Butler v. Horton

447 S.W.3d 514, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11460, 2014 WL 5315073
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 16, 2014
DocketNo. 11-12-00303-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 447 S.W.3d 514 (Butler v. Horton) 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
Butler v. Horton, 447 S.W.3d 514, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11460, 2014 WL 5315073 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

JIM R. WRIGHT, Chief Justice.

The trial court entered a summary judg- ' ment in favor of Appellees1 in which it declared the ownership of certain mineral and royalty interests as between Appellants and Appellees. It also denied Appellants’ motion for summary judgment. Because they were dissatisfied with the trial court’s summary judgment rulings, Appellants brought this appeal.2 We reverse and render.

We review a summary judgment de novo. Smith v. Deneve, 285 S.W.3d 904, 909 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2009, no pet.). When, as here, the parties file cross-motions' for summary judgment and the trial court grants one of the motions and denies the other motion, we review the summary judgment evidence presented by both parties and determine all of the issues presented. Valence Operating Co. v. Dorsett, 164 S.W.3d 656, 661 (Tex.2005); FM Props. Operating Co. v. City of Austin, 22 S.W.3d 868, 872 (Tex.2000). If we determine that the trial court erred, then we render the judgment that the trial court should have rendered. Valence, 164 S.W.3d at 661; FM Props., 22 S.W.3d at 872.

In their sole issue on appeal, Appellants ask the question: “Did the district court err in holding as a matter of law that the mineral deed at issue reserved a fixed l/16th fractional royalty rather than a one-half fraction of the royalty?”' The answer to that question depends upon the interpretation of a reservation contained in a 1968 deed — the McGowen deed. The parties agree that Appellants are the successors in interest to the grantors in that deed and that Appellees comprise the successors in interest to the grantees. The reservation in the McGowen deed is as follows:

There is excepted from this conveyance and reserved unto ... grantors, their heirs and assigns, one-half of the usual l/8th royalty on all oil, gas, casing-head gas, and gasoline, and one-half of the usual and customary royalty on sul-phur, coal, uranium, and all other minerals in, on, or under, or that may be produced from the above described land; it being understood and agreed that it shall not be necessary for the Grantors, •their heirs or assigns, to join in the execution of any mineral lease or leases on the property, but that the Grantors, [517]*517their heirs or assigns, shall be entitled to one-half of any bonus payments or delay rentals which may be paid in connection with any lease on the property, and that in the event of. production from said land, either by a lessee, by an owner, or by anyone else, the Grantors, their heirs or assigns, shall be entitled, free of cost, to one-half of the royalty on said minerals, as provided above[.]

Neither party maintains that the reservation in the McGowen deed is ambiguous. When a deed is unambiguous, our primary duty is to construe it in an effort to ascertain the intent of the parties. In our quest to discover the actual intent of the parties, we search not merely for the actual intent of the parties, but rather we attempt to discover “the actual intent of the parties as expressed, in the instrument as a whole.” Luckel v. White, 819 S.W.2d 459, 462 (Tex.1991). When we construe a deed, we do so from all the language in the deed, and we are guided by a fundamental rule of construction: the four corners rule. Id. at 461. The actual intent of the parties, as expressed in the deed as a whole, controls over any arbitrary rules. Id. at 462. We consider the entire deed and attempt to harmonize and give effect to all of its provisions. Frost Nat’l Bank v. L & F Distribs., Ltd., 165 S.W.3d 310, 311-12 (Tex.2005). We will construe a deed in a manner that will avoid a construction that is unreasonable, inequitable, and oppressive. Id. at 312. The goal of our review is to determine the objective intent of the parties as expressed in the deed, as opposed to the subjective intent of the parties. Range Res. Corp. v. Bradshaw, 266 S.W.3d 490, 493 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2008, pet. denied) (op. on reh’g). When different parts of a deed appear to be contradictory or inconsistent, we must attempt to construe the instrument so that all provisions are given effect. Luckel, 819 S.W.2d at 462. We give each word and each phrase its plain grammatical meaning unless doing so would clearly defeat the intent of the parties. Moon Royalty, LLC v. Boldrick Partners, 244 S.W.3d 391, 394 (Tex.App.-Eastland 2007, no pet.). We will not strike any part óf a deed in the absence of irreconcilable conflicts whereby one provision .destroys the effect of another. Luckel, 819 S.W.2d at 463.

Appellants maintain that, as far as their royalty interest is concerned, the effect of the' reservation in the deed is that the interest that they own is a floating one-half of any royalties that may be provided for in leases of the oil, gas, and other minerals. On the other hand, Appellees claim that the effect of the reservation is that Appellants own only a fixed one-sixteenth fractional royalty interest regardless of the amount that might be provided for in leases.3 Therefore, we are called upon to decide whether the deed at issue reserves a “fraction of royalty” interest or a “fractional royalty” interest.

A “fraction of royalty” provision provides for a fractional share of the royalty that is provided for in a lease; the interest is not fixed, but rather floats in accordance with the amount of the royalty provided for in a lease. Moore v. Noble Energy, Inc., 374 S.W.3d 644, 647 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 2012, no pet.) (citing Range Res. Corp., 266 S.W.3d at 493). A “fractional royalty” interest, on the other hand, [518]*518remains fixed regardless of the amount of the royalty provided for in a future lease. Id. at 647-48 (citing Range Res. Corp., 266 S.W.3d at 493); Goghill v. Griffith, 358 S.W.3d 834, 838 (Tex.App.-Tyler 2012, pet. denied).

In Sundance, the grantors conveyed certain real property, but they reserved “an undivided and non-participating one-half interest in the oil, gas, and other mineral rights.” Sundance Minerals, L.P. v. Moore, 354 S.W.3d 507, 510 (Tex.App.Fort Worth 2011, pet. denied). Additionally, the deed provided that the grantors “shall be entitled to one half [sic] of the' usual one eighth [sic] royalty received for-such [sic] oil, gas. and other minerals produced from said land.” Id. (third alteration in original). The court held that, when the document that contained the reservation was read as a whole, it resulted in the creation of a fraction of royalty interest as opposed to a fractional royalty interest of one-sixteenth. Id. at 512 (citing Luckel,

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447 S.W.3d 514, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11460, 2014 WL 5315073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-horton-texapp-2014.