CRESCENT DRILLING & DEV. v. Sealexco, Inc.

570 So. 2d 151, 1990 WL 174198
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 7, 1990
Docket89-471
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 570 So. 2d 151 (CRESCENT DRILLING & DEV. v. Sealexco, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CRESCENT DRILLING & DEV. v. Sealexco, Inc., 570 So. 2d 151, 1990 WL 174198 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

570 So.2d 151 (1990)

CRESCENT DRILLING & DEVELOPMENT, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
SEALEXCO, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 89-471.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 7, 1990.
Rehearing Denied December 14, 1990.
Writ Denied February 8, 1991.

*152 M. Taylor Darden, Milling, Benson, Woodward, Hillyer, Pierson & Miller, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellee.

Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, Robert L. Redfearn, Morgan & Williams, L. Linton Morgan, Gordon, Arata, McCollam & Duplantis, Guy E. Wall, New Orleans, Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, Emmett Sole, Lake Charles, for defendants-appellants.

Before GUIDRY, LABORDE and KING, JJ.

GUIDRY, Judge.

Crescent Drilling and Development, Inc. (Crescent) filed this concursus proceeding, joining as defendants Sealexco, Inc. (Sealexco), Ben Seale, Warren Seal, Warren Resources and Warren Knight, to determine the ownership of certain funds, the proceeds of oil and gas production from several wells successfully drilled on a mineral lease operated by Crescent.[1] The dispute over the ownership of the funds arises as a result of competing claims to the interest of Warren Knight in various wells which was forfeited. The trial judge concluded that Ben Seale acquired the entire before casing point interest (BCP) forfeited by Knight and 75% of that BCP interest as the after casing point interest (ACP) in accord with Seale's exploration agreement. The remaining ACP interest forfeited by Knight was found by the trial judge to have reverted to Sealexco, the promoter of the prospect.[2] Warren Seal and his wife, Julia Seal, suspensively appeal urging four specifications of error:

1. The trial court erred in concluding that Ben Seale acquired the Knight forfeited interest in the mineral lease because there was no meeting of the minds regarding the amount of his acquisition and it was never reduced to writing.
2. The trial court erred in refusing to award Warren Seal an interest in the funds on deposit because the evidence established that he acquired a portion of the Knight forfeited interest.
3. Ben Seale forfeited his interest in the prospect because he failed to timely tender his share of the cost of the Schwing No. 3 Well and because he failed to pay his prospect fee or to participate in an obligation well.
4. The trial court erred in awarding all of the funds on deposit to Ben Seale and Sealexco because Sealexco assigned forty (40%) percent of its assets to Warren Seal.

FACTS

In 1983, Ben Seale, Jerry Seale (Ben's brother) and Warren Seal (no relation) formed Sealexco for the purpose of acquiring, selling, drilling and operating interests in various oil and gas prospects. Each was an officer, director and stockholder in Sealexco, Warren, President, 40%; Jerry, Vice-President, 20%; and, Ben, Secretary-Treasurer, 40%. Each stockholder offered a unique contribution to the venture, Ben provided capital; Jerry provided engineering expertise; and, Warren provided geological expertise. Warren Seal ran the day to day activities of Sealexco.

In May 1984 Sealexco entered into a farmout agreement with Tee Oil, Inc., known as the Schwing "C" Farmout. Sealexco, under the farmout agreement, would earn interests in the Tee mineral lease by drilling wells. Thereafter, Sealexco entered into an exploration agreement with Ben Seale which gave him an interest in the Schwing "C" Farmout, also known as the Iberia Extension Prospect, in return for the payment of a prospect fee and an agreement to participate in certain wells. A similar exploration agreement was entered into by Sealexco and Crescent.

In an agreement dated August 13, 1984, between Sealexco and Knight, the latter *153 was to acquire certain interests in the Iberia Extension Prospect upon his participation in the drilling of various wells. Under the Knight exploration agreement, the interests to be earned by Knight were as follows:

                    BCP          ACP
First Well        18.000%      20.000%
Second Well       15.187%      17.187%
Third Well        15.187%      17.187%
All other wells   17.187%      17.187%

At some point in time, Warren Seal, as president of Sealexco, contended that Knight had defaulted in his obligations under the agreement and, therefore, forfeited all of his rights with respect to the Iberia Extension Prospect. On December 18, 1989, Sealexco agreed that Knight would not forfeit his rights if within a certain time period he would pay his BCP costs for the first well to be drilled on the Iberia Extension Prospect, the Schwing No. 3 well, as well as money that he owed on another prospect, the Iberia Dome Prospect. Knight was only able to pay one-half of the monies in question by the first deadline. However, Sealexco and Knight agreed that (1) by so paying he had earned one-half of his interest in the Iberia Extension Prospect under his exploration agreement; (2) Sealexco would "escrow the outstanding ½ (50%) interest ... until the close of business as of 4:00 p.m., Thursday, December 27, 1984"; and, (3) if Knight did not pay the balance of his BCP cost in the Schwing No. 3 well by that date, he would forfeit his interest in the escrowed half and would execute any documents required by Sealexco "to evidence of record the reversion to and vesting in Sealexco" of the escrowed interest.

Knight was unable to pay any additional money and pursuant to his agreement with Sealexco, the escrowed interest reverted to Sealexco (hereinafter, the Forfeited Interest). The ownership of the funds attributable to the Forfeited Interest in the Schwing Nos. 3, 4, C-1, C-2 and C-3 wells is the subject of this litigation.

Prior to commencement of trial, all parties stipulated that any interest of Ben Seale and Sealexco in the Schwing No. C-2 well had been relinquished and forfeited to Crescent, Warren Knight and Warren Seal in the proportions of their respective interests until such time as they should receive, out of the said well's production, the amount of the stipulated penalty provided for under the agreements. Furthermore, all parties agreed that, pursuant to a Declaration of Nullity executed by the affected parties, Warren Resources had no interest in the mineral lease and/or the funds on deposit.

The Knight forfeiture in the Iberia Extension Prospect occurred in December 1984. The principal well in contention is the Schwing No. 3 well. Knight forfeited a 9% BCP and a 10% ACP interest in this well. At the time of the forfeiture, Sealexco had a 2% BCP and a 20% ACP interest; Ben Seale had a 20.416% BCP and a 15.3125% ACP; Warren Seal had no interest.

SPECIFICATION OF ERROR NO. 1 WAS THERE A MEETING OF THE MINDS?

Warren Seal contends and testified that when Ben Seale was informed of an additional interest being available in the Schwing No. 3, he requested that his BCP interest be increased to 30%. Since by written agreement Ben Seale's ACP interest in the Schwing No. 3 was 757" of his BCP, Ben's ACP interest would then increase to 22.50%. Seal further contends and testified that since no one else wanted any additional interest in the well, Jerry and Ben Seale agreed to let him purchase the remaining BCP and ACP interests.

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Related

Seal v. Sealexco, Inc.
734 So. 2d 162 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
Crescent Drilling & Development Inc. v. Sealexco Inc.
575 So. 2d 373 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
570 So. 2d 151, 1990 WL 174198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crescent-drilling-dev-v-sealexco-inc-lactapp-1990.