Long Trusts v. Griffin

144 S.W.3d 99, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 7399, 2004 WL 1506250
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 18, 2004
Docket06-02-00185-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 144 S.W.3d 99 (Long Trusts v. Griffin) 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
Long Trusts v. Griffin, 144 S.W.3d 99, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 7399, 2004 WL 1506250 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by Justice CORNELIUS (Retired).

The Long Trusts appeal from a judgment rendered by the trial court after a bench trial in a suit brought by Robert M. Griffin, Robert M. Griffin, Jr., Charles W. Conrad, and Marvin and Marie Ogilvie for specific performance, breach of contract, and declaratory judgment. For convenience, the Long Trusts will be referred to in this opinion as “the Trusts,” and Robert Griffin, Robert Griffin, Jr., Charles Conrad, and the Ogilvies will be referred to collectively as “the Griffins.”

Beginning in 1978, the Griffins and some of their predecessors in interest entered into various letter agreements with the Trusts whereby they participated with the Trusts in drilling certain gas wells on leases situated in several counties in East Texas. The letter agreements provided that the investors would pay certain proportions of the costs of drilling, completing, and operating the wells, and if the wells were producers, the Trusts would assign or credit to the investors a specified undivided interest in the working interest the Trusts had in the wells. Most of the wells were producers, and for many years, the Trusts operated the wells under the terns of their standard joint operating agreement that was referred to in the letter agreements. Eventually, various disputes arose between the Griffins and the Trusts as to whether and when the investors would receive assignments of their interests, the billing practices between the parties, the provisions of the assignments, and whether and on what terms the Griffins would share in an $11,000,000.00 settlement of a “take or pay” lawsuit the Trusts had filed against Tejas Gas Company, which was purchasing the gas produced from the wells in question.

Ultimately, the Griffins filed suit against the Trusts. After a bench trial, the trial court rendered judgment declaring that the letter agreements were valid; the Griffins were entitled to assignments of them interests; ordering the Trusts to assign the Griffins their interests; and ordering that the assignments conform to the terms of the letter agreements. The trial court ordered specific performance of the letter agreements, confirmed the Griffins’ share of the Tejas settlement, and adjudicated several other disputes between the parties that will be addressed later in this opinion.

The Trusts have appealed, and the Griffins have filed a cross-appeal complaining [104]*104of certain portions of the trial court’s judgment.

The Trusts raise numerous issues, which we group and summarize as follows: (1) the Griffins’ suit was in reality or should have been one for trespass to try title, and they failed to sustain such an action; (2) the Griffins’ actions are all barred by limitations; (3) the trial court erred in declaring the letter agreements valid because their enforcement is barred by the statute of frauds; (4) the trial court erred in reforming the assignments because there are no pleadings to support reformation and no evidence of any mistake or fraud; (5) judgment for specific performance is improper because the Trusts elected to credit the Griffins with their interests rather than assign them; (6) the trial court erred in awarding the Griffins part of the Tejas settlement because the Griffins failed to timely and properly pay their share of the litigation expenses; (7) there is legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s award of damages; (8) it was error to award attorneys’ fees to the Griffins because there is no evidence they made a sufficient demand for payment and there is insufficient evidence of a proper allocation of such fees among the various claims; and (9) the trial court erred in requiring the Trusts to continue to market the Griffins’ share of the production because there is no duty for the Trust to do so.

The Griffins’ contentions are: (1) the trial court erred in limiting the assignments of the Griffins’ interests to the “well bore” of the wells involved; (2) the trial court erred in faffing to find that the Trusts breached their fiduciary duty; (3) it was error to allocate the Griffins’ share of the Tejas settlement on the basis of the expenses paid instead of on the basis of the production and expenses attributable to the contracts; and (4) the trial court erred in failing to find that the Griffins properly and timely elected to participate in the Barksdale wells 5, 6, and 7 and the Beck well 6.

THE TRUSTS’ ISSUES

The trial court properly found the letter agreements valid and awarded judgment for specific performance. The evidence and the trial court’s findings of fact show that the Griffins performed their obligations under the letter agreements. The Trusts performed some of their obligations, but did not properly assign the working interests to the Griffins. Thus, a decree of specific performance was authorized. Although the trial court’s judgment in some instances attributes its decretal portions to the wrong legal theories, we must uphold the judgment on any legal theory supported by the evidence, even if the trial court gave an incorrect reason for its judgment. Guar. County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Reyna, 709 S.W.2d 647 (Tex.1986); Russ v. Titus Hosp. Dist., 128 S.W.3d 332 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2004, pet. filed).

The Trusts contend that the Griffins should have sued in trespass to try title, and their failure to do so is fatal to their case. We disagree. The letter agreements the Griffins sought to enforce were written agreements to assign interests in oil and gas leases. Interests in oil and gas in Texas are real property. So, in effect, the letter agreements were contracts for the sale of interests in real property. • Such contracts may be enforced by specific performance, and it is not necessary to sue in trespass to try title to recover the property. Kluck v. Leuschner, 70 S.W.2d 768, 769 (Tex.Civ.App.-Waco 1934, writ ref d); Blair v. Bird, 20 S.W.2d 843 (Tex.Civ.App.-Waco 1929, no writ); Ballard v. Ellerd, 199 S.W. 305 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1917, writ ref d).

[105]*105Specific performance will be granted where it appears, in view of all the circumstances, that it will serve the ends of justice. 67 Tex. Jur3d Specific Performance § 1 (2008). Reformation and specific performance may be obtained in the same action, i.e., the contract may be reformed or corrected, and specifically enforced as reformed. Tyrrell-Combest Realty Co. v. Mullen, 268 S.W. 1011 (Tex.Civ. App.-Beaumont 1925, no writ). Specific performance is available only when the plaintiffs remedy at law is inadequate, but it is available to enforce a contract to convey real estate because an action for damages is inadequate in such a case. Milliken v. Townsend, 16 S.W.2d 259 (Tex.Com.App.1929).

The Trusts also contend the letter agreements are invalid because they do not comply with the statute of frauds. Tex. Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 26.01 (Vernon 2002). They argue that the letter agreements do not adequately describe the interests to which they pertain. To avoid violating the statute of frauds, an agreement for the sale of land must furnish within itself, or by reference to other existing writings, records, or data, information by which the land to be conveyed may be identified with reasonable certainty. MTrust Corp. v. LJH Corp., 887 S.W.2d 250 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1992, writ denied).

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Long Trusts v. Griffin
144 S.W.3d 99 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
144 S.W.3d 99, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 7399, 2004 WL 1506250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-trusts-v-griffin-texapp-2004.