect in the lease, however, and no rule of law which requires the consent or approval of the landowner as a prerequisite to assignment of the lease in the absence of a provision to that effect therein. In both cases cited in the majority opinion, Reeves & Co. v. Sheets, 16 Okl. 342, 82 P. 487, and Megreedy v. Macklin, 12 Okl. 666, 73 P. 293, the lease contract involved specifically provided that such lease could not be assigned without the consent of the lessor and the approval thereof by the Secretary of the Interior. The lease here in question merely provides that it can be assigned or transferred only with the consent of the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, and no right to approve or disapprove an assignment thereof is retained by the lessor.
It should be borne in mind that plaintiff here is seeking a forfeiture or cancellation of the lease itself, and not merely the assignment thereof. In both of the above cited cases the assignment or attempted assignment of the lease was held void, but the lease itself was not forfeited or can-celled. Furthermore, the lease here involved contains a specific provision relative to forfeiture for violation of the provisions thereof, which is as follows:
“Upon the violation of any of the substantial terms and conditions of this lease, the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes (or lessor in event restrictions are removed) shall have the right at any time after thirty days’ notice to the lessee specifying the terms or conditions violated, to declare this lease null and void, and the lessor shall then be entitled and authorized to take immediate possession of the land, * * * ”.
Plaintiff has neither pleaded nor proven compliance with the foregoing provision of the lease, and has not even made the lessee a party to the action. Under such circumstances, plaintiff is clearly not entitled to the relief sought by him here.
Under the provisions of the lease and the holdings of this court in Reeves & Co. v, Sheets, supra, and Megreedy v. Macklin, supra, the assignment of the lease without the approval of the Superintendent merely renders the assignment void and ineffective, and does not work a forfeiture of the lease. If the assignment is void and ineffective, the leasehold estate is still vested in the original lessee, Gilbert. In order to obtain cancellation of the lease for violation of the covenants thereof, it would be necessary, under the terms of the lease, for plaintiff to give a thirty day notice to the lessee, Gilbert, specifying the violation relied upon as a ground for cancellation, as a prerequisite to the bringing of a suit to obtain such cancellation. Plaintiff has not only failed to lay the basis for his action by giving the prescribed notice, but has also failed to make a party defendant of the party who under plaintiff’s own allegations is the owner of the leasehold estate. The trial court therefore very properly denied plaintiff the relief sought and in my judgment should be affirmed.
I therefore respectfully dissent.