Hammarstedt v. Bakeley

182 Iowa 1356
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 12, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 182 Iowa 1356 (Hammarstedt v. Bakeley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hammarstedt v. Bakeley, 182 Iowa 1356 (iowa 1918).

Opinion

Stevens, J.

1. Fraud : fraudulent representations : seeming paradox. On the first day of March, 1911, Hezekiah Atwood conveyed the west one half (W%) of the southwest quarter (SW%) and the southeast quarter (SE]4) of the southwest quarter (SW14I of Section 21, Township 84 North, Range 27, except some small tracts therein described, to the plaintiff by warranty deed containing the following clause: “Excepting and reserving all coal and mineral underlying all said premises.” It also contained the usual covenants of seizin against encumbrances, good right and lawful authority to sell and convey and to- warrant and defend the title to said premises against all persons whomsoever. Atwood is deceased, and defendant H. W. Atwood is the executor of his estate. The consideration for said conveyance was $11,400, which was paid in cash and by note for $8,000, payment thereof being secured by mortgage upon said premises. Subsequently, plaintiff paid $6,000, together with accrued interest on said note, and deposited $2,000 in the defendant Farmers’ State Bank of Ogden, which has since been held by said bank, pending the termination of this suit.

[1358]*1358Plaintiff’s cause of action is stated in two counts. In the first it is alleged that Hezekiah Atwood and William Bakeley, one of the defendants herein, as his agent, “falsely and fraudulently represented to the plaintiff that they owned all the surface of said land, and that the person for whom the said coal and mineral should he reserved did not have any contract for or right to use any of the surface of the said land, and in further pursuit of said wrongful and fraudulent purpose, the said Bakeley and Atwood delivered to the plaintiff an abstract of title, purporting to be an abstract of the title to the said land from the original entry thereof down to the 23rd day of February, 1911, from which abstract was omitted any reference to the McClure deed; and that the said Bakeley and Atwood, falsely and fraudulently, and for the purpose aforesaid, concealed from plaintiff the fact of the existence of said deed, and in like manner, for the said purpose, concealed from plaintiff the provisions and contents of said deed, and the fact of the existence of the easement and incumbrance therein created and provided, the said Bakeley and Atwood well knowing that the said deed, rights, easement and incumbrance were outstanding, valid and subsisting, and that said abstract of title was false in relation thereto, and the plaintiff did not know thereof.”

The deed referred to in said petition was a conveyance from Atwood and others of the mineral under the surface of said property to one Samuel McClure. Following the granting clause of said deed was a provision respecting the use of the surface for mining said coal, which, so far as material to the questions presented on this appeal, is as follows:

“With the right to mine and remove the same without liability for surface subsidence, except underbuildings now thereon, with the right of perpetual use for mining purposes and to make underground passage way to adjoining lands. [1359]*1359Second party may nse so much of the surface of said premises as may be required for proper mining operations, including erecting, maintaining and operating hoisting machinery, air pumps and escape shafts, with necessary railway rights of way and other roadways by second party paying first party or their assigns one hundred dollars per acre for all surface uses. No shafts to be located nearer than 40 rods to present buildings and due care to be used in mining operations that surface shall not sink under said buildings or injury result thereto.”

The second count of plaintiff's petition is based upon an alleged breach of the covenants of warranty of the deed to him. • It is alleged in both counts of said petition that, by reason of the provision of the deed to McClure, giving him the use of the necessary part of the surface.for mining purposes, plaintiff has suffered damages in the sum of $2,500, and the petition prays that the court ascertain the true amount of damages suffered, if the above sum be found incorrect, and offset the same against the balance due on the purchase price of said land, and that the defendant bank be directed to pay the same out of the $2,000 deposit above referred to.

It was also alleged in said petition that the owner of the mineral rights is threatening to enter upon the premises for the purpose of mining said coal, and to place railway tracks thereon for the convenience of said mining onerations.

I. The fraudulent representations relied upon all relate to the surface rights conveyed to McClure, and the alleged concealment from plaintiff of said deed and its provisions. Plaintiff admitted that he knew that the mineral under said land had been conveyed, but maintained that Atwood and Bakeley, his agent, told him that no rights to the use of any part of the surface for mining purposes were granted in said deed, and that all of the information he [1360]*1360had concerning the sainé was the clause in his deed excepting and reserving from the conveyance all coal and mineral underlying the surface. Upon examination of the abstract, plaintiff says he found no reference to the deed, and consummated the deal without knowledge of its contents; so that, in 'so far as plaintiff charges fraud in said transaction, it is based entirely upon the alleged representations tha1 the owner of the mineral possessed no surface rights in said premises.

It is contended by counsel for appellee that the provisions and restrictions of the McClure deed are more favorable to plaintiff than the provisions in the deed to him. It will be observed that the deed to McClure authorizes him or his assigns to enter upon the premises in question, and use such part of the surface thereof as may be required for proper mining operations, including the erection and maintenance of hoisting machinery, air pumps, and escape shafts, with all necessary right of way for railway and other road facilities, but requires that no shaft shall be sunk within forty rods of the buildings on said premises. The question of surface subsidence and the duty to provide subjacent support apparently were not referred to, nor in the mind of the parties at the time of the purchase of said land; and little, if any, consideration seems to have been given this question in the court below, and it is not urged upon this appeal. Assuming that the representations were made as charged, and that they were believed and relied upon by the plaintiff, and that he was induced thereby to purchase said land, yet, unless plaintiff has suffered some damages- on -account thereof, this cause cannot be reversed.

2. Mines and minerals: title, conveyances, etc.: implied right to use surface. It is practically the uniform holding of the courts in all jurisdictions of this country that a grant or reservation of mineral under the surface carries with it, or reserves, the right to use so much of the sur[1361]*1361face as is reasonably necessary for mining such mineral.

The Supreme Court of Missouri, in Gordon v. Million, 248 Mo. 155 (154 S. W. 99), passing upon this question, said:

“It must be remembered that the coal deposits, when separated by grant or reservation in a deed, are as much of an estate in lands as is the surface of the same lands.

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Related

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