McLean v. Texas Co.

103 F.2d 989, 1939 U.S. App. LEXIS 4797
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 13, 1939
DocketNo. 8986
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 103 F.2d 989 (McLean v. Texas Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLean v. Texas Co., 103 F.2d 989, 1939 U.S. App. LEXIS 4797 (5th Cir. 1939).

Opinion

HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment for the appellee in an action for the recovery of 5% of the value of oil and gas purchased by the appellee under the terms of a division order providing for such payment, but to which appellants were not parties.

In 1881, Martha D. Janes, being the owner of a tract of land consisting of 152 acres in Jefferson County, Texas, sold a right-of-way easement, 200 feet wide across the northeast end of the same, to the Sabine and East Texas Railroad Company, which was later acquired by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company. The northeast 52 acres became the property of Hebert and Chaison, and title to this tract, subject to the right-of-way, was vested in them, when the latter died. The tract was partitioned between Hebert and the successors of Chaison by being divided into lots numbered 1 to 8 inclusive, the odd-numbered lots being conveyed to the Chaisons, and the even-numbered lots being conveyed to Hebert. The descriptions in the deeds gave the northeast boundary of the right-of-way for the southwest boundary of lots 3 and 4, and the southwest boundary of the right-of-way for the northeast boundary of lots 5 and 6. Between the date of the partition deeds and June, 1926, there were numerous sales of the lots so described to various parties. The owners of the lots, their lessees, and persons claiming under them may conveniently be referred to as the owners of the lots.

In January, 1926, on the theory that the partition deeds did not divide the subsurface or minerals under the right-of-way, and that subsequent transfers did not convey them, appellants acquired an oil-and-gas lease thereon from Hebert and the Chaisons, the lessors reserving a Jic or 6Yi%.. royalty, payable from the oil pro[990]*990duced. The surface being in the exclusive control and possession of the T. and N. O. Railroad Company, appellants obtained a similar lease from it, a royalty of 8%% being reserved. Thereafter, the rights thus acquired were transferred by appellants to the Rio Bravo Oil Company, subject to the royalties reserved by the lessors in the two leases mentioned above, and, in addition thereto, appellants reserved unto themselves an overriding royalty of 5% under the terms and conditions enjoyed by the original lessors.

Asserting their claim to ownership of, and right to capture and remove the minerals under, the property described in the above-mentioned instruments, the Rio Bravo Oil Company entered upon the right-of-way and began drilling operations. Thereupon, injunction suits were instituted in the state court by the owners of the lots, claiming that the partition deeds did divide the subsurface and minerals under the right-of-way, and that so much as was included within the extensions of the intersecting boundaries to the center line thereof was a part of the particular lot, or part of lot in question. Temporary injunctions were granted, and the drilling operations stopped.

The lands brought into question in the injunction suits were located in a proven oil field, and, in order to prevent the oil under the right-of-way being taken through other wells, the parties entered into a contract, hereinafter called an operating agreement, whereby it was agreed that the Rio Bravo Oil Company and other defendants, including • appellants, should proceed with their operations and produce whatever oil could be obtained without delay.

The operating agreement recited as its purpose the preservation of the rights of the parties thereto, and provided that, if the final judgments by the courts of last resort should be that the owners of the lots were entitled to permanent injunctions, then said owners, as plaintiffs in the then pending litigation, should be entitled to the oil produced, or its value with 6% interest thereon from the time of production. It further provided that, if upon the final determination of the matters it should be decreed that the owners of the lots were not the owners of the oil, the same should be the property of the defendants as their interests might' appear. It thereupon provided for the dissolution of the temporary injunction, and provided that none of the substantive rights of the parties should be affected except as therein stipulated.

After actual production of oil was begun, the oil involved in this litigation was sold to appellee herein under the terms of an instrument called a division order. Under the terms of this instrument, appellee obligated itself to take the oil from the leasehold premises, and to give credit therefor on its books to the Rio Bravo Oil Company to the extent of 80% of the oil run, to the T. and N. O. Railroad Company to the extent of 8%%, to appellants to the extent of 5%, and to other parties to the extent of 6j4%- The instrument was in the form of an order addressed to appellee directing the disposition -aforesaid, and was signed by the Rio Bravo Oil Company and the T. and N. O. Railroad Company, but not by appellants or any other party in interest. It obligated the signers (who guaranteed that they were legal owners of the oil) to furnish abstracts and other evidence of title on demand, and, in default thereof, authorized appellee to hold the oil or its proceeds without interest until satisfactory indemnity should be furnished. Pursuant to this contract, large quantities of oil were produced and run to appellee, the latter holding the proceeds of the oil pending the final determination of the litigation.

The suits between the owners of the lots and the claimants under the oil-and-gas leases to the right-of-way property above referred to were finally decided in favor of the former, it being held that the owners of the lots were the owners of the right-of-way land subject to the easement, and judgment was entered accordingly.

Prior to the institution of the case at bar, the Rio Bravo Oil Company and the T. and N. O. Railroad Company applied to appellee for the payment of their respective shares of the proceeds of the oil (80% and 8%%), and furnished satisfactory indemnity therefor. Thereupon, a settlement was had with them according to the terms of the division order. Thereafter, appellants applied to appellee for payment to them of their recited interest of 5% in the proceeds, and offered security therefor which, for the purposes of this appeal, must be considered to have been satisfactory to appellee, except that appellants could not comply with the guarantee of the signers that they were the legal owners of the oil. Appellee refused to accept the security - and to pay the pro[991]*991ceeds. This action was brought in the district court, and, on motions for summary judgment by both sides, the facts stated in the motions being without material conflict, judgment was rendered in favor of appellee.

The questions determinative of this appeal are whether or not appellants, not being parties to the division order, may maintain an action thereon, and may invoke the security provisions thereof, and repudiate the guarantee that the signers of the division order were legal owners of the oil, it now appearing from the operating agreement and the judgment of the state court that they did not own any interest in the oil sold to appellee. The case presented here is whether or not appellee is obligated to pay appellants, under the terms of the division order, for the oil it acquired thereunder, despite the fact that the production contract, and judgment entered pursuant thereto, settled once and for all that appellants owned no interest in the oil.1

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Bluebook (online)
103 F.2d 989, 1939 U.S. App. LEXIS 4797, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclean-v-texas-co-ca5-1939.