Hinkle v. Gauntt

1949 OK 89, 206 P.2d 1001, 201 Okla. 432, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 327
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 3, 1949
DocketNo. 33286
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1949 OK 89 (Hinkle v. Gauntt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hinkle v. Gauntt, 1949 OK 89, 206 P.2d 1001, 201 Okla. 432, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 327 (Okla. 1949).

Opinion

HALLEY, J.

E. C. Gauntt instituted this action on July 19, 1946, to quiet title to an undivided 7/16 interest in the minerals and mineral rights in a tract of 40 acres of land in Carter county, Okla., alleged to have been acquired by him in a deed from John Hinkle, deceased. It is shown that the [433]*433successors in interest of John Hinkle were asserting some interest in the mineral rights so acquired by him, and prayed that his title be quieted and the defendants perpetually barred from asserting any interest therein.

The answering defendants admitted that they claimed an interest in that portion of the minerals and mineral rights claimed by the plaintiff. That when their predecessor, John Hinkle, conveyed the tract of land involved to the plaintiff, it was agreed that John Hinkle should reserve an undivided one-half interest in the mineral rights, subject to an existing oil and gas lease providing for the usual 1/8 royalty. That if the reservation in the deed did not express the reservation of such an interest, its failure to do so was due to an error of the scrivener, and that the deed should be reformed. That the successors of John Hinkle and the plaintiff had so construed the deed by their subsequent action in executing a new oil and gas lease, the bonus for which was equally divided between plaintiff and the successors of John Hinkle, and prayed that title to an undivided 1/2 interest in the minerals and mineral rights be quieted in the defendants.

Plaintiff replied by general denial, and alleged that the cause of action asserted by defendants was barred by both the five and fifteen-year statutes of limitation.

The evidence disclosed that the deed from John Hinkle to E. C. Gauntt was dated November 29, 1919, and conveyed the entire interest in the land described, with the following exception:

“Excepting a one-sixteenth (1/16) interest in the oil and gas deposits that may be developed on said land, and also an undivided one-half (1/2) interest in the bonus or rental.of oil and gas lease now existing against said land, and the crop rental for the year 1919.”

■ .In 1927, E. C. Gauntt conveyed the land in question' to Frank Greenwood; less one-half of the minerals. The surface rights and the one-half of the mineral rights conveyed to Greenwood are not involved in this action.

When John Hinkle conveyed to E. C. Gauntt in 1919, there was outstanding an oil and gas lease dated June 6, 1919, in favor of Otis Coffey, for a term of five years, providing for 1/8 royalty and $200 per year delay rentals. No development was had, but rentals were paid for four years, one-half to Hinkle and one-half to the plaintiff. Plaintiff and the successors of Hinkle leased the land in 1926 to W. J. Cassidy for a bonus of $400. There is a dispute as to how this bonus was divided. Plaintiff states that he received 7/8 thereof and the Hinkle heirs 1/8; but one heir denied that he received such a portion, but did not know what the other successors of John Hinkle received.

The scrivener who prepared the deed from John Hinkle to E. C. Gauntt containing the above-quoted exception testified, on direct examination, that he was told that the grantor was selling the surface rights and 1/2 of the royalty, and that there was an oil and gas lease on the land, and he made the deed showing a reservation of 1/16 of the minerals, when it should have contained 1/2. He testified on cross-examination that he drew the deed as the parties told him to draw it, and that, as written, it represented their agreement. The plaintiff E. C. Gauntt testified that John Hinkle had wanted to retain 1/2 of the mineral rights but that he, Gauntt, wanted it all, and started to call off the negotiations, when Hinkle agreed that he should reserve 1/16 of the mineral rights and should receive 1/2 of the rental to be paid under an existing lease, and also the 1919 crop rent, and that the deal was then closed on these terms.

We consider this evidence far from sufficient to justify a reformation of the. deed upon the ground of mutual mistake. No fraud was alleged. See Douglas v. Douglas, 176 Okla. 378, 56 P. 2d 362, and cases therein cited. The evidence as to mistake is neither clear,, unequivocal nor decisive.

[434]*434Plaintiffs in error, defendants below, group their assignments of error under a single proposition, to wit:

“A Deed to Land, Excepting a l/16th Interest in the Oil and Gas Deposits That May Be Developed On Said Land, and Also an Undivided 1/2 Interest in the Bonus or Rental of Oil and Gas Lease Now Against Said Land, Reserves to the Grantor an Undivided 1/2 Interest in the Oil and Gas Under Said Land.”

In view of the language contained in the reservation in the deed above described, we think it well to bear in mind that the words “bonus”, “rental”, and “royalty” are- words of common use in connection with oil and gas leases, conveyances, and reservations, as pointed out by this court in Carroll v. Bowen, 180 Okla. 215, 68 P. 2d 773, wherein the following definitions of these words are set out as follows:

(a) “Bonus” is said to mean “a premium, paid to a grantor or vendor, and strictly as the cash consideration or down payment paid, or agreed to be paid, for the execution of an oil and gas lease.”

(b) “The term ‘rental’, as used in oil and gas leases, refers to the consideration paid to the lessor for the privilege of delaying drilling operations.”

(c) “The term ‘royalty’, in the strict sense, is held to mean a share of the product or proceeds therefrom, reserved to the owner for permitting another to use the property.”

It will be noted that the exception, or reservation, contained in the deed under consideration does not mention the word “royalty”. It reserves to grantor “a one-sixteenth interest in the oil and gas deposits that may be developed on said land.” The further reservation in the deed concerns an entirely different interest, and is described as “an undivided one-half interest in the bonus or rental of oil and gas lease now existing against said land

It was shown that an oil and gas lease covering the land was in force at the time of the' execution of the deed, and the reservation of the one-half interest clearly refers to the rental due upon the existing oil and gas lease.

The existing lease provided for a yearly rental of $200, and the words “bonus” or “rental” clearly were intended to reserve one-half of that yearly rental to be paid for the privilege of delaying drilling operations. The undisputed testimony showed that this rental was equally divided between the grantor and the grantee in the deed for four years.

This leaves the question of what is meant or was intended in that portion of the reservation which read “excepting one-sixteenth interest in the oil and gas deposits that may be developed on said land.”

The plaintiff in error relies upon the case of Burns v. Bastien, 174 Okla. 40, 50 P. 2d 377. In that case is announced the well established rule relative to construction, to the effect that:

“ . . . A conveyance must be so construed as to give effect to intention of parties when that intention can be ascertained”

and that as a general rule, all reservations in a deed, unless otherwise expressed, operate in favor of the grantor.

In that case, the court was considering a reservation in the following language:

“ . . .

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

Related

Vulcan Lands, Inc. v. Victoria Older Currier
California Court of Appeal, 2023
Zemp v. Jacobs
1985 OK CIV APP 33 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1985)
Stratmann v. Stratmann
465 P.2d 938 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1970)
Sanders v. Bell
1960 OK 60 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1960)
Corlett v. Cox
333 P.2d 619 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1958)
Simson v. Langholf
293 P.2d 302 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1956)
Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Cabot Carbon Co.
210 F.2d 841 (Tenth Circuit, 1954)
Casteel v. Crigler
1953 OK 226 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1953)
Pease v. Dolezal
1952 OK 265 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1952)
Elliott v. Berry
1952 OK 235 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1952)
Miller v. Speed
259 S.W.2d 235 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Armstrong v. McCracken
1951 OK 82 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1951)
Little v. Mountain View Dairies, Inc.
217 P.2d 416 (California Supreme Court, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1949 OK 89, 206 P.2d 1001, 201 Okla. 432, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hinkle-v-gauntt-okla-1949.