Don Barnes

This case involved Initiative Petition No. 16 in Muskogee, which proposed amending the city charter to incorporate state collective bargaining laws for firefighters and police officers while adding binding arbitration on unresolved issues. The city clerk declared the petition insufficient on the ground that its subject was not a proper matter for initiative under the Oklahoma Constitution. The district court ruled the topic legislative in nature and ordered it submitted to voters, but the Supreme Court reversed. The Court first determined that the district court had jurisdiction to hear protests under the Municipal Code (11 O.S. § 15-104) rather than requiring direct appeal to the Supreme Court. It then held that the measure addressed an administrative function of personnel management subject to fluctuating economic conditions, rather than a permanent legislative policy, and was therefore ineligible for the initiative process.

electionslabor & employmentprocedure

This case concerned whether a bondsman could have a forfeited bond vacated under Oklahoma statute when the defendant was arrested on unrelated charges by police and then symbolically surrendered to the court by the bondsman within the required sixty-day period. The trial court granted the motion to vacate the forfeiture, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed that decision. The court interpreted the statute's plain language to require setting aside the forfeiture upon surrender by the bondsman or defendant within sixty days, without regard to whether the bondsman initiated the return to custody. It rejected the state's argument that the bondsman must have caused the arrest for the provision to apply, emphasizing that the bondsman's act of delivering the defendant to the court satisfied the statutory condition.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved a products liability lawsuit filed by Emilianna Darnell against Chrysler Corporation and others, alleging defects related to a vehicle that resulted in her husband's death. The plaintiff filed the petition on the final day of the two-year statute of limitations, electing service by mail, but the summons was not deposited in the mail until the next day. The trial court dismissed the action on the ground that it was not timely commenced, the Court of Appeals reversed, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court granted certiorari to vacate that reversal and affirm the dismissal. The court reasoned that under 12 O.S. § 151, an action seeking mail service is deemed commenced only when the summons is mailed, and the more specific rule in that section controls over the general attempt-to-commence provision in § 97 when the limitations period is at issue.

proceduretorts & liability

This case involved a lawsuit by United General Insurance Company and Sam's Well Service against Crane Carrier Company for damage to an oil well servicing rig, caused by a defective tilt cylinder, with claims including negligence, breach of warranties, and manufacturers' product liability. The jury found for the plaintiffs on both product liability and breach of implied warranty theories and also found for Crane on its third-party indemnity claim against Newport Hydraulics. The court addressed certified questions on attorney fees, holding that the prevailing plaintiffs could recover fees under 12 O.S. 1981 § 936 for the breach of implied warranty claim despite the alternative product liability verdict, as the statute covers such actions and alternative theories are permitted. On the third-party claim, the court held that the defendant-third party plaintiff could recover from Newport the attorney fees it owed to the original plaintiffs under general indemnity principles, but could not recover its own fees incurred in litigating the indemnity action itself absent an express contract. The reasoning relied on statutory interpretation of §936, Oklahoma precedents allowing fees in warranty cases, and established common-law limits on indemnity for enforcement costs.

torts & liabilityprocedure

The case involved a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the spouse of Ronald Williams against the State of Oklahoma and its mental health hospital after Williams, who had mental illness, wandered from an open ward and died of exposure. The trial court awarded damages, but the state appealed claiming governmental immunity. The Oklahoma Supreme Court held that the mental health facilities operate as governmental functions, protected by sovereign immunity, reversing the judgment and ordering dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.

torts & liabilityhealthcare

In this case, parents petitioned an Oklahoma trial court to declare their eighteen-year-old deaf daughter incompetent under state guardianship statutes and to appoint them as guardians, citing her association with a Christian ministry and her adoption of Christian beliefs contrary to her Jewish upbringing. The trial court found the daughter "judgmentally immature" and thus incompetent. The Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed the decision, holding that the evidence failed to show the daughter was incapable of managing her person or property under the statutory standards, which require proof of inability to care for oneself or susceptibility to being deceived by others, and that the proceeding improperly infringed on her constitutional right to free exercise of religion.

religious libertyfamily lawcivil rights