Centorp Corp. v. Gulf Production Corp.

1938 OK 473, 83 P.2d 181, 183 Okla. 436, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 298
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 4, 1938
DocketNo. 27688.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1938 OK 473 (Centorp Corp. v. Gulf Production Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Centorp Corp. v. Gulf Production Corp., 1938 OK 473, 83 P.2d 181, 183 Okla. 436, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 298 (Okla. 1938).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

This is an appeal from an order denying an application for distribution of a surplus arising out of a sale of an oil and gas mining leasehold in the foreclosure of labor and materialmen’s liens on the oil and gas lease.

The action was commenced by Black, Sivalls & Bryson, a corporation, against Gulf Production Corporation, Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company, Centorp Corporation, and some 18 others were made parties defendant.

For convenience, Black, Sivalls & Bryson will be referred to herein as plaintiff, Gulf Production Coloration as Gulf, Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company as Halliburton, and Centorp Corporation as Centorp.

Gulf was the owner of the oil and gas mining lease. It entered into a written contract with one Pratt, the predecessor in interest of Centorp, wherein said party was to and did furnish three strings of easing for a well to be drilled on said premises; in consideration thereof, Gulf agreed to and did assign to Pratt an undivided one-fourth interest in the leasehold. At the same time and as a part of the same transaction, Gulf agreed to drill and complete a well on the leased premises at its own expense and free from cost to Pratt. It also agreed that after the completion of the well it would be turned over to Pratt in good order for operation for the benefit of all the interested parties; Pratt was to kéep accurate account of the expenses of operation and render statements monthly, payment to be made within ten days after rendition. The contract specifically provided that Pratt was to have a lien on all the three-fourths interest of Gulf to recover payment of its part of the expenses, and that Pratt’s part of the expenses of operation should not exceed 5/32 of the total expense. The contract was in writing and it and the assignment of a one-fourth interest in the lease were recorded in the office of the county clerk. Pratt assigned to Ceptorp. Thereafter Gulf assigned portions of its remaining three-fourths interest to other parties who were made defendants. Plaintiff furnished certain tanks, separators, material, equipment, walkway and stairway and labor for the well under a contract with Gulf. Plaintiff was not paid and it filed its lien statement, and later commenced this action to foreclose its lien, wherein it alleged that defendant owners of the’ leasehold were mining partners in the enterprise. Halliburton was made-a party defendant, and it filed an *437 answer and cross-petition setting np a claim of $600 for cementing the well, and .asserted a lien to secure same.

Centorp answered, specifically denying that it was a mining partner with Gulf and the other defendant owners, but asserted its interest under the contract and assignment and agreement of Gulf to drill and equip the well, and prayed for judgment holding its interest not liable for the lien, but in the alternative, should it be held liable, that the three-fourths interest of Gulf and its subsequent assignees be first sold to satisfy said liens. Later Centorp filed a cross-petition wherein it claimed a lien for operating expenses, and pleaded its contract for such a lien.

A. F. Spengler Company filed an answer setting up a claim for a “high-pressure hookup” alleged to have been furnished by it to Gulf under a contract to pay therefor the sum of $10,000, out of 1/16 of the oil produced and saved from said leasehold.

Issues were joined on the cross-petition of Centorp and other claimants. The cause went to trial on December 27, 1933, and after plaintiff had put on its evidence and while Halliburton was putting on its evidence, Gulf appears to have moved the court to strike from the files the cross-petition of Centorp and the cross-petitions and pleas of all defendants other than Halliburton.

This motion was sustained and judgment was entered on February 6, 1934, in favor of plaintiff and against Gulf for the sum of $9,630.19, including interest and attorney’s fee, and sustaining its lien, - and in favor of Halliburton and against Gulf in the sum of $733.40, including interest and attorney’s fee, sustaining its lien and ordering the entire leasehold sold to satisfy said judgments and liens. The judgment, however, provided that' the three-fourths interest in said leasehold be offered for sale first, and sold if an amount was bid therefor sufficient to satisfy the judgments, costs, etc., but if a sum sufficient therefor was not bid, then the entire leasehold should be offered for sale and sold.

The journal entry of judgment dated February 6, 1934, included the order striking from the files the cross-petition of Centorp, and the cross-petition of other defendants'. The order provided, however, that it is “without prejudice to the rights of the parties to litigate all or any of said matters stated in said cross-petitions or. either of them in a separate action or in separate actions.”

No appeal was taken from said judgment or any part thereof. Later sale was had of the three-fourths interest other than that of. Centorp. This sale was for $13,100, which was something more than $2,200 over and above the amount of the judgments, interest, costs, etc., leaving a surplus in the hands of the sheriff of about said amount.

The judgment directed the proceeds to be applied, first, to the payment of all costs of the action; second, to the payment of said judgments; and third, balance, if any, “to be paid to the clerk of this court to await the further orders of the court or the judge thereof”.

After the sale and while this surplus'was still in the hands of the sheriff, Centorp filed in this same case a motion which, after reciting- all the proceedings theretofore had, in effect asked the court to vacate and set aside its former order striking Centorp’s cross-petition from the files, and requesting a hearing on its said cross-petition, and an adjudication of its claim for reimbursement for operating expenses paid by it and its right to a lien under its contract. This motion was sustained. The order sustaining same reads in part:

“It is, therefore, by the court, considered, ordered and adjudged that the order of this court, heretofore made on the 6th day of February, 1934, striking the cross-petitions of the defendant, Centorp Corporation, and each and all of the other defendants, be, and the same is, hereby set aside and held for naught. That each of said answers and cross-petitions is hereby reinstated and considered as refiled.”

Thereafter Centorp filed an amended cross-petition to which was attached a verified itemized statement of its claim of expenses of operation. .

Thereupon Gulf filed a “special appearance and motion to vacate order” upon the grounds:

“1. That said order of July 16, 1934, is void in so far as it attempts to vacate said former order of this court, made and entered on the 6th day of February, 1934, for the reason that said last-named order was a final order unappealed from and not vacated or set aside during the term of court in which it was made and entered or upon a motion or application filed in this cause during said term.
“2. That said order is void for the reason that the court has no jurisdiction .ip this action to adjudicate questions not germane and not in issue and not determined in the final judgment heretofore rendered ■herein.” ■ ■

*438

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Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 473, 83 P.2d 181, 183 Okla. 436, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/centorp-corp-v-gulf-production-corp-okla-1938.