Anadarko Land Corporation F/K/A Union Pacific Land Resources Corporation, a Nebraska Corporation, and Three Sisters, Llc, a Wyoming Limited Liability Company v. Family Tree Corporation, a Wyoming Corporation

2017 WY 24, 389 P.3d 1218, 2017 WL 837236, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 24
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 2017
DocketS-16-0131
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2017 WY 24 (Anadarko Land Corporation F/K/A Union Pacific Land Resources Corporation, a Nebraska Corporation, and Three Sisters, Llc, a Wyoming Limited Liability Company v. Family Tree Corporation, a Wyoming Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anadarko Land Corporation F/K/A Union Pacific Land Resources Corporation, a Nebraska Corporation, and Three Sisters, Llc, a Wyoming Limited Liability Company v. Family Tree Corporation, a Wyoming Corporation, 2017 WY 24, 389 P.3d 1218, 2017 WL 837236, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 24 (Wyo. 2017).

Opinions

HILL, Justice.

[¶1] Anadarko Land Corporation (Anadar-ko) appeals a district court decision upholding the validity of a 1911 Laramie County tax assessment against minerals owned by Ana-darko’s predecessor, as well as the tax sale and tax deed that eventually emanated from the failure to pay those taxes. We affirm,

ISSUE

112] Anadarko presents a single issue on appeal:

Whether the district court erred in quieting title to Appellee Family Tree based upon a 1912 tax sale that was void ab initio.

FACTS

[¶3] This case presents a dispute over title to certain mineral interests underlying Section 7, Township 14 North, Range 65 West, 6th P.M., in Laramie County (hereinafter Section 7). Section 7, both its mineral and surface estates, was among lands that the United States, in 1901, granted by patent and deed to Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific). The present title dispute arises out of a 1911 Laramie County tax assessment against Union Pacific’s Section 7 mineral interests and the county’s subsequent tax sale and issuance of a tax deed for the property.

A. Tax Assessment and Sale

[¶4] In 1911, Laramie County assessed taxes on the unprodueed minerals underlying Section 7. Union Pacific did not pay the assessed taxes, and in 1912, Laramie County placed the Section 7 minerals up for bid at a tax sale. No one bid on the Section 7 minerals, so Laramie County bid on and acquired the Section 7 minerals. Union Pacific did not exercise its right to redeem the Section 7 minerals or otherwise seek to recover the property following the 1912 tax sale.

[¶5] In 1919, Laramie County sold the Section 7 minerals to Iowa Land & Livestock Company. The tax deed for the Section 7 minerals was not, however, issued until March 1949. The record contains no explanation for the delay in issuing the tax deed, but the parties do not dispute that the deed resulted from the 1912 tax sale and Laramie County’s subsequent sale of the Section 7 minerals in 1919.

[1220]*1220B. Diverging Chains of Title

[¶6] Although Union Pacific did not exercise its right to redeem the Section 7 minerals or otherwise seek to recover the property following the 1912 tax sale, it thereafter conducted itself as if it still owned the Section 7 minerals. In September 1914, Union Pacific conveyed Section 7 to Iowa Land & Livestock Company by warranty deed, and through that deed Union Pacific purported to reserve for itself, its successors and assigns, all oil, coal, and other minerals underlying Section 7. Two claimed chains of title thus emerged following the 1912 tax sale, one stemming from Union Pacific’s purported ownership of the Section 7 minerals, and one stemming from Laramie County’s tax sale of the minerals and issuance of a tax deed.

1. Appellant Anadarko’s Title Claim

[¶7] Appellant Anadarko Land Corporation (Anadarko) claims title to the Section 7 minerals by a direct conveyance from Union Pacific, several years after the tax sale. Specifically, in April 1971, Union Pacific conveyed, by quitclaim deed, its rights, title and interest in Section 7 to Union Pacific Land Resources Corporation, Anadarko’s predecessor in interest. Effective December 1, 2000, Union Pacific Land Resources Corporation changed its name to RME Land Corporation. Effective October 1, 2002, RME Land Corporation changed its name to Ana-darko Land Corporation (Anadarko). Ana-darko’s claim of title therefore originated with Union Pacific’s original 1901 patent and its purported reservation of the Section 7 minerals in the 1914 conveyance from Union Pacific to Iowa Land and Livestock Company, and it concluded with the April 1971 conveyance.1

2. Appellee Family Tree’s Title Claim

[¶8] Appellee Family Tree Corporation (Family Tree) claims title to portions of the Section 7 minerals. In June 2010, Family Tree obtained certain of the Section 7 mineral interests by entering into an oil and gas lease.2 In June 2014, additional Section 7 mineral interests were conveyed to Family Tree by a mineral grant deed.3 The chain of [1221]*1221title that led to Family Tree’s lease and the mineral grant deed is as follows:

September 15,1914: Warranty Deed from Union Pacific to Iowa Land and Livestock, granting the surface of Section 7 and purporting to reserve the Section 7 minerals.
December 9, 1918: Warranty Deed from Iowa Land and Livestock to U.G. John conveying all of Section 7 with no express reservation of the Section 7 minerals.
March 5,1919: Minutes of county commissioners meeting reflecting the acceptance of the sale of the Section 7 minerals to Iowa Land and Livestock.
September 29, 1923: Warranty Deed from U.G. John and Frances John to Bell Livestock conveying all of Section 7 with no express reservation of the Section 7 minerals.
April 28, 1934: Warranty Deed from Bell Livestock to Howard S. Christensen conveying all of Section 7 with no express reservation of the Section 7 minerals.
March 2, 1949: Laramie County Commissioner’s Deed conveying to Iowa Land and Livestock all Section 7 minerals.
November 4, 1969: Warranty Deed from Howard S. and Verna M. Christensen to Ray L. Alexander and Georgia Alexander conveying a parcel of Section 7 with no express reservation of minerals.
September 5, 1976: Warranty Deed from Howard S. Christensen to Edward E. Kop-sa and Phyllis E. Kopsa, and Bill Mcllvain and Ila Mcllvain conveying a parcel of Section 7 with no express reservation of minerals.
September 29,1976: Warranty Deed from Howard S. Christensen to Ray L. and Georgia L. Alexander conveying to them a second parcel of Section 7 with no express reservation of minerals.
June 23, 2003: Warranty deed from the Alexanders to the Alexander Revocable Trust conveying both their Section 7 parcels with no express reservation of minerals.
June 12, 2010: Paid-Up Oil and Gas Lease between Family Tree as lessee and Raymond and Georgia Alexander, Trustees of the Alexander Revocable Trust, as lessors, leasing the Alexander Section 7 parcels to Family Tree.
June 4, 2014: Mineral Grant Deed between Family Tree, as grantee, and Bill D. Mcllvain and Ila M. Mcllvain, as grantors, conveying one-half of their interest in the minerals underlying their Section 7 lands.

3. Appellant Three Sisters’ Title Claim

[¶9] Appellant Three Sisters also claims an ownership interest in the Section 7 minerals and is aligned with Anadarko. In their joint summary judgment memorandum, Anadarko and Three Sisters explained Three Sisters’ interest:

[O]n April 20, 2001, RME Land Corporation entered into a Settlement Agreement with Three Sisters, LLC whereby each party quitclaimed to the other all rights, title, and interests necessary to vest in each other an undivided ½ interest in the mineral estate of the Property. The Settlement Agreement was recorded on July 17, 2001 in the office of the County Clerk of Laramie County, Wyoming at Book 1601, Page 163.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 WY 24, 389 P.3d 1218, 2017 WL 837236, 2017 Wyo. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anadarko-land-corporation-fka-union-pacific-land-resources-corporation-a-wyo-2017.