Light v. Crowson Well Service, Inc.

299 So. 2d 869, 40 Oil & Gas Rep. 30, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 3331
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 1, 1974
DocketNo. 12342
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 299 So. 2d 869 (Light v. Crowson Well Service, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Light v. Crowson Well Service, Inc., 299 So. 2d 869, 40 Oil & Gas Rep. 30, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 3331 (La. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

PRICE, Judge.

This appeal involves the interpretation of the conveyance clause in two mineral deeds which describes the interests sold by a fraction, and thereafter declares the intent to convey a specific number of mineral acres which conflicts with the fractional interest first expressed.

On June 10, 1963, Etta May Baxley, the owner of an undivided one-third fee interest in a tract of land in Sections 22 and 23, Township 19 North, Range 14 West, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, executed a mineral deed conveying to Dr. C. S. Sentell a portion of her mineral interest in the property. (This tract has been designated as “Tract 1” in briefs to this court and it shall be referred to hereafter in this manner). On November 15, 1963, Mrs. Baxley, who owned an identical undivided fee interest in a tract in Sections 19, 23, 25 and 26, Township 19 North, Range 14 West, and Section 19, Township 19, Range 13 West, of Caddo Parish, executed a second mineral deed conveying to Dr. Sentell a part of her mineral interest under this tract. (This tract has been referred to as “Tract 2” by the litigants and will also be so designated in this opinion for convenience.)

At the time of these mineral sales each of the tracts was subject to a mineral lease providing for the standard one-eighth royalty and an additional one-sixteenth overriding royalty to the lessors. Mrs. Baxley therefore owned a royalty interest of one-third of (Vs-VVia) or one-sixteenth.

The mineral deed executed on June 10, 1963, affecting Tract 1, described the interest conveyed thusly:

“ * * * one-sixteenths of eight-eighths (He of %ths) of the oil, gas and other minerals, in and under and that may be produced from the following described lands situated . . . (property description omitted) approximately 366 acres, more or less.
“It is the intention of Vendor to convey and Vendee to purchase sixty-one (61) mineral acres in and under the above described lands.”

The instrument acknowledges the sale is subject to an existing oil and gas lease and specifies it “covers and includes 61 mineral acres (Jieths of %ths) of all the oil royalties and gas rentals or royalties due and to become due under the terms of the lease, and a like interest in all money rentals that may be hereafter paid in order to keep the lease in effect without drilling.”

The mineral sale dated November 15, 1963, involving Tract 2, was prepared with substantially the same provisions as the sale for Tract 1 and it recites a conveyance of “Via of %ths” of the minerals. The sole difference from the prior sale is that the total estimated acreage is 940 and the intent is expressed to buy and sell 156.-67 mineral acres.

Shortly after execution of these mineral sales Mrs. Baxley died. In the year 1970 the two tracts involved began producing oil as part of the Sentell Field of Caddo Parish.

Plaintiffs, who are heirs of Mrs. Baxley and their vendees, brought this action for a declaratory judgment seeking clarification [871]*871of the mineral ownership which emanates from the sales by Mrs. Baxley to Dr. Sen-tell.

The original defendants named in the action in addition to Dr. Sentell, are the lessees of all the various mineral interests in the tract and the purchaser of the crude oil. As Dr. Sentell died subsequent to trial but prior to rendition of judgment, his widow and heirs were substituted as parties in his place. Crowson Well Service, Inc. and B. C. McKeever, although named as defendants, have aligned themselves with plaintiffs in responsive pleadings and in trial of the matter. Therefore, the controversy is principally between plaintiffs and the Sentell heirs together with those deriving rights through leases granted by Dr. Sentell. For simplicity, when it is necessary to refer collectively to those parties in opposition to plaintiffs, they will be referred to as the “Sentell group.”

Plaintiffs allege a dispute has arisen between themselves and the Sentell group as to the extent of the mineral interest transferred under the two mineral deeds in question. Plaintiffs contend a one-sixteenth undivided interest in a mineral servitude was created as set forth by the numerical fraction provided in the conveyance clause of each of these mineral deeds.

The Sentell group contend the conveyance was intended to be a designated number of mineral acres under each of the tracts and that the numerical fraction ‘%th of %ths” had reference to the amount of royalty anticipated from the existing leases on each property. They contend the mineral acres should be transformed into an undivided fractional interest in the mineral servitude by using the number of mineral acres provided as the numerator and the total acreage of the tract as the denominator to arrive at the fractional interest conveyed. To accord with this position the fractional undivided interest conveyed would be approximately one-sixth (%th) as opposed to the one-sixteenth (146th) as contended by plaintiffs.

After trial on the merits the district court concluded the interest conveyed in both sales to be a one-sixteenth of the minerals under the tracts involved and judgment was rendered defining the mineral ownership of the various parties affected by these mineral sales in accord with this finding.

All parties referred to herein as the Sen-tell group have appealed from this judgment.

In written reasons for judgment the trial judge found the conveyance by undivided fractional interests irreconcilable with the reference to “mineral acres” and concluded the fraction being a clear, concise, definite description, it should prevail over the other clause referring to mineral acres which is of uncertain meaning. The court further found the evidence to show the written agreements were prepared at the direction of the vendees’ agent and therefore any ambiguity therein should be construed against him under the provisions of LSA-C.C. Art. 1958.

Testimony offered by appellants seeking to explain the ambiguity by showing the true intent of the parties was ruled inadmissible by the trial judge. This evidence was entered in the record under an offer of proof.

On this appeal appellants assign the following errors to the holding of the trial court:

1. The court disregarded and attached no meaning to the term “mineral acre” as set forth in the deeds.
2. The court refused to admit parol testimony to explain the meaning of the terminology or the intention of the parties when the terms used are susceptible to more than one meaning.
3. The court failed to give meaning to all provisions of the instrument and disregarded the provisions of LSA-C.C. Art. 1951 mandating that a clause susceptible of two interpreta[872]*872tions must be construed in such a manner to give it some effect rather than render it meaningless.
4. The court should not have ruled that the ambiguities and inconsistencies should be construed against the vend-ee, Dr. Sentell, under Article 1958.

There can be no doubt that the two documents involved were inarticulately drawn and contain inconsistent provisions relating to the mineral interest conveyed. Therefore, parol evidence is admissible under the circumstances to clarify the ambiguity or to show the true intention of the parties. LSA-C.C. Art. 2276.

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Related

Light v. Crowson Well Service, Inc.
302 So. 2d 305 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
299 So. 2d 869, 40 Oil & Gas Rep. 30, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 3331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/light-v-crowson-well-service-inc-lactapp-1974.