Great Plains Oil & Gas Co. v. Foundation Oil Co.

153 S.W.2d 452, 137 Tex. 324, 1941 Tex. LEXIS 249
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJune 4, 1941
DocketNo. 7782
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 153 S.W.2d 452 (Great Plains Oil & Gas Co. v. Foundation Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Plains Oil & Gas Co. v. Foundation Oil Co., 153 S.W.2d 452, 137 Tex. 324, 1941 Tex. LEXIS 249 (Tex. 1941).

Opinion

Mr. Judge Smedley

of the Commission of Appeals delivered the opinion for the Supreme Court.

The suit is by plaintiffs in error, Great Plains Oil & Gas Company and others, against defendants in error, Foundation Oil Company and others, for the title and possession of a tract of land in Gregg County containing approximately 16.5 acres, the area actually in controversy, however, being approximately 3 acres and the purpose of the suit being to determine the tme location of the boundary line between tract G owned by plaintiffs in error and tract F lying west of tract G and owned by defendants in error. The trial court instructed the jury to return a verdict for plaintiffs in error and rendered judgment in their favor for the tract of land for which they sued. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the trial court’s judgment and rendered judgment which so fixed the boundary line as to award the 3 acre tract to defendants in error. 141 S. W. (2d) 969.

B. C. Christian, Sr., was the father of seven children, who upon his death inherited from him 665 acres of land in the G. W. Hooper survey in Gregg County. At the time partition of the land was made by deed in 1930 one of the heirs, Paulina Anderson, had died, leaving seven children to inherit her portion. W. E. Jones, county surveyor, was employed to survey the land into blocks arid to prepare a deed to be executed by the children of B. C. Christian, Sr., and the children of Paulina Anderson, to partition the land among them. Jones first surveyed on the ground the outside lines of the entire 665 acres and then divided the entire area into blocks numbered from 1 to 16, actually surveying on the ground many of the lines and marking most of the corners of the blocks. Blocks 14, 15 and 16, believed to contain a total of 95 acres, were to be set aside to Paulina Anderson’s children.

Before the partition deed was executed, however, it was decided to divide Blocks 14, 15 and 16 into seven tracts, each containing 13-4/7th acres, one tract for each of Paulina Ander[327]*327son’s children. Thereupon Jones in his office divided Blocks 14, 15 and 16 into seven tracts and prepared field notes for each of said tracts, designating them A, B, C, D, E, F and G, and describing each as containing 13-4/7th acres, or l/7th of 95 acres. Block B lies immediately north of Block A and is described in its field notes as beginning at the southwest corner of the J. M. Christian 49 acre tract (Block 12) which is a marked and undisputed comer; thence E. with the S. line of said J. M. Christian tract 334.5 varas to E. E. Anderson’s NW comer (Block C) ; thence S. with his W. line 221.9 varas; thence W. 334.5 varas; thence N. 221.9 varas to the place of beginning. Block C (E. E. Anderson’s tract) is described as beginning at the NE corner of Block B; thence E. with the S. line of the J. M. Christian tract 243.2 varas to the NW corner of Annie Boyd’s tract (Block D) ; thence S. with her W. line 316.8 varas to a comer in the N. line of Block 11; thence W. with the N. line of block 11 243.2 varas to E. E. Anderson’s SE comer; thence N. with his east line 316.8 varas to the place of beginning. In like manner the field notes of Blocks D, E and F describe each of said blocks as beginning at the northeast comer of the block immediately to its west; thence E. with the S. line of Block 12 or Block 13 243.2 varas to the N W comer of the block immediately to its east; thence S. with the W. line of said block 316.8 varas to its southwest comer; thence W. 243.2 varas to the SE comer of the block immediately to its west; thence N. with the east line of said block 316.8 varas to the place of beginning. Block G is described in its field notes as beginning at the northeast corner of Lillie Willis’ tract (Block F) in the S. line of Block 13; thence E. with the S. line of said block 243.2 varas to a NW comer of Block 10; thence S. with the W. line of Block 10 316.8 varas; thence W. with a part of said Block 10 243.2 varas to Lillie Willis’ SE corner; thence N. with her east line 316.8 varas to the beginning.

The heirs of B. C. Christian, Sr., including the seven children of Paulina Anderson, executed a deed dated November 28, 1930, by which the land that had been owned by B. C. Christian, Sr., the 665 acre tract, was partitioned among the parties to the deed in accordance with the field notes prepared by W. E. Jones, Block F, as above described, being conveyed to Lillie Willis, and Block G as above described to E. A. Anderson.

[328]*328W. E. Jones, who was called as a witness by plaintiffs in error, testified that when the partition deed was executed he had not surveyed on the grouhd any of the lines between Blocks A, B, C, D, E, F and G, and had not marked any of the corners of said blocks on their dividing lines. He testified that if there was an excess distance between the west line of Block 14 (the west line of Block B) and the east line of Block 16 (the east line of Block G) he did not know it at the time he prepared the field notes for Blocks A, B, C, D, E, F and G.

It was proven by undisputed evidence that Jones marked the southwest comer of Block 12 (which is the northwest corner of Block B) and the northwest corner of Block 10 (which is the northeast comer of Block G). These two original corners thus marked by Jones were identified by the surveyors who testified. There is no dispute as. to their location.

The controversy herein is caused by the existence of an excess distance on the ground between the west line of Block B and the east line of Block G. The total distance between the NW comer of Block B and the NE comer of Block G is, according to the field notes of Blocks B, C, D, E, F and G, 1550.5 varas. Hackney, a surveyor and witness for plaintiffs in error, testified that the distance on the ground between the said two points is 1602.9 varas, an excess of 52.4 varas. Grothaus, a surveyor and witness for defendants in error, found the distance on the ground between the same points to be 1605.4 varas, an excess of 54.9 varas.

Plaintiffs in error contend that the correct method of determining the true location of the boundary line between Blocks F and G is to begin at the established and undisputed northwest corner of Block B and construct each of the several blocks according to the calls in the field notes east from that point, giving to each block the width east and west called for in the field notes. When this is done and the north line of Block G is extended beyond its field note distance in order to reach the marked northwest comer of Block 10, all the excess distance between the northwest corner of Block B and northeast corner of Block G and all of' the excess acreage between the west line of Block B and the east line of Block G are allotted to Block G. Defendants in error, in their brief filed in this court, take the position that Block G, owned by plaintiffs in error and for which they sue, must be constructed from its own known and undisputed northeast and southeast comer and [329]*329its north and south lines extended no farther from those corners than the distances called for in the field notes. It is our opinion that neither of the two theories is correct, but that the case is under the undisputed facts a proper one for the apportionment of the excess among the several blocks. Welder v. Carroll, 29 Texas 317; Sellers v. Reed, 46 Texas 377; Johnson v. Knippa, 127 S. W. 905; Stahlman v. Riordan, 227 S. W. 726; Turner v. Smith, 122 Texas 338, 361, 61 S. W. (2d) 792; Stanolind Oil & Gas Co. v. State, 129 Texas 547, 557-558, 101 S. W. (2d) 801, 104 S. W. (2d) 1.

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Bluebook (online)
153 S.W.2d 452, 137 Tex. 324, 1941 Tex. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-plains-oil-gas-co-v-foundation-oil-co-tex-1941.