Duvall v. Carr-Pool

2016 Ark. App. 611, 509 S.W.3d 661, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 635
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided December 14, 2016·No. CV-16-267·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge

| iThis is the second time this case is before us on appeal. In the first appeal, our court dismissed for lack of a final order. Duvall v. Carr-Pool, 2016 Ark. App. 118, 2016 WL 740535. We now have a final order; appellants Jerry and Wanda Duvall (Duvall) have again appealed the Conway County Circuit Court’s decision to quiet title to mineral rights (the “mineral rights”) in appellee Vicki Carr-Pool, as trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust (Carr-Pool), in the following real property (the “real property”) in Conway County, Arkansas, to wit:

The Northeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter (NE1/4NW1/4) of Section 33, Township 8 North, Range 17 West, except 10 acres in the Southwest corner thereof, conveying 30 acres, more or less.

We affirm the trial court’s decision to quiet title to the mineral rights in Carr-Pool, but we do so on a different basis than determined by the trial court.

In April 2013, Carr-Pool filed a petition to quiet title in the mineral rights and for a | ...declaratory judgment that Duvall owns only the surface rights to the real property. Duvall resisted her petition. Prior to trial, the parties jointly stipulated the following facts concerning the chain of title and curative-title measures:

1. January 25,1967, Warranty Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins conveyed the surface rights to the property at issue to Dr. W.J. Cargile and reserved all oil, gas, and other minerals for Mayne and Matilda Hawkins.
2. July 10,1970, Warranty Deed, Dr. W.J. Cargile conveyed the surface rights to the property at issue back to Mayne Hawkins, Conway County Circuit Clerk Page 26 of Record Book No. 104.
3. The July 10, 1970, Warranty Deed from Dr. W.J. Cargile to Mayne Hawkins stated that all oil, gas, and other minerals were reserved by Cargile. Car-gile never obtained an interest or ownership in the oil, gas, and other minerals as all interests in oil, gas, and other minerals were reserved by Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins in the Warranty Deed dated January 25,1967.
4. August 5, 1974, Warranty Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins conveyed a Warranty Deed to Duvall involving the property at issue. Rights conveyed by said Deed are at issue in this herein lawsuit. Conway County Circuit Clerk Page 485 of Record Book No. 117.
5. The legal description in the August 5,1974 Warranty Deed states:
“The Northeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter (NE1/4NW1/4) of Section 33, Township 8 North, Range 17 West, except 10 acres in the Southwest corner thereof, conveying 30 acres, more or less;
It being understood that all oil, gas, and other minerals in or under or that may be produced from said land have been previously reserved or conveyed.”
6. December 12,1980, Mineral Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins, husband and wife, conveyed all of the oil, gas, and other minerals for the property at issue to themselves and Ruby Hawkins as Joint Tenants with the Right of Survivorship, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 37, Page 642.
7. January 2, 1981, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessors, Mayne Hawkins, Matilda Hawkins and Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Munn Exploration Company, Inc. For the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 37,13Page 847.
8. February 11, 1988, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessors, Matilda Hawkins and Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Nadel and Gussman for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Record Book 70, Page 491.
9. September 21, 1990, Ruby Hawkins heir and the sole remaining Joint Tenant with Right of Survivorship for the property at issue. An Affidavit was filed with the Conway County Circuit Clerk on September 19, 2009, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 188, Page 0056.
10. November 3, 1994, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessor Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Gary A. Monroe for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 85, Page 666.
11. March 10, 1998, Mineral Deed, Ruby Hawkins Cargile conveyed her minerals interests in the property at issue to herself, Ruby Hawkins Cargile, as Trustee of the Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 87, Page 349.
12. June 18, 2005, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessor, Ruby Hawkins Cargile, as Trustee for the Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, and Lessee, Griffith Land Services, Inc. for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book # 186, pages 60-65.
13. October 6, 2006, Ruby Hawkins died intestate.
14. January 22, 2007, Mineral Deed, Bettye S. Carr, the successor Trustee of Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, conveyed and quitclaimed via a Mineral Deed the mineral interests in the property at issue to herself and said Mineral Deed was recorded with the Conway County Court Clerk on January 24, 2007, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book # 141, Pages 58-62.
15. February 12, 2007, Mineral Deed, Bettye S. Carr conveyed and quit-claimed via a Mineral Deed the mineral interest in the property at issue to herself, Bettye S. Carr, as Trustee of the Bettye S. Carr Revocable Trust dated the 3rd day of December, 1996, and said Mineral Deed was filed with the Conway County Circuit Clerk on or about February 20, 2007, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book # 142, Pages 339-343.
16.October 16, 2009, Warranty Deed, conveyed from Bettye S. Carr, both | individually and as Trustee of the Bettye S. Carr Revocable Trust dated the 3rd day of December, 1996, to Vicki Elizabeth Carr-Pool, as Trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust, dated the 14th day of October, 2009, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 252, Page 0290.
[[Image here]]
25. August 2012, XTO Energy Inc. suspended royalty payments to the TRV Irrevocable Trust for the property at issue based on alleged title defects.
26. XTO Energy Inc. and R.D. Williams and Company entered into an independent contractor agreement with respect to the acquisition by R.D. Williams and Company of oil and gas leases in an area which included the lands which are the subject of this litigation.

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

Duvall v. Carr-Pool, 2016 Ark. App. 611, 509 S.W.3d 661, 2016 Ark. App. LEXIS 635 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016).

2016 Ark. App. 611 (Duvall v. Carr-Pool) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related