Jones v. Killingsworth

403 S.W.2d 325
Texas Supreme Court·Decided December 8, 1965·No. A-10243·Published·Cited by 68 cases

Opinions

SMITH, Justice.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

Our opinion delivered on June 23, 1965, is withdrawn and the following opinion is substituted therefor.

The question presented for our determination is whether or not the lands owned by the petitioner, Mildred Mitchell Jones, and described in an oil, gas and mineral lease executed by Mildred Mitchell Jones and her husband, Harry C. Jones, as lessors, to S. S. Long, as lessee (later assigned to S. H. Killingsworth), on August 16, 1951, were effectively pooled into what is known as the Hunt Oil Company et al. — West Poynor Unit. The trial court, without a jury, held that Killingsworth effectively pooled the acreage covered by the lease in accordance with authority granted in the lease, and for that reason the lease did not terminate on August 16, 1961, the date of the expiration of the primary term. A take-nothing judgment rendered against the petitioners has been affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 379 S.W.2d 362.

The judgments of both the trial court and the Court of Civil Appeals are reversed and judgment is rendered for the petitioners.

Mildred Mitchell Jones and her husband filed this suit against S. H. Killingsworth and owners of leases in the immediate vicinity of the Mitchell-Long lease. These owners will be referred to as “Hunt Petroleum Corporation.” On July 12, 1961, at a time when the Mitchell-Long lease was in effect and was owned by and the title thereto was vested in S. H. Killingsworth, subject to certain overriding royalty interests, Kill-ingsworth, joined by the above-mentioned owners of other leases, entered into a pooling agreement establishing a unit hereinafter referred to as the “West Poynor Unit.” The two tracts of land described in the Mitchell-Long lease were included within this unit designation. These tracts contained, in the aggregate, 20.55 acres. It was stipulated that the created unit contained 170.86 acres. However, the parties deal with this unit as though it contains only 160 acres.

It was stipulated that the unit owners commenced drilling operations on the West Poynor Unit and completed a producing oil well on or about August 16, 1961, which “unit well” has continued to produce oil in paying quantities. It was agreed that “no well in search of oil, gas or other minerals has been drilled by S. H. Killingsworth and the other defendants on the lands actually described by metes and bounds in the Long lease, and that no oil, gas or other minerals in paying quantities has been produced from any well actually located on the lands actually described in the Long lease.”

Although lessors contend that they are not bound by the terms of the Unit Declaration and the Amended Unit Declaration, it is agreed that Killingsworth and the other unit owners in the unit acted in good faith in forming the unit, in securing a permit to drill and in drilling the well on the unit.

The habendum clause of the Mitchell-Long lease provides that:

“Subject to the other provisions herein contained, this lease shall be for a term of ten (10) years from this date * * and as long thereafter as oil * * * is produced from * * * land with which said land is pooled hereunder.”

The pertinent pooling provisions of the lease are to be found in the first two sentences of paragraph 4 of the Mitchell-Long lease. These sentences read as follows:

“Lessee, at its option, is hereby given the right and power to pool or [327] combine the acreage covered by this lease, or any portion thereof as to oil and gas, or either of them, with other land, lease or leases in the immediate vicinity thereof to the extent, hereinafter stipulated, when in Lessee’s judgment it is necessary or advisable to do so in order properly to develop and operate said leased premises in compliance with the spacing rules of the Railroad Commission of Texas, or other lawful authority, or when to do so would, in the judgment of Lessee, promote the conservation of oil and gas from said premises. Units pooled for oil hereunder shall not substantially exceed 40 acres each in area, and units pooled for gas hereunder shall not substantially exceed in area 640 acres each plus a tolerance of 10% thereof, provided that should governmental authority having jurisdiction prescribe or permit the creation of units larger than those specified, units thereafter created may conform substantially in size with those prescribed by governmental regulations.”

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Jones v. Killingsworth, 403 S.W.2d 325 (Tex. 1965).

403 S.W.2d 325 (Jones v. Killingsworth) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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