McGee v. Caballo Coal Co.

2003 WY 68, 69 P.3d 908, 157 Oil & Gas Rep. 677, 2003 Wyo. LEXIS 82, 2003 WL 21230911
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMay 29, 2003
Docket02-109
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2003 WY 68 (McGee v. Caballo Coal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGee v. Caballo Coal Co., 2003 WY 68, 69 P.3d 908, 157 Oil & Gas Rep. 677, 2003 Wyo. LEXIS 82, 2003 WL 21230911 (Wyo. 2003).

Opinion

LEHMAN, Justice.

[¶1] This is an appeal from summary judgment entered in favor of appellee Cabal-lo Coal Company (CCC) and against appellants John E. McGee and Betty A. McGee, Trustees of the McGee Mineral Trust dated January 15, 1992, and Allen Clark (collective, ly appellants). In granting summary judgment, the district court ruled that appellants' predecessors had conveyed the rights to coalbed methane gas (CBM) when they transferred certain real property located in the Fort Union formation of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming to CCC's predecessors. Upon review, we reverse.

ISSUE

[¶2] Appellants present the following issue:

Does a conveyance of "all coal and all other minerals ... contained in or associated with coal and which may be mined and produced with coal which Grantor owns or holds in said lands" convey *910 coalbed methane gas, or does a reservation of "oil, gas and other minerals" reserve coalbed methane gas?

CCC styles the issue before this court as:

Did the 1978 warranty deed between McGees and Carter Oil Company and the 1973 warranty deed between Clarks and Carter Oil Company convey coalbed methane underlying the described lands?

FACTS

[¥3] On December 17, 1978, John E. McGee and Betty A. McGee issued a warranty deed conveying to Carter Oil Company the surface estate and any interests in coal that they may have or hold in certain real property located in Campbell County for an amount of $340,000.00 and a two percent per ton royalty on certain mined coal. The McGees did not own any coal rights with respect to this land because these rights had been reserved to the United States in the original patents. On this same date, Melvin D. and Ethel L. Clark conveyed to the Carter Oil Company, also via warranty deed, the surface estate in other real property for $1,510,000.00 but reserved the coal rights in this land. These warranty deeds were issued pursuant to prior agreements.

[¶4] Pertinent parts of the agreements set forth:

Grantor agrees to grant and convey good and merchantable title to said lands to Grantee ... together with all coal and all other minerals metallic or non-metallic, contained in or associated with coal and which may be mined and produced with coal which Grantor owns or holds in said lands[.] ... [EJxcepting and reserving to Grantor all oil, gas, and other minerals in said lands which Grantor now holds, other than those specified above to be conveyed to Grantee and excepting all coal in the SE % of See. 5, Township 48 North, Range 70 West [NEZNE4 of Section 24, Township 48 North, Range 71 West].

The warranty deeds both state in applicable part:

... hereby releasing and waiving all rights [to the lands described above] together with all coal and all other minerals, metallic or nonmetallic, contained in or associated with coal and which may be produced with coal which Grantor owns or holds in said lands.] ... EXCEPTING AND RESERVING to Grantor all oil, gas and other minerals in said lands which Grantor now owns, other than those included above in the conveyance to Grantee, and excepting all coal in the SE%4 of See. 5, Township 48 North, Range 70 West [NEZNE4 of Seetion 24, Township 48 North, Range 71 West].

Further, the warranty deeds contain a non-merger clause which states: "This deed is executed pursuant to agreement between Grantor and Grantee dated December 17, 1973, the provisions of which are not merged herein."

[¶5] Appellants are the successors in interest to John E. and Betty A. McGee and Melvin D. and Ethel L. Clark, while CCC is the successor in interest of Carter Oil Company. On June 21, 2001, appellants filed a declaratory judgment and quiet title action seeking a determination that the McGees and Clarks reserved CBM with respect to the warranty deeds. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Upon consideration and hearing, the district court entered summary judgment in favor of CCC and against appellants. This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[16] Our standard of review in summary judgment cases is well established.

Summary judgment motions are determined under the following language from W.R.C.P. 56(c):
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
The purpose of summary judgment is to dispose of suits before trial that present no genuine issue of material fact. Moore v. Kiljander, 604 P.2d 204, 207 (Wyo. *911 1979). Summary judgment is a drastic remedy designed to pierce the formal allegations and reach the merits of the controversy, but only where no genuine issue of material fact is present. Weaver v. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Wyoming, 609 P.2d 984, 986 (Wyo.1980). A fact is material if proof of that fact would have the effect of establishing or refuting one of the essential elements of a cause of action or defense asserted by the parties. Schuler v. Community First Nat. Bank, 999 P.2d 1303, 1304 (Wyo.2000). The summary judgment movant has the initial burden of establishing by admissible evidence a prima facie case; onee this is accomplished, the burden shifts and the opposing party must present specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact. Boehm v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 748 P.24 704, 710 (Wyo.1987); Gennings v. First Nat. Bank of Thermopolis, 654 P.2d 154, 156 (Wyo.1982).
This Court reviews a summary judgment in the same light as the district court, using the same materials and following the same standards. Unicorn Drilling, Inc. v. Heart Mountain Irr. Dist., 3 P.3d 857, 860 (Wyo.2000) (quoting Gray v. Norwest Bank Wyoming, N.A., 984 P.2d 1088, 1091 (Wyo.1999)). The record is reviewed, however, from the vantage point most favorable to the party who opposed the motion, and this Court will give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may fairly be drawn from the record. Garcia v. Lawson, 928 P.2d 1164, 1166 (Wyo.1996).

Garnett v. Coyle, 2001 WY 94, ¶¶ 3-5, 33 P.3d 114, ¶¶ 3-5 (Wyo.2001).

DISCUSSION

[¶7] Initially, we recognize that the facts and issue presented in this case are akin to those which existed in the case of Newman v. RAG Wyoming Land Co., 2002 WY 132, 53 P.3d 540 (Wyo.2002), recently before this court.

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2003 WY 68, 69 P.3d 908, 157 Oil & Gas Rep. 677, 2003 Wyo. LEXIS 82, 2003 WL 21230911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgee-v-caballo-coal-co-wyo-2003.