Oklahoma Historical Society v. Wabaunsee

OPALA, Justice:

The question before us is whether the Court of Appeals correctly held that an earlier opinion by this Court in Burkhart1 precluded unsuccessful litigants therein from later seeking a new trial by petition pursuant to 12 O.S.1971 §§ 651(9) and 655 on the grounds of impossibility to secure appellate record.

After their appeal was dismissed in Burk-hart for failure to complete a record within the six-months’ limit,2 appellees herein3 petitioned the district court for § 655 relief. Their contention was that the “impossibility” the law called upon them to establish came to manifest…