Lone Star Gas Company v. Oakman

1955 OK 140, 283 P.2d 810, 4 Oil & Gas Rep. 1124, 1955 Okla. LEXIS 665
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 10, 1955
Docket36641
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1955 OK 140 (Lone Star Gas Company v. Oakman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lone Star Gas Company v. Oakman, 1955 OK 140, 283 P.2d 810, 4 Oil & Gas Rep. 1124, 1955 Okla. LEXIS 665 (Okla. 1955).

Opinion

HALLEY, Justice.

Norman Oakman sued the Lone Star Gas Company in the District Court of Stephens County to recover $842 alleged to be the balance due him for an easement across his land for pipe line purposes and for damages alleged to.have been.suffered by his cattle *812 in the construction of said pipe line in the sum of $2,050.

Plaintiff alleged that the agent of the defendant agreed with him that the defendant would pay him $1,000 for roddage and damage to his land, plus any additional damage to plaintiff’s cattle, and that the representative of defendant told plaintiff that if he would sign a right-of-way easement, the defendant would pay him $158 as roddage and upon completion of the pipe line the defendant would pay the balance of $842 as land damage, plus additional amounts due for damage to plaintiff’s livestock, and that in reliance upon these promises, the plaintiff executed a right-of-way easement for pipe line purposes and received $158. He prayed for judgment in the sum of $2,892, $842 balance due under contract and $2,050 for damage to cattle. ,

Defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s petition was overruled as was his demurrer to the evidence and motion for a directed verdict. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in the sum of $842, being the balance claimed to be due for easement and land damage. The defendant has appealed and the parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The defendant has submitted three propositions for reversal. The first is that the demurrer to plaintiff’s petition, demurrer to the evidence and motion for a directed verdict should have been sustained because plaintiff failed to allege or prove a valid collateral oral agreement to pay $842 in settlement of land damage arising out of the laying of the pipe line, because plaintiff’s pleading and proof are based on the theory that the $842 was the balance due under an alleged oral agreement that defendant was to pay a total of $1,000, as a total consideration for the written easement agreement, which violates the parol evidence rule in that it is an attempt to change the express terms of a written agreement by parol.

The pertinent portions of the easement agreement signed by the plaintiff are as follows :

“That for and in consideration of One Hundred Fifty Eight and No/100 ($158.00) Dollars to the undersigned, Norman Oakman, (herein styled Grantor, whether one or more) paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the said Grantor does hereby grant, sell and convey unto Lone Star Gas Company, a Corporation (herein styled Grantee), its successors and assigns, the right of way and easement to construct, maintain and operate pipe lines and appurtenances thereto, and to construct, maintain and operate telegraph and telephone lines in connection therewith, together with the necessary poles, guy wires and anchors, over and through the following described lands situated in Stephens County, State of Oklahoma, to-wit: * * *

The habendum clause grants the right of ingress and egress, and the third paragraph provides in part that defendant will bury all pipe lines below plow depth, and “ * * * to pay any damages which may arise to growing crops or fences from the construction, maintenance and operation of said pipe line, telegraph and telephone lines * * such damage, if not agreed upon by the parties, to be fixed by three disinterested persons.

Next to the last paragraph of the written agreement provides :

“The consideration first above recited as being paid to Grantor by Grantee is in full satisfaction of every right hereby granted. All covenants and agreements herein contained shall extend to and be binding upon the respective hejrs, legal representatives, successors and assigns of the parties hereto.”

Numerical paragraph 1 of plaintiff’s petition- alleges:

“That prior to July 17, 1952, the defendant had been negotiating through their agent, Damon O. McConnell, with plaintiff for a pipe line easement across said described land, and that the parties hereto had agreed upon the sum of $1,-000.00 for roddage and land damage, plus any additional damage that plaintiff might suffer to his cattle, such land being pasture where cattle of plaintiff were located, and that on July 17, 1952, the said McConnell as defendant’s agent *813 represented to plaintiff that if' plaintiff would sign tlie R/W easement defendant would pay him $158.00 as roddage,' and that immediately upon completion of the laying of the pipe line, defendant would pay to plaintiff the balance of $842.00 land damage plus any additional amounts due for damage to plaintiff’s livestock, that in reliance upon the promises of defendant, plaintiff executed a right of way easement for pipe line purposes and received $158.00.”

Under the foregoing pleading of the plaintiff, should the court have sustained the demurrer of the defendant to the petition and its motion for a directed verdict? Is the proof offered such as to justify a departure from the parol evidence rule ? That rule is a part of our statutory law, appearing as Section 137, 15 O.S.1951, and is as follows :

“The execution of a contract in writing, whether the law requires it to be written or not, supersedes all the oral negotiations or stipulations concerning its matter, which preceded or accompanied the execution of the instrument. R.L.1910, § 942.”

The pipe line easement contained the following provisions relative to consideration:

“The consideration first above recited as being paid to Grantor by Grantee is in full satisfaction of every right hereby granted.”
“It is hereby understood that party securing this grant in behalf of Grantee is without authority to make any covenant or agreement not herein expressed.”

The written easement also provides in part:

“ * * * Grantor is to fully use and enjoy the said premises, except for the purposes hereinbefore granted to the said Grantee, which hereby agrees to bury all pipes to a sufficient depth so as not to interfere with cultivation of soil, and to pay any damages which may arise to growing crops or fences from the construction, maintenance and operation of said pipe, telegraph and telephone lines, * * * ”
The written, agreement makes no mention of land damages, which we think is covered by the consideration named in the written agreement.

While it is not necessary to use the word “fraud” in order to plead fraud, it may be plead by pleading all of the essential facts necessary to constitute fraud. Accident and mistake are nowhere plead and are not covered by the proof of the plaintiff. The rule relative to a proper allegation of fraud is clearly expiessed by this-Court in Miller v. Troy Laundry Machinery Co., Inc., 178 Okl. 313, 62 P.2d 975, in the sixth paragraph of the syllabus:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1955 OK 140, 283 P.2d 810, 4 Oil & Gas Rep. 1124, 1955 Okla. LEXIS 665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lone-star-gas-company-v-oakman-okla-1955.