Hunt Oil Co. v. Moore

656 S.W.2d 634
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 4, 1983
Docket1464, 1450
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 656 S.W.2d 634 (Hunt Oil Co. v. Moore) 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
Hunt Oil Co. v. Moore, 656 S.W.2d 634 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

SUMMERS, Chief Justice.

This case is a consolidation of two appeals from the same judgment. This court in an earlier opinion dismissed the appeal of Hunt Oil Company (Cause No. 1464) for want of jurisdiction. 1 Pursuant to the Texas Supreme Court’s mandate we now consider the merits of each appeal.

Willis Moore, Trustee (hereinafter Moore), brought suit on July 7, 1970, against Hunt Oil Company and others (hereinafter Hunt) seeking to have a lease declared terminated, cloud on title removed, and title quieted in himself. Moore, relying upon a subsequently acquired mineral deed, claimed that a certain oil and gas lease (covering an undivided one-tenth mineral interest in approximately 92 acres in the Fairway Field in Henderson County, Texas) had lapsed. Moore alleged that the acreage of the lease, which named Hunt as lessee, was pooled in an unauthorized manner into two units of approximately 160 acres each and thereafter terminated despite produc *636 tion from the two unit wells located on lands adjacent to the tract in which he claims an interest. Moore also alleged that he was entitled to an accounting for the production attributable to this mineral interest. In his original petition, Moore (disclaiming any intent to ratify the unit agreements) 2 requested that the trial court award him judgment for the value of all of the oil, gas and other minerals attributable to his one-tenth (9.2 acre) mineral interest produced after May 16, 1962, from the Hunt-Milner, Atlantic-Milner and Fairway Units, together with interest thereon at 6% per annum from the several dates on which production occurred.

Both Moore and Hunt filed motions for summary judgment. On April 5, 1979, the trial court overruled Hunt’s motion and sustained Moore's motion and entered a partial summary judgment for Moore. Such summary judgment declared the lease of May 15, 1961, terminated, quieted title in Moore, ordered the cloud removed and an accounting by Hunt to Moore for all oil, gas and other minerals produced attributable to Moore’s mineral interest from such three units and costs of suit. After Hunt’s completion of the accounting and further discovery proceedings, the court on May 16, 1980, rendered a final judgment, ordering the relief granted in the partial summary judgment and also ordering that Hunt pay Moore the sum of $877,058.52, 9% per an-num post-judgment interest and costs of suit. The court denied Moore’s claim for pre-judgment interest. From this adverse judgment, Hunt appealed in Cause No. 1464; Moore appealed in Cause No. 1450 from the court’s failure to award prejudgment interest.

The judgment is affirmed in part, reversed and rendered in part.

The undisputed facts as developed by the summary judgment evidence reflect that Bill DeWayne Hamilton, a minor, owned a one-tenth (9.2 acre) mineral interest in certain property composed of about 92 acres located in Henderson County, Texas. On May 15, 1961, Willie Mae Hamilton, guardian of his estate, executed an oil and gas lease covering two tracts comprising said 92 acres (hereinafter 92-acre tract) with Hunt Oil Company as lessee (the Hamilton-Hunt lease). The primary term of the lease was for five years from May 15, 1961, and as long thereafter as either oil, gas or other mineral is produced “from said land hereunder or land pooled therewith.” The lease provided for the payment of annual delay rentals which were not paid. The record also shows that no wells were drilled upon the 92-acre tract covered by said lease.

The facts further reflect that the lessor, Bill DeWayne Hamilton, and his guardian, Willie Mae Hamilton, did the following acts after May 16, 1962, in relation to the land covered by the Hamilton-Hunt lease:

1. Between February 13 and April 15, 1963, Willie Mae Hamilton as guardian of Bill DeWayne Hamilton, executed a Hunt division order relating to production on the Atlantic-Milner Unit.
2. Between May 28 and July 1, 1963, Willie Mae Hamilton as guardian of Bill DeWayne Hamilton, negotiated a check issued by Hunt for royalty paid under the lease.
3. On August 20, 1966, Bill DeWayne Hamilton executed a top oil and gas lease to Willis Moore, as trustee for Travis Ward (Hamilton-Moore lease) which provided in paragraph 12 in pari materia: “lessors expressly ratify and confirm such Fairway Field-wide Unit agreement dated October 1, 1963.”
4. Between October 31 and November 9, 1966, Willie Mae Hamilton executed a division order of Mobil Oil Corporation pertaining to production on the Hunt-Milner Unit.
*637 5. Between November 16 and November 23, 1966, Willie Mae Hamilton and Bill DeWayne Hamilton negotiated a Mobil Oil Corporation royalty check representing production from the Hunt-Milner Unit.
6. On April 22, 1969, Bill DeWayne Hamilton executed a mineral deed conveying to Moore his one-tenth mineral interest in the 92-acre tract.

Appellant Hunt predicates its appeal (Cause No. 1464) upon nine points of error, alleging that the trial court erred as a matter of law: (1) in denying Hunt’s motion for summary judgment; (2) in failing to grant Hunt’s motion for summary judgment because the Hamilton-Hunt lease was properly pooled and never expired; (3) in failing to grant Hunt’s motion for summary judgment because the lease and the unit agreements covering the lease were revived and ratified by Hamilton and his successors; (4) in failing to grant Hunt’s motion for summary judgment because Hunt matured title to the Hamilton-Hunt leasehold estate by adverse possession; (5) in granting partial summary judgment for Moore due to the existence of genuine issues of material fact; (6) in granting partial summary judgment for Moore because there existed genuine issues of material fact with regard to: A. The intent of the parties to the lease; B. Revival and Ratification of the Hamilton-Hunt lease; C. Hunt’s adverse possession of the mineral estate claimed by Moore; D. The tolling of the Statute of Limitations; (7) in granting Moore an accounting because there is no basis in law for an accounting to Moore by Hunt; (8) in granting Moore’s motion for final judgment and rendering judgment for Moore because there were disputed issues of material fact and the basis for Moore’s motion was erroneous; and (9) in rendering a monetary judgment for Moore based upon Hunt’s accounting because there is no basis in law which permits such a recovery.

Moore brings his appeal (Cause No. 1450) on one point of error; asserting that the trial court erred in denying him a recovery of pre-judgment interest.

Hunt’s points 1, 2, 5 and 6A all concern the central issue as to the effectiveness of the pooling of the Hamilton-Hunt lease acreage into producing units. The trial court granted Moore’s motion for partial summary judgment on the basis that Hunt’s oil and gas lease on the tract in question had terminated on May 16, 1962, due to unauthorized pooling, principally relying on Jones v. Killingsworth, 403 S.W.2d 325 (Tex.1965). Hunt contends Jones

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656 S.W.2d 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunt-oil-co-v-moore-texapp-1983.