Andrews v. Brown

283 S.W. 288, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 1053
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1926
DocketNo. 6914.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 283 S.W. 288 (Andrews v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrews v. Brown, 283 S.W. 288, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 1053 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

McCLENDON, C. j.

The litigation involved in this appeal is among the heirs at law of N. H. Brown, deceased. It had its inception in a controversy over $57,500, which was the net amount received by W. A. and S. H. Brown, two of the sons of N. H. Brown, as a bonus for an oil lease on' 65 acres of land in Navarro county, which, land had been qonveyed to W. A. and S. H. Brown by their father, he reserving in himself, however, a life estate in the minerals. This controversy furnishes the main bone of contention between the parties, and but for it the litigation in all probability would never have arisen.

The controlling facts which the appeal involves may be briefly summarized, chronologically, as follows:

The wife of N. H. Brown died intestate about 40 years before the litigation began. Of this marriage there were born nine children (six daughters and three sons). Some years prior to the litigation one of the daughters, who had married one Richie, died, leaving three children, to whom we will refer as the Richie children. The record does not disclose the condition of the community ■estate of N. H. Brown and wife at the death of the latter, but it is quite apparent that the value of the estate was small. . Subsequently to the death of his wife N. H. Brown moved to Navarro county. He was a farmer, and appears to have been a good business manager and accumulated from time to time a great deal of land. Some 15 years or more before his death he adopted the policy of dividing up his estate among his children, and gave to each of them, with the exception of one of his daughters, a tract or tracts of land aggregating from SO to 100 acres. To this daughter he gave the proceeds (about $5,000) of the sale of a tract of about the same acreage as that given to the other children. His method in making.these donations was first to make a verbal gift, putting the donee in possession for a number of years, and later making a deed. He began this policy about 1904 or 1905, and began making deeds about 1916. To his three sons (W. A., S. H., and C. A. Brown) he gave jointly a tract of 100 acres, of which the 65 acres above referred to is a part, and, in addition, he gave each a tract of 60 acres, making 93% acres' to each. The three sons moved onto different portions of the 100 acres shortly after the gift, which was some time about the year 1908, and each made some improvements on the portion of which he took possession. W. A. and. S. H. Brown acquired from the third son, C. A. Brown, his interest in the 100-acre tract, and in 1917 N. H. Brown conveyed this tract jointly to W. A. and S. H. Brown. The conveyance, which is in the ordinary form of a general warranty deed, contained the following reservation:

“It is distinctly understood, however, that I reserve to myself, for and during my lifetime, all of the oil, gas and other minerals in, under and upon said land, and all .of the royalties arising therefrom, such oil, gas, mineral rights and royalties to become the property of the grantees upon my death.”

N. H. Brown had acquired this 100-aere tract in 1901, paying therefor $35 an acre. About 1905 he executed an oil lease on the tract, under which the lessees developed a number of shallow wells. These wells were on both the 35-acre and the 65-acre, portions of the tract, and those on the 35-acre portion were still producing when N. H. Brown died. The wells on the 65-acre tract ceased to produce and were abandoned many years ago; and a short time before the trial suits had been instituted by S. H., W. A., and N. H. Brown to cancel the lease. This litigation was compromised about January, 1923, and the lease was canceled as to the 65 acres. N. I-I. Brown collected and appropriated all the royalties under this lease up to the time of his death. This land was located near Powell, and on January 7, 1923, a deep test well which was being drilled in the vicinity was brought in as a very large producer. This fact at once created a demand for oil leases in the vicinity and ran the price of leases to as high as about $1,000 an acre bonus, according to the location of the land with reference to the “discovery well.” Two days later W. A. and S. H. Brown concluded negotiations with one Wortham, who was an oil lease broker, for a lease upon the 65 acres under the following terms: The lease was to be made to the Roxana Petroleum Company on what is commonly known , as form 88; a bonus of $62,500 was to be paid on delivery of the lease, of which sum Wortham was to receive $5,000; the lessee company was to pay one-eighth royalty on all oil produced, and out of one-half of the remaining seven-eighths it was also to pay to Wortham an additional $5,000.

*290 While these negotiations were being conducted an agreement was made between W. A. and S. H. Brown, and N. H. Brown, whereby the former were to pay the latter $1,000 for his life estate in the minerals in the 65 acres. The evidence is clear and conclusive that N. H. Brown was cognizant of the negotiations with Wortham, and knew the exact amount that was being paid as a bonus for the lease. This lease wms executed by W. A. and S. H. Brown on January 10, 1923, and placed in escrow pending payment of the bonus. On the same day there was executed and recorded a deed from N. H. Brown to W. A. and S. H. Brown conveying the grantor’s life estate in the minerals in the 65 acres for the recited cash consideration of $1,000. The $1,000, however, was not actually paid at that time, but a note was given by W. A. and S. H. Brown to N. I-I. Brown for this amount, with the understanding that it was to be paid out of the bonus whenever it was paid. It appears that the Roxana Company required the execution and recording. of an unconditional conveyance from N. H. Brown to his two sons before it would pay the bonus money. The bonus was paid on January 21, 1923, and the money distributed, $5,000 to Wortham and $28,750 each to W. A. and S. H. Brown, each of whom gave his check to N. H. Brown for $500; and the $1,-000 note was receipted in full by him. In the meantime information regarding the lease had come to the knowledge of the daughters of N. H. Brown, and after some attempted negotiations with their father and brothers, which appear not to have been of an altogether pleasant or peaceful nature, they employed counsel,, and on January 25, 1923, instituted a suit against their father and two brothers, W. A. and S. PI. Brown, In this suit the five living sisters, the three Richie children, and C. A. Brown were named as plaintiffs, and N. PI., W. A., and S. PI. Brown as defendants. C. A. Brown later asked to be dismissed as party plaintiff, and testified that he had never authorized bringing the suit. Some of the plaintiffs testified that it was not their intention, and they gave no authority to their attorneys, to make N. H. Brown a party defendant. The suit was in form one in trespass to try title. It was evidently brought upon the hypothesis that the 100-acre tract was community property of N. PI. Brown and wife. The plaintiffs sought to recover one-eighteenth interest each in the 100 acres, and one-ninth interest each in $30,000, which represented, as they evidently then thought, one-half of the bonus for the Roxana lease. N. PI. Brown employed attorneys to defend this suit. I-Ie died on June 8, 1923. Shortly after his death plaintiffs amended their pleadings and sought to set aside the conveyance of N. II. Brown to W. A. and S. H. Brown of his life estate in the minerals on the 65 acres, on the ground of undue influence, and recover on the basis that the bonus paid for the Roxana lease was the property of the life tenant, N. H.

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Bluebook (online)
283 S.W. 288, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 1053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrews-v-brown-texapp-1926.