Hulsey v. Keel

700 S.W.2d 255
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 28, 1985
DocketNo. 04-84-00098-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 700 S.W.2d 255 (Hulsey v. Keel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hulsey v. Keel, 700 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

STOREY, Justice (Assigned).

The principal questions presented for decision by this appeal are, first, whether an earlier judgment entered in the case was a final judgment, and, second, whether the trial court erred in refusing to order a partition of a producing oil and gas lease. We will hold that the earlier judgment was a final, appealable judgment, and that the refusal to order partition was proper. Consequently, we will affirm.

The case experienced a lengthy career in the trial court. A period of about 14 years elapsed from the date of the original filing to the date of the judgment from which this appeal is taken. We will first review the case history along with the facts presented by a rather confusing record.

On August 6, 1970, Robert E. Keel sued A.A. Hulsey seeking a declaration that a joint venture agreement existing between them called for Keel’s interest in an oil and gas lease to be a one-sixteenth (1/16) “free-carried interest into the tank” rather than a one-thirty-second (1/32) working interest as contended by Hulsey. Alternatively Keel sought to reform a written assignment of a one-thirty-second (1/32) working interest into a one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest. He also sought specific performance of his version of the venture agreement. On March 24, 1975, Hulsey filed his first amended counter-claim in which he sought recovery against Keel for a proportionate share of drilling and completion costs. On the same date, March 24, 1975, the case proceeded to trial and on March 27, 1975, the jury returned its verdict which resolved all material issues in favor of Keel. On March 29, 1976, the court signed and entered its judgment.

The court’s judgment awarded Keel a one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest, it ordered that the written assignment be reformed to reflect the one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest, it ordered that Keel was to bear no part of the expense of drilling, completing and equipping but only a pro rata share of operating expenses after completion, and it ordered that Hul-sey account to Keel for all production from the lease from October 1, 1968 to the date of judgment. The judgment continued:

It is further Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed by the Court that Plaintiff Robert E. Keel, do have and does hereby recover a judgment against the Defendant A.A. Hulsey individually and d/b/a Rio Maverick Oil Company for all unpaid monies from the sale of oil and/or gas from the leased premises in an amount equal to the share of the production herein awarded to Plaintiff, less a pro rata share of the expenses of operating any wells after production has been obtained from such wells, such production and expenses to be computed on a basis of being due one month after the accrual of each; and it is further ORDERED that Plaintiff do have and recover from Defendant interest at the legal rate on all monies determined to be due to Plaintiff from the date that the same became due until date of this judgment; it is further ORDERED that the entire judgment shall bear interest at the legal rate until paid; and it is further ORDERED that execution shall issue upon this judgment if not timely paid.

The judgment expressly denied all other relief sought by Keel and taxed costs against Hulsey. The court’s judgment was titled “FINAL JUDGMENT.”

On the date of judgment, March 29,1976, the court by separate order granted Hulsey leave to file his first amended counterclaim, ordered severance of the counterclaim, realigned the parties and ordered the [257]*257counter-claim docketed for trial under a new cause number 4134-A styled A.A. Hulsey v. Robert E. Keel. Hulsey’s appeal from the judgment of March 29, 1976 was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Hulsey v. Keel, 541 S.W.2d 656 (Tex.Civ.App. — San Antonio 1976, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

We observe that on March 29, 1976, the date of judgment and order of severance, there was nothing left for trial upon Hul-sey’s first amended counter-claim. As we have noted above, the only relief sought by Hulsey was recovery of Keel’s proportionate share of drilling and completion costs. This issue became mooted by the award to Keel of a free-carried interest. Nevertheless, about one year later on February 25, 1977, Hulsey filed his third amended counter-claim in cause no. 4134-A in which he sought to relitigate the issues presented in the earlier trial and, additionally, to have the court order a partition by sale of the leasehold interests.

On January 4, 1984, following a bench trial held on June 20, 1983, the court entered its final judgment in cause no. 4134-A. This judgment denied Hulsey’s prayer for partition and awarded Keel a money judgment against Hulsey for $31,958.79. The judgment did not address the issues presented in the earlier trial because the court concluded that the March 29, 1976, judgment was a final judgment.

It is from the January 4, 1984, judgment that this appeal is brought. Hulsey contends on appeal that the court erred:

(1) In awarding Keel a one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest;
(2) In denying the right to partition;
(3) In awarding damages to Keel;
(4) In awarding prejudgment interest;
(5) In awarding post-judgment interest; and
(6) In awarding Keel interpleaded funds from past production.

It will be seen that points of error one, four, five and six attack issues which were litigated in the March 24, 1975, jury trial and resolved in the March 29, 1976, judgment; consequently, we will first consider whether that judgment was final or merely interlocutory.

In contending that the 1976 judgment was interlocutory Hulsey relies upon the well-settled rule that a judgment must dispose of all the issues so that no future action by the court will be necessary to settle and determine the entire controversy, citing Wagner v. Warnasch, 156 Tex. 334, 295 S.W.2d 890 (1956); Hunt Oil Co. v. Moore, 639 S.W.2d 459 (Tex.1982); Wilcox v. St. Mary’s University, 501 S.W.2d 875 (Tex.1973) and Perkins v. Springstun, 557 S.W.2d 343 (Tex.Civ.App. — Austin 1977, writ ref’d n.r.e.). As we have noted above, the issues presented by the pleadings in the earlier trial were whether Keel’s interest in the lease was a one-sixteenth (1/16) interest or a one-thirty-second (1/32) interest, whether it was a working interest or a free-carried interest, whether the written assignment should be reformed, whether Hulsey should be ordered to specifically perform, and whether Hul-sey should recover drilling and completion costs.

The March 29, 1976, judgment awarded Keel a one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest, it ordered that the written assignment be reformed to reflect the one-sixteenth (1/16) free-carried interest, that Keel was to bear no part of the expenses of drilling, completing or equipping but only a pro rata share of operating expenses after completion, and it ordered that Hulsey account to Keel for all production from the lease from October 1, 1968, to the date of judgment.

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700 S.W.2d 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hulsey-v-keel-texapp-1985.