Lauderdale v. Lee

264 S.W. 558, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 650
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 29, 1924
DocketNo. 1631.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 264 S.W. 558 (Lauderdale v. Lee) 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
Lauderdale v. Lee, 264 S.W. 558, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 650 (Tex. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinions

HIGGINS, J.

On April 23, 1920, R. Q. Lee, C. M. Caldwell, B. S. Walker, G. T. Liles, H. C. Roberts, Will Black, Jack Black, 5. T. Swenson, N. N. Rosenquest, Fred W. Frost, and S. & G. Company, a corporation, filed this suit against B. H. Lauderdale and wife, Fannie F. Lauderdale, J. R. Stubble-field, and the Texas Company, in t;he ordinary form of trespass to try title to an undivided three-fourths interest in and to all of the minerals in, on, and under, and that may be produced from, a tract of land containing 43.8 acres, subject to the terms of an oil and gas mining lease held by the Texas Company.

Omitting the first paragraph of the peti-tioh, which gives the names and residences of the plaintiffs and defendants, the petition reads:

“(2) That heretofore, to wit, on or about the 1st day of January, A. D. 1920-, the plaintiffs were lawfully seized and possessed of the following described land and premises situated in Stephens county, Tex., holding and claiming the same in fee simple, to wit: Being a part of the S. E. %. of section No. 34, block No. 5, Texas & Pacific Railway Company land, as the same was originally surveyed but being a part of section No. 35, block No. 5, Texas & Pacific Railway Company as patented, described by metes and bounds as follows: (Here follow field notes'of the land.)
“(3) That the plaintiffs on said date, and for a long time prior thereto, claimed and were the owners of all of an undivided three-fourths interest in and to all of the minerals in, on, and under, and that may be produced from, the above-described land, subject to the terms of an oil and gas mining lease held thereon by the defendant the Texas Company. That thereafter, on the date and year last aforesaid, the defendants unlawfully entered upon said premises and ejected plaintiff therefrom and unlawfully withheld from them the possession thereof, to their great damage in the sum of $50,000.
“(4) And plaintiffs would further represent and show to the court that the Texas Company is the owner and holder of a mineral lease on the above-described tract of land, which lease is of record in volume 39, page 24, of the deed records of Stephens county, Tex.; that the said defendant, the Texas Company is in possession of said land, and has drilled and is drilling wells on said land for the discovery and production of oil, gas, and other minerals; that the said defendant, the Texas Company, has produced and extracted large quantities of oil from said land, the amount of which is unknown to these plaintiffs, but that these plaintiffs are the owners of and are entitled to three-fourths of one-eighth of all of the oil, which the said defendant, the Texas Company, has produced or extracted or may produce or extract from said land, but that the defendant, the Texas Company, though often requested, has failed and refused to turn over to these plaintiffs their portion of the oil, or to pay plaintiffs therefor, to plaintiffs’ damage in the sum of $50,000.
“Wherefore, premises considered, these plaintiffs pray that the defendants and each of them be cited to appear and answer this petition; and that upon final hearing hereof plaintiffs have judgment against said defendants and each of them, except the Texas Company, for an undivided three-fourths interest in and to all of the minerals, in, on, and under, and that may be or has been produced from, said land above described, and that plaintiff have judgment against the Texas Company for an undivided three-fourtlis of one-eighth of all that has been or may be produced from said land by the said Texas Company, and that these plaintiffs have judgment for title and restitution of an undivided three-fourths interest, in and to all minerals, in, on, and under the above-described premises, and for their damages, for cost or suit, and for such other and further relief, both general *559 and special, as they may be justly entitled to, either in law or in equity, and will ever pray.”

On June 1, 1920, the Texas Company answered setting up that the subject-matter of the suit was the right and title to the royalty from minerals produced and saved from the land described in the petition by that defendant under the terms of a mineral lease held by it upon the land, and that Mrs. N. E. Lauderdale, a widow, Edith M. James, and her husband, T. M. James, and Jennie D. Lauderdale, were claiming some interest in such royalty and were necessary parties; that under its lease upon the land it had brought in one well and produced oil therefrom of the value of $188,526.29, and under the terms of the lease contract and according to assignments of mineral interest it had paid the royalty interest to B. H. Lau-derdale and wife, Eannie E. Lauderdale, J. R. Stubblefield, Mrs. N. E. Lauderdale, Edith M. James and T. M. James, and Jennie D. Lauderdale, stating the fractional part paid to each of said parties, and in said answer the Texas Company ashed that Mrs. N. E. and Jennie D. Lauderdale, Edith M. and T. M. James, be made parties to the suit, and that upon trial it go hence and, in the alternative, if the plaintiffs recovered any sum against it by reason of their ownership of any part of the royalty, it have judgment over against the Lauderdales, Stubblefield, and the Jameses.

The Texas Company, on July 6, 1922, filed a first amended answer, which repeats the defensive allegations of its original answer and certain other defenses, which need not be detailed further than to say that it assumed the attitude of a stakeholder as to the moneys then in its hands.

B. H. Lauderdale answered the petition by general denial and plea of not guilty, and to the cross-action of the Texas Company by general demurrer and general denial. Stub-blefield answered by general demurrer and general denial.

Nannie E. Lauderdale, Edith M. and T. M. Janies, and Jennie D. Lauderdale adopted the answers of B. H. Lauderdale.

On December 13, 1922, the plaintiffs filed their first amended original petition complaining of the original defendants, B. H. and Eannie Lauderdale, J. R. Stubblefield and the Texas Company, containing the same allegations as was contained in its original petition, and in addition thereto the following :

“And in addition to and in connection with plaintiffs’ action in trespass to try title and without waiving any of the rights or titles which they may have and be enabled to show through said trespass to try title, plaintiffs allege the following facts:
“Plaintiffs say that if for any reason the description in any of the deeds in plaintiffs’, or hny one of them, chain of title is ambiguous, that it was the intention of all the parties to said instruments to include in the description of said deed or deeds the land involved in this suit, and, further, that if there is any such ambiguity these plaintiffs and each of them will offer parol testimony to prove such intention, and that the description given does in fact include the land involved in this controversy.
“These plaintiffs further allege that B. H. Lauderdale is the common source of title to the property here sued for, and that plaintiffs derived title through the said B. H. Lauderdale as set out in this petition, and also by regular chain of title from such common source.

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

Related

Lauderdale v. Lee
276 S.W. 660 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 S.W. 558, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lauderdale-v-lee-texapp-1924.