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Weaver v. Casey7/30/1991
CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED; OPINION OF THE COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; JUDGMENT OF TRIAL COURT REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: ALMA WILSON, Justice.
This action was initiated by the Pawnee County District Attorney pursuant to 22 O.S.Supp. 1987 § 1321 seeking determination of ownership of a stolen 1973 John Deere 4030 tractor and an order of release. The issue presented is whether the claim of ownership and right of possession of the owner from whom the tractor was stolen is barred by the two-year limitation period in 12 O.S. 1981 § 95 Third. This issue requires us to determine the point in time when a claim for recovery of stolen property accrues. We hold that, for purposes of determining the two-year limitation period in 12 O.S. 1981 § 95 Third, a claim for recovery of stolen property by the owner from whom the property was stolen accrues when the owner first knows or, in the exercise of due diligence, should have known the whereabouts of the stolen property.
The evidence establishes the following undisputed facts. Victor C. Weaver, Appellant, owned a 1973 John Deere 4030 tractor, serial number 4030H002916R, motor number 241861T, which was stolen from his farm in Osage County, near Grainola, Oklahoma, during the evening of August 18th or the early morning of August 19, 1978. Weaver immediately reported the theft to the Osage County Sheriff's office. Upon investigation, the sheriff's office reported the stolen tractor, serial number 241861T, to the National Crime Institute Center (N.C.I.C.) and to the Cattlemen's Association. More than five years after the theft, in September, 1983, the tractor was sold by the Pawnee National Bank in Pawnee, Oklahoma, to Dennis Equipment Company, a John Deere dealership in Pawnee, Oklahoma. Dennis Equipment Company repaired and refurbished the tractor and, on May 5, 1984, sold it to Appellee, Carl Casey. The tractor remained in Casey's possession in Pawnee County until it was seized by the Pawnee County Sheriff's office in July, 1987. Verification of the serial number and the motor number on the seized tractor, ordered during the trial, conclusively identified it as the tractor stolen from Weaver in 1978.
The pleadings do not allege nor does the evidence raise a fact question as to whether Weaver knew or, in the exercise of due diligence, could have discovered the whereabouts of his stolen tractor prior to its recovery by the Pawnee County Sheriff's office in July, 1987. There is testimony from the owner of Dennis Equipment Company that the tractor was purchased at a forced sale by the Pawnee bank. No evidence was offered to show that Weaver had notice of that sale. There is also testimony that in 1983 and 1984, the time period that Dennis Equipment Company had possession of the tractor, Dennis Equipment Company received listings of serial numbers of John Deere equipment reported as stolen to the N.C.I.C. but did not search those listings for the serial numbers on the tractor.
At trial Casey asserted the two-year limitation period in 12 O.S. 1981 § 95 Third as a bar to Weaver's claim of ownership and right to possession of the tractor. The trial court found that Casey was a bona fide purchaser and had owned the tractor for more than four years. Relying upon Burroughs Adding Machine v. Bivens-Corhn Co., 189 Okl. 616, 119 P.2d 58 (1941), the trial court concluded that Weaver's claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations and ordered release of the tractor to Casey. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court. We previously granted certiorari. We find that our early replevin case law relied upon by the trial co
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