Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department v. BP Oil, Inc.

602 A.2d 877, 412 Pa. Super. 29, 117 Oil & Gas Rep. 331, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 259
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 6, 1992
Docket215
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 602 A.2d 877 (Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department v. BP Oil, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department v. BP Oil, Inc., 602 A.2d 877, 412 Pa. Super. 29, 117 Oil & Gas Rep. 331, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 259 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

WIEAND, Judge:

In this action for declaratory judgment, the trial court entered an order terminating a coal lease for a portion of the demised premises. The trial court rejected the lessee’s contention that the lease had been for a single, undivided tract. Post-trial motions were dismissed, and this appeal followed. We reverse.

Pursuant to the terms of a written agreement of lease entered in 1956 between a predecessor of Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department, the present lessor, and Shawville Coal Co., the lessee, the coal company was granted the exclusive right and privilege to mine and remove all strip mineable, merchantable and profitable seams of coal until the coal was exhausted from a 256 acre tract of land in Lawrence Township, Clearfield County. The coal company was also given the right of ingress, egress and regress over, into and across the surface of the tract and the right to place thereon machinery, equipment and waste. In ex[31]*31change, the coal company was required to pay the owner a minimum monthly royalty of fifty ($50) dollars. So long as this royalty is paid, the agreement provides, the lease cannot be cancelled because of a delay in coal production. At the time of entering the lease, State Route 879 passed through the tract. Later, Interstate Route 80 was constructed and also intersected the leased property. As a result, the tract was divided into a northern parcel and a southern parcel. The southern parcel is involved in the present dispute.

Clearfield Volunteer Fire Company filed an action for a judgment declaring that the lease had expired and was subject to termination with respect to the southern portion of the demised tract. The lease had expired, it was contended, because the coal remaining in the southern parcel could no longer be mined profitably. The trial court, after hearing the evidence, agreed that the coal which could profitably be mined had been exhausted and held, because the tract had been bisected by highway construction, that the coal company’s leasehold estate in the southern parcel should be terminated.

Our standard of review was stated in Federal Kemper Ins. Co. v. Neary, 366 Pa.Super. 135, 530 A.2d 929 (1987), as follows:

In reviewing a judgment entered in a declaratory judgment action, we are bound by the same narrow standard of review which exists in equity actions. Shaffer v. Flick, 360 Pa.Super. 192, 195-196, 520 A.2d 50, 51 (1987); Supp v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 330 Pa.Super. 542, 544, 479 A.2d 1037, 1038 (1984). A judgment of a trial court will not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion or error of law. Lombardo v. DeMarco, 350 Pa.Super. 490, 495, 504 A.2d 1256, 1258 (1985). The test is not whether we would have reached the same result on the evidence presented, but whether the trial court’s conclusion can reasonably be drawn from the evidence. Estate of Tippins, 487 Pa. 107, 112 n. 2, 408 A.2d 1377, 1380 n. 2 (1979); Lombardo v. DeMarco, supra, 350 Pa.Super. at [32]*32495, 504 A.2d at 1258; Hoffman v. Gekoski, 250 Pa.Super. 49, 52, 378 A.2d 447, 448 (1977). Where the trial court’s factual determinations are adequately supported by the evidence, we may not substitute our judgment for that of the trial court. Frowen v. Blank, 493 Pa. 137, 142, 425 A.2d 412, 415 (1981).

Id. 366 Pa.Super. at 139, 530 A.2d at 930-931. See also: State Farm Mut. Ins. Co. v. Judge, 405 Pa.Super. 376, 379, 592 A.2d 712, 713 (1991).

Here, we accept the trial court’s finding that the only coal remaining on the southern parcel cannot be mined profitably. Therefore, we must determine whether that portion of the leasehold estate can be terminated where coal continues to be mined profitably from the northern parcel and while the agreed rent continues to be paid.

In Hutchison v. Sunbeam Coal Corp., 513 Pa. 192, 519 A.2d 385 (1986), the Supreme Court observed:

A lease is a contract and is to be interpreted according to contract principles. Pugh v. Holmes, 486 Pa. 272, 284, 405 A.2d 897, 903 (1979). Determining the intention of the parties is a paramount consideration in the interpretation of any contract. Robert F. Felte, Inc. v. White, 451 Pa. 137, 143, 302 A.2d 347, 351 (1973); Unit Vending Corp. v. Lacas, 410 Pa. 614, 617, 190 A.2d 298, 300 (1963). The intent of the parties is to be ascertained from the document itself when the terms are clear and unambiguous. Steuart v. McChesney, 498 Pa. 45, 48-49, 444 A.2d 659, 661 (1982); In re Estate of Breyer, 475 Pa. 108, 115, 379 A.2d 1305, 1309 (1977).

Hutchison, supra, 513 Pa. at 200, 519 A.2d at 389-390. As a general rule, “[t]he law will not imply a different contract than that which the parties have expressly adopted.” Id., 513 Pa. at 198, 519 A.2d at 388.

In the instant case, the demised premises consist of an undivided tract of 256 acres. The lease contains no provision for subdividing the same into lesser tracts. Moreover, the right of the tenant to use the tract is not limited [33]*33solely to the mining of coal. If a portion of the leasehold estate can no longer be utilized in connection with the direct mining of coal, it may nevertheless be used, as the parties expressly provided, for the storage of machinery, equipment and waste. Because the lease contemplated an estate in an undivided tract of 256 acres, we search in vain for language in the lease that would permit the lease to be terminated acre by acre as coal is removed.

Although conceding that it has been unable to find authority to support the trial court’s division of the tract into two smaller tracts, the lessor-appellee contends that this Court should affirm the trial court’s action by taking a practical approach rather than by strictly interpreting the agreement of the parties. By permitting a partial termination of the lease, it is argued, the trial court followed a policy which permits the “untrammeled development” of the land. Any other interpretation, it is argued, would be tantamount to creating a perpetual estate in the southern tract. We reject this argument.

There is no greater danger of creating a perpetual estate in the southern part of the leasehold than in any other part of the leased premises.

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

Related

SBA Towers v. Wireless Holdings
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
Valentine, K. v. Wetzel, M.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
Ardolino, R. v. BR Associates
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
BL Partners Group v. Interbroad, LLC
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017
Pressley v. Travelers Property Casualty Corp.
817 A.2d 1131 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
Ross Development Co. v. Advanced Building Development, Inc.
803 A.2d 194 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
PARC Holdings, Inc. v. Killian
785 A.2d 106 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Charles D. Stein Revocable Trust v. General Felt Industries, Inc.
749 A.2d 978 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Fred E. Young, Inc. v. Brush Mountain Sportsmen's Ass'n
697 A.2d 984 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1997)
Winkelman v. Pennsylvania Financial Responsibility Assigned Claims Plan
614 A.2d 717 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Clearfield Volunteer Fire Department v. BP Oil, Inc.
602 A.2d 877 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
602 A.2d 877, 412 Pa. Super. 29, 117 Oil & Gas Rep. 331, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clearfield-volunteer-fire-department-v-bp-oil-inc-pasuperct-1992.