Curlee v. Anderson & Patterson

235 S.W. 622, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1156
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 5, 1921
DocketNo. 9687.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 235 S.W. 622 (Curlee v. Anderson & Patterson) 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
Curlee v. Anderson & Patterson, 235 S.W. 622, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1156 (Tex. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, J.

By deed dated March 4, 1909, J. A. Kemp and Eliza Kempner sold to H. R. Kuehn a tract of land in Wichita county, in part consideration for which the purchaser executed ten promissory notes, secured by a vendor’s lien on the land, each for the sum of $289.80, one of said notes maturing one year after date, and one becoming due each year thereafter. On December 14, 1912, Kuehn executed to Jack E. Kelly what is usually termed an oil and gas lease upon the land, and that instrument was duly recorded in ■ the records of deeds of Wichita county on January 20, 1913. On January 14, 1913, Kuehn, joined by other parties, executed to W. S. Curlee a conveyance of an undivided one-half interest in and to the one-eighth royalty and rentals that might accrue to Kuehn under the oil and gas lease in favor of Kelly. That conveyance was duly recorded in the deed records of Wichita county on January 31, 1913. On January 29, 1913, J. A. Kemp and Eliza Kempner sold and transferred to S. Williams the vendor’s lien notes given by Kuehn in part consideration for the sale by him. Later Williams sold nine of those notes to the Texas Land & Mortgage Company, Limited; the remaining one of the original series of ten having already been paid by Curlee. On March 18, 1913, H. R. Kuehn executed to the Texas Land & Mortgage Company, Limited, a note for the sum of $2,500 in renewal of the nine vendor’s lien notes held by that company, and at the same time executed a deed of trust upon the land to secure the payment of the same, in which a trustee was named, and he was given power to sell the land in default of payment of the notes. The original trustee so named having refused to act, a substitute trustee was appointed in accordance with the powers given by the deed of trust, who sold the land at public auction in accordance with the terms of the deed of trust for the purpose of satisfying the note for which the lien was given and at that sale the Texas Land & Mortgage Company, Limited, bought in the property and a deed thereto was duly executed by the substitute trustee. On May 14, 1914, the Texas Land & Mortgage Company, Limited, by warranty deed sold the land to H. B. Patterson and G. D. Anderson, and that deed was filed for record in the deed records of Wichita county May 15, 1919. G. D. Anderson and H. B. Patterson instituted this suit against W. S. Curlee in the form of trespass to try title to recover the land so purchased by them, and in addition to a prayer for the recovery of title and possession of the land plaintiffs also prayed that any claim or pretended claim by the defendant to any interest in the land be removed as a cloud upon plaintiff’s title.

In addition to a general denial and a plea of not guilty, the defendant especially pleaded the conveyance executed to him by Kuehn referred to above, and under and by virtue of that instrument he asserted title in and to one-half of all the minerals in the land in controversy. He further pleaded that he acquired such title without notice of the execution of the deed of trust in favor of the Texas Land & Mortgage Company, Limited, or sale thereunder, or of the subsequent sale to the plaintiffs, and that therefore, and for the further reason that the sale by the trustee was made without his knowledge and subsequent to the acquisition of his title, those-transactions were not binding upon him. The defendant further pleaded that on December 1, 1919, he had tendered to plaintiffs the amount of the indebtedness for which the trustee’s sale was made, and a further tender of that amount in court. Defendant also pleaded a cross-action against the plaintiffs for $5,000 as one-half of the proceeds which plaintiffs had realized from the sale of the mineral rights, of the land in controversy.

The case was tried before the court without a jury, and from a judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiffs for title to the land, and declaring that the conveyance under- *623 which the defendant claimed a right in the mineral in the land was a cloud upon plaintiffs’ title, which was by the decree removed, defendant Curlee has prosecuted this appeal.

If the conveyance under which appellant claimed had the legal effect to vest in him title to any interest in the land, then neither that title nor the equity of redemption incident to it was precluded by the foreclosure sale through which the plaintiffs deraigned title. Hence the first question to be determined is the proper construction of that instrument. It reads as follows:

“State of Texas, County of Wichita.
“Know all men by these presents: That whereas, in a certain oil and gas lease dated the 14th day of December, A. D. 1912, H. K. Kuehn, Eddie Kuehn, Hugo Kuehn, Julius Seidlitz and' his wife, Annie Seidlitz, of Wichita county, Texas, sold, conveyed and leased unto Jack E. Kelly, of Wichita county, Texas, all of the oil and gas in and under the following described premises, reserving to themselves, the grantors, one-eighth of all the oil and gas produced and saved thereon, to wit: [Here follows description of the land.]
“Now, therefore, know all men by these presents, that we, H. it. Kuehn, Emma Kuehn, Julius Seidlitz, and Anna Seidlitz, of Wichita county, Texas, for and in consideration of the sum of one ($1,00) dollars to us cash in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and other good and sufficient consideration to us paid by W. S. Curlee, have bargained, sold, conveyed, assigned, and transferred, and by these presents do bargain, sell, convey, assign, and set over, to the said W. S. Curlee, his heirs and assigns, a one-half (%) undivided interest in and to the said one-eighth (%) royalty and all of the rentals that may become due in connection therewith, to have and to hold unto the said W. S. Curlee, his heirs and assigns, forever, the said interest in the above-described premises, together with all of the rights and appurtenances thereto in any manner belonging. [Here follow signatures of the grantors.]”

The oil lease from Kuehn to Kelly, referred to in the foregoing conveyance, contains the following provisions:

“This agreement, made and entered into this 14th day of December, A. D. 1912, between H. R. Kuehn and Emma Kuehn, Anna Seidlitz, J. A. Seidlitz, of Wichita county, Texas, lessors, and Jack E. Kelly, of Wichita county, Texas, lessee, witnosseth: That the lessors, in consideration of the sum of four hundred tuo and BO/ioo ($402.50) dollars to them in hand well and truly paid by the lessee, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, as well as in consideration of the covenants and agreements hereinafter contained on the part of the lessee, do hereby grant, sell, convey, and lease unto the lessee all the oil and gas in and under the following described tract of land, and the possession thereof for the purpose of entering upon and operating thereon and removing therefrom said oil and gas, with the right to use sufficient water, gas, and oil from the premises to operate said property, with the right of ingress and egress at all time for such purposes, and all rights and privileges necessary for such operations; also the right to remove at any time all property, pipes, and improvements placed thereon or erected in or upon said land by the lessee, and also the right of subdividing or transferring all or any part of the rights herein conveyed and the premises hereinafter described.

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Bluebook (online)
235 S.W. 622, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 1156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curlee-v-anderson-patterson-texapp-1921.