Longing Family Revocable Trust v. Snowden

426 S.W.3d 488, 2013 Ark. App. 81, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 306, 2013 WL 529935, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 103
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 13, 2013
DocketNo. CA 12-470
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 426 S.W.3d 488 (Longing Family Revocable Trust v. Snowden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Longing Family Revocable Trust v. Snowden, 426 S.W.3d 488, 2013 Ark. App. 81, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 306, 2013 WL 529935, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 103 (Ark. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

JOHN MAUZY PITTMAN, Judge.

11 This is a case involving the mineral rights to 220 acres of property in Van Burén County. The appellants are the Longing Family Revocable Living Trust and Longing Hunting Club, LLC (collectively, the Longings), and they own title to the surface of the property. The Longings filed a declaratory-judgment action against appellees Danny Snowden,1 Sheila Snow-den, Cenark Oil & Gas Company, and Tri. Con Investment, LLC, ^requesting a judgment against the defendants for title in the minerals. Other parties were brought in by means of amended complaints, cross-complaints, and third-party complaints. After a bench trial, the Van Burén County Circuit Court entered an order in favor of the defendants, thus denying the Longings’ claim to the mineral rights. We affirm.

Background and Procedural History

In March 1994, the Snowdens acquired title to the surface and an undivided one-half interest in the minerals of a 220-acre tract in Van Burén County. In August 1994, the Snowdens conveyed by warranty deed all of their mineral interests to Ce-nark, a company they controlled. In August 1995, they conveyed the surface estate to Tri.Con by warranty deed. This deed did not contain a mineral reservation. In 2000, Tri.Con conveyed the land to the Longing Trust by general warranty deed. In June 2003, the Longing Trust executed an oil-and-gas lease to New Century Production, and in March 2004, the Longing Trust conveyed the property to Danny G. Longing, who, in turn, quitclaimed the land to the Longing Hunting Club, LLC.

Cenark conveyed its mineral interest in the property back to the Snowdens in November 2004. In February 2005, the Snowdens executed an oil-and-gas lease to JRE Investments. This lease involved several tracts of land, totaling approximately 1,500 acres. In January 2005, New Century assigned its oil and gas lease to SEECO. JRE assigned its interest in the lease from the Snowdens to Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, in September 2005. Chesapeake assigned its interest under the lease to BP America Production Company |sin September 2008. In May 2006, the Snowdens conveyed their mineral interests to JayJon, Inc.

In December 2008, the Longings filed this suit, claiming title to all the minerals by virtue of the after-acquired title statute, ArkCode Ann. § 18-12-601 (Repl.2003), and the mineral deed from Cenark to the Snowdens in 2004. They named the Snow-dens, Cenark, and Tri.Con as defendants. The Longings asserted that by application of the doctrine of after-acquired title and estoppel by deed, title to the minerals passed from the Snowdens to the Longings immediately upon recording the 2004 mineral deed from Cenark to the Snowdens.2 Contemporaneously with the filing of the complaint, the Longings also filed a notice of lis pendens.

In their answer, the Snowdens, Cenark, and Jayjon contended it was not their intent to convey the mineral interest and that the deeds should be reformed, but their prayer for relief did not ask for reformation. Chesapeake and BP answered, counterclaimed to quiet title and have the Longings’ lease declared null and void, and cross-claimed against the Snow-dens for breach of warranty of title. The Snowdens filed a cross-complaint against Tri.Con asking for reformation of their deed.

On December 6, 2010, the Longings filed a motion to dismiss the Snowdens’ cross-complaint against TrLCon on the basis that the Snowdens had not obtained service of the cross-complaint within 120 days. On December 17, 2010, the Longings filed a motion | .¡seeking to voluntarily dismiss their claims against TrLCon. The circuit court granted the two motions by separate orders entered on January 6, 2011.

The Snowdens sought and were granted permission to file a third-party complaint against Tri.Con. The third-party complaint sought to reform the deed between the Snowdens and Tri.Con on the basis of mutual mistake.

The Circuit Court’s Ruling

The case was tried to the circuit court on March 9, 2011. The court entered its written order on February 9, 2012. The court noted that its decision and inquiry was limited by this court’s then-recent decision in Mauldin v. Snowden, 2011 Ark. App. 630, 386 S.W.3d 560, which involved many of the same parties, conveyances, and transactions as in the present case. The court found that neither the Snowdens nor Tri.Con intended to transfer the mineral interest in the August 1995 transaction because the Snowdens did not own the mineral rights at that time, and that any interest conveyed was by mutual mistake and the deed should be reformed to reflect reservation of the mineral interest. Therefore, the court concluded that the doctrine of after-acquired title did not apply. The court also affirmed the oil-and-gas lease from the Snowdens to Chesapeake. The court then went on to summarily dismiss all of the Longings’ other claims and arguments.

The Longings filed their notice of appeal on March 8, 2012. On March 9, 2012, they filed a motion to reconsider, arguing that the claim for reformation was barred by the statute of limitations. The Longings explicitly stated that the purpose of the motion was to ensure that their limitations arguments were preserved for appeal. The circuit court denied their ^motion by order entered on March 30, 2012. An amended notice of appeal was filed on April 10, 2012.

Standard of Review

The standard of review on appeal in reformation cases is de novo. Stalter v. Gibson, 2010 Ark. App. 801, 379 S.W.3d 710. But, we do not reverse unless the circuit court’s findings were clearly erroneous. Id. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court, when considering all of the evidence, is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. L & L Energy Co. v. Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, 2010 Ark. App. 422, 379 S.W.3d 42. Disputed facts and determinations of credibility are within the province of the fact-finder. Id. A circuit court’s conclusions of law, however, are given no deference on appeal. Id.

Discussion

The circuit court did not err in granting reformation of the Snowden-Tri. Con deed. Reformation is an equitable remedy that is available when the parties have reached a complete agreement but, through mutual mistake, the terms of their agreement are not correctly reflected in the written instrument purporting to evidence the agreement. Lawrence v. Barnes, 2010 Ark. App. 231, 374 S.W.3d 224; Lambert v. Quinn, 32 Ark.App. 184, 798 S.W.2d 448 (1990). A mutual mistake is one that is reciprocal and common to both parties, each alike laboring under the same misconception in respect to the terms of the written instrument. Lawrence, supra.

IsThe Longings assert that there is no mutual mistake because the Snowdens acted unilaterally in having the mineral rights conveyed back to them by Cenark in 2004.

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426 S.W.3d 488, 2013 Ark. App. 81, 181 Oil & Gas Rep. 306, 2013 WL 529935, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/longing-family-revocable-trust-v-snowden-arkctapp-2013.