Moon Royalty, LLC v. Boldrick Partners

244 S.W.3d 391, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 8419, 2007 WL 2274865
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 25, 2007
Docket11-06-00226-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 244 S.W.3d 391 (Moon Royalty, LLC v. Boldrick Partners) 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
Moon Royalty, LLC v. Boldrick Partners, 244 S.W.3d 391, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 8419, 2007 WL 2274865 (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

RICK STRANGE, Justice.

This is a declaratory judgment action to construe assignments of royalty interest. Boldrick Partners d/b/a Statewide Minerals Co. filed suit against Moon Royalty, LLC, and others seeking a declaration construing assignments from Statewide to Moon, a constructive trust on disputed royalty payments, and attorney’s fees. The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment on the proper construction of the assignments. The trial court granted Statewide’s motion, finding that it had not conveyed the disputed interest. The trial court subsequently held an evidentiary hearing and awarded Statewide attorney’s fees through trial and conditional attorney’s fees in the event of an appeal. We reverse and render in part and reverse and remand in part.

I. Background Facts

Statewide offered to sell four lots of royalty and overriding royalty interests at auction. The lots were grouped by county. Moon was the successful bidder on three lots, and Dwight Snell & Associates acquired the fourth. Statewide executed assignments, dated June 10, 1996, to Moon and Snell.1 The assignments provided:

Assignor does hereby Transfer, Assign, Convey and Deliver unto Assignee all of Assignors royalty, overriding royalty and associated mineral interests as specifically described on Exhibit “A” (hereinafter called “Interests”) in and to the oil and gas wells described therein (hereinafter called “Properties”). It is specifically understood between Assign- or and Assignee that Assignor may own other interest in the Properties which are not intended to be covered by this Assignment and such Interest are specifically excluded here from.

The assignment to Snell had an effective date of June 12,1996. The assignments to Moon were effective June 1, 1996. The form of the assignments was otherwise identical.

On July 11, 1996, Statewide executed corrected assignments to Snell and Moon.2 The corrected assignments were all made effective June 1, 1996. The only other change was the addition of language to the granting clause. That clause (with the additional language highlighted) read:

Assignor does hereby Transfer, Assign, Convey and Deliver unto Assignee all of [393]*393Assignors royalty, overriding royalty and associated mineral interests as specifically described on Exhibit “A” (hereinafter called “Interests”) in and to the oil and gas wells described therein (hereinafter called “Properties”) and in and to the lands (hereinafter called “Lands”). It is specifically understood between Assignor and Assignee that Assignor may own other interest in the Properties which are not intended to be covered by this Assignment and such interest are specifically excluded here-from. (emphasis added)

That same month, Snell conveyed the interests it acquired from Statewide to Moon.

The “Exhibit A” referenced in the original and corrected assignments consisted of a table with the following headings:

ASSIGNOR ASSIGNEE DATE DESCRIPTION COUNTY STATE WELL NAME RI ORRI BOOK PAGE

For each listed interest, the tables described the conveyance to Statewide by naming the assignor, the date of the assignment, and the volume and page where the assignment was recorded. The description column included section and block information for each interest. The RI and ORRI columns identified the royalty or overriding royalty percentages being assigned.

This dispute concerns two wells, the McCartor # 309C in Ochiltree County and the Royston-Smith Unit # 1-A in Fisher County. Neither well was listed by name in Exhibit A, but the land on which the wells were located is. The trial court held that, as a matter of law, the corrected assignments did not convey any interest in either well. The trial court subsequently conducted a bench trial to address all remaining issues, and its final judgment included an award of attorney’s fees through trial and a conditional award of appellate attorney’s fees.

II. Issues

Moon challenges the trial court’s summary judgment ruling and final judgment with four issues. Moon argues that the trial court misinterpreted the assignments or, alternatively, that the assignments were ambiguous, and that the trial court erroneously awarded Statewide attorney’s fees. In its fifth issue, Moon argues that, if this court affirms the trial court’s judgment, Statewide was not entitled to attorney’s fees. In light of our holding on the first and third issues, we do not reach the fifth issue. Tex.R.App. P. 47.1.

III. Analysis

A. Standard of Review.

We will apply the well-recognized standard of review for traditional summary judgments. Questions of law are reviewed de novo. St. Paul Ins. Co. v. Tex. Dep’t of Transp., 999 S.W.2d 881 (Tex.App.-Austin 1999, pet. denied). When cross motions are filed and the trial court grants one and denies the other, we review all issues presented and enter the judgment that the trial court should have entered. Bradley v. State ex rel. White, 990 S.W.2d 245, 247 (Tex.1999). To determine if a fact question exists, we must consider whether reasonable and fair-minded jurors could differ in their conclusions in light of all the evidence presented. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Mayes, 236 S.W.3d 754 (Tex.2007). We must consider all the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmov-ant, indulging all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmovant, and determine whether the movant proved that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that it was entitled to judgment as a [394]*394matter of law. Nixon v. Mr. Prop. Mgmt. Co., 690 S.W.2d 546 (Tex.1985); City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Auth., 589 S.W.2d 671 (Tex.1979).

B. Are the Assignments Ambiguous ?

Both parties tendered extrinsic evidence to the trial court explaining why the additional language was added to the granting clause.3 We may not consider this evidence absent a determination that the assignments are not fully integrated or that they are ambiguous. Sun Oil Co. (Del.) v. Madeley, 626 S.W.2d 726, 731 (Tex.1981) (parole evidence rule circumscribes the use of extrinsic evidence when interpreting an integrated document); Middleton v. Broussard, 504 S.W.2d 839, 841 (Tex.1974) (when a document is unambiguous, the parties’ intent is determined from the document’s language).

Neither party contends that the assignments are not fully integrated. Thus, we need only determine if they are ambiguous, which is a question of law. Myers v. Gulf Coast Minerals Mgmt. Corp.,

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Bluebook (online)
244 S.W.3d 391, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 8419, 2007 WL 2274865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moon-royalty-llc-v-boldrick-partners-texapp-2007.