Duncan v. Keechi Oil & Gas Co.

1919 OK 85, 181 P. 709, 75 Okla. 98, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 31
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided March 18, 1919·No. 9432·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

RAINEY, J.

This was an action instituted by O. W. Duncan and Ida M. Duncan, plaintiffs in error, plaintiffs below, against O. W. Goolsbee, the Keechi Oil & Gas Company, and the Oklahoma Star Oil Company, defendants in error, defendants below, to cancel the assignments of certain oil and gas leases made by the plaintiffs to one Goolsbee, and subsequently assigned by Goolsbee to the Keechi Oil & Gas Company, and by the *99 Keechi Oil & Gas Company to the Oklahoma Star Oil Company, of an undivided one-half interest in said leases, and to restore the title in the same to the plaintiffs. A trial amendment was had, in which a money judgment in the sum of $500,000 was prayed in the event it was found that the leases could not' be restored to the plaintiffs. An accounting was also asked as against the Keechi Oil & Gas Company and the Oklahoma Star Oil Company.

The material allegations in the plaintiffs’ . petition are that on the 8th day of February, 1915, they entered into a contract with one Goolsbee, whereby they assigned to the said Goolsbee approximately 5,000 acres of oil and gas leases in the cement field in Caddo county, Okla. ;'that under the terms of said contract the said Goolsbee agreed to organize a corporation under the laws of this state, with a capital stock of $25,000, and to assign the leases assigned to him by plaintiff to said corporation, less approximately 1,100 acres, which he was to reassign to the plaintiffs, and the company so organized was to drill a test well to the depth of 3,000 feet, unless oil and gas were found in paying quantities at a lesser depth. The contract further provided that the plaintiffs were to receive $400 cash and 2,000 shares of the stock of said corporation of the par value of $1 per share, and that the corporation was to begin the drilling of a well within 30 days from the date of .the contract, and upon failure so to do was to forfeit to the plaintiffs the sum of $500. As grounds for the cancellation of'the leases it was alleged that the said O. W. Goolsbee, as an inducement to the plaintiffs to enter into the said contract, represented to them that he and his associates were financially able to drill a test well to the depth of 3,000 feet; that said representations were untrue, and that said plaintiffs relied thereon; that the Keechi Oil & Gas Company was the company organized by the' said Goolsbee under the terms of the contract; that said company was without financial means with which to carry out the contract, which was known by the defendant Goolsbee prior to the assignment of said leases, and that said Keechi Oil & Gas Company, through the efforts of the said Gools-bee, entered into a. contract with the Oklahoma Star Oil Company, whereby an undivided one-half interest in'and to the leases assigned to the Keechi Oil & Gas Company by Goolsbee were assigned to the Oklahoma Star Oil Company as the consideration for the drilling of said test well; that said Goolsbee and the Keechi Oil & Gas Company never intended to start drilling operations in good faith, but that drilling operations were commenced by them solely for the purpose of creating a market for their oil and gas leases in order that they might speculate thereon, to their advantage, and that the officers of said company might profit thereby. It was further alleged in the petition that the defendants Keeschi Oil & Gas Company and the Oklahoma Star Oil Company failed to carry out the terms and provisions. of the drilling contract made with Goolsbee, and that they practically abandoned the well commenced, and that the plaintiffs, in order to protect their interests in the oil and gas leases, as against the owners of the land, were compelled to and did pay a large part of the expenses of drilling the test well and created a large indebtedness for labor and material; that said well was drilled to a depth Of approximately 1,500 feet; and that oil and gas were found in paying quantities. There were other allegations in the petition not material to a decision of this case.

Defendants answered by general and special denials of all the allegations contained in the plaintiffs’ petition, and further alleged, in effect, that they had complied with all the terms of the contract entered into with the plaintiffs by their codefendant Goolsbee; that the contract made by the defendant Keechi Oil & Gas Company with the defendant Oklahoma Star Oil Company to drill the test well was made with the knowledge and consent of the plaintiffs, and that 'one of the plaintiffs, C. W. Duncan, entered into a contract with said Oklahoma Star Oil Company to complete the drilling of said wéll, and that the expenses incurred by the plaintiffs were in pursuance of his contract with said company. The answer admits that oil and gas were found in paying quantities, as alleged by the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs offered their evidence, whereupon each of the defendants demurred thereto, and all of said demurrers were sustained by the trial court. . On appeal plaintiffs urge that' the judgment of the trial court should be reversed, and invoke the rule that a demurrer to the evidence admits all the facts which the evidence in the slightest degree tends to prove, and all the inferences or conclusions which- may be reasonably and logically drawn therefrom. This calls for an examination of the evidence. Plaintiffs did not offer evidence in support of many of the allegations in their petition, and the evidence introduced, viewed in the most favorable light, is in substance as' follows:

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Duncan v. Keechi Oil & Gas Co., 1919 OK 85, 181 P. 709, 75 Okla. 98, 1919 Okla. LEXIS 31 (Okla. 1919).

1919 OK 85 (Duncan v. Keechi Oil & Gas Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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