North American Royalties, Inc. v. Corporation Commission

1984 OK CIV APP 14, 683 P.2d 539, 80 Oil & Gas Rep. 527, 1984 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 96
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 28, 1984
DocketNo. 58146
StatusPublished

This text of 1984 OK CIV APP 14 (North American Royalties, Inc. v. Corporation Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North American Royalties, Inc. v. Corporation Commission, 1984 OK CIV APP 14, 683 P.2d 539, 80 Oil & Gas Rep. 527, 1984 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 96 (Okla. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION ON REHEARING

DeMIER, Presiding Judge.

The earlier opinion rendered in this case and published at 54 O.B.J. 2739 (1983), is hereby withdrawn and the following opinion is issued in its place.

FACTS

Appellee, Dyco Petroleum Corporation, presented an application to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for a pooling order covering the common sources of supply underlying Section 14, Township 15 North, Range 26 West in Roger Mills County. This application was dated September 15, 1981.

Dyco’s application was set for hearing before a trial examiner on November 20, 1981. All notice requirements were met and the hearing held on the date set.

Appellant, North American Royalties, Inc., was one of the parties holding a leasehold interest in Section 14. North American had been given actual notice of the hearing. North American chose not to appear.

[541]*541On January 20, 1982, the Corporation Commission issued Order No. 206888, which authorized Dyco to drill and operate the unit well for the development of Section 14. The order went on to provide:

“3. To enable the unit well to be drilled, to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells and to protect correlative rights, each owner must elect, within 15 days from the date of this order, one of the following alternative methods of effecting the committing of his or its interest in the unit well.
“3.1 Participate. To participate in the drilling of the unit well. Any owner who elects to participate in the drilling of the unit well shall be required to pay to Applicant his or its pro rata share of actual costs of drilling, completing and equipping the unit well and, in the event of production, of all actual operating costs, plus a reasonable charge by Applicant for supervision. Any owner who elects to participate shall pay, within 20 days from the date of this order, all of such owner’s pro rata share of the estimated completed well costs as set out in paragraph 2 above, or, within 20 days from the date of this order, furnish evidence satisfactory to Applicant, of such owner’s ability to pay such estimated costs. Provided, however, in the event any owner who makes a timely election to participate fails, within said period of 20 days, to pay to Applicant, or to furnish evidence satisfactory to Applicant of such owner’s ability to pay, such owner’s share of the estimated costs, the previous election to participate by such owner shall be considered void and such owner shall be treated as if he or it had made no election, as set forth in paragraph 4 below.
“3.2 Cash Bonus Plus Reserved Overriding Royalty. To relinquish his or its working interest to Applicant for a cash bonus of $500 per mineral acre covered by the relinquished interest plus a reserved overriding royalty equalling Vie of ⅜ of all oil and all gas, said fractional overriding royalty to be reduced, however, to absorb any now existing non-operating interests in excess of the normal Vs lessor’s royalty; provided, however, this option shall not be available to any owner whose working interest is burdened with non-operating interests in excess of 8/k> of all oil and gas; or
“3.3 Reserved Overriding Royalty. To relinquish his or its working interest to Applicant for a reserved overriding royalty equalling Vie of Vs of all oil and of Vs of all gas, said fractional overriding royalty to be reduced, however, to absorb any now existing non-operating interests in excess of the normal Vsth lessor’s royalty.”

A copy of the order was mailed to North American on January 22, 1982. North American did not elect to participate, and, as North American’s interest was burdened with non-operating interests in excess of 3/ie ths of all oil and gas, by operation of the order, relinquished its working interest to Dyco under the terms set forth in paragraph 3.3.

North American did not seek a rehearing before the Corporation Commission. Instead, on February 19, 1982, North American filed a petition in error in the supreme court for review of Order No. 206888. In this petition North American alleged that it had been deprived of its working interest without compensation and that Order No. 206888 thus violated provisions of the constitutions of both the United States and the State of Oklahoma.

I

In its argument to this court North American initially maintains that the procedure before the Corporation Commission resulted in a deprivation of its rights to substantive due process. North American concedes that the procedure was such as to meet all requirements necessary to guarantee procedural due process. The argument, thus, is that North American’s interest was, in its opinion, undervalued. North American argues that this undervaluation resulted in a deprivation of property without compensation.

[542]*542The Oklahoma forced pooling statute, under which Order No. 206888 was generated, has routinely been held to be constitutional, and the burden of showing an unconstitutional application in this case rests upon appellant. Sellers v. Corporation Commission, Okl., 624 P.2d 1061 (1981). Appellant has failed to meet this burden. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma, in the case of Patterson v. Stanolind Oil & Gas Co., 182 Okl. 155, 77 P.2d 83 (1938), appeal dismissed, 305 U.S. 376, 59 S.Ct. 259, 83 L.Ed. 231 (1939), stated:

“Thus, in our opinion, it is well established that the police power of the state extends to protecting the correlative rights of owners in a common source of oil and gas supply and this power may be lawfully exercised by regulating the drilling of wells into said common source of supply and distributing the production thereof among the owners of mineral rights in land overlying said common source of supply_ The extent of private contract in such matters being at all times subject to limitation by the inherent police power of the state, any muniment of title is impotent to assume or to convey any property right in the common source of supply superior to or entirely independent of said sovereign power. Thus, in our opinion, the lawful exercise of the state’s power to protect the correlative rights of owners in a common source of supply of oil and gas is not a proper subject for the invocation of the provisions of either the State or Federal Constitution which prohibit the taking of property without just compensation or without due process of law and forbid the impairment of contract obligations. As we view it, the property here involved has not been taken or confiscated: its use has merely been restricted and qualified. This does not violate the due process clause of either Constitution. And this would be true even though the plaintiff were able to prove a distinct loss to himself through the operation of the statutes putting said police power into force and effect. In Brown et al. v. Humble Oil & Refining Company, supra [126 Tex. 296, 83 S.W.2d 935 (1935) ], the following words were quoted with approval from Lombardo v. City of Dallas, 124 Tex. 1, 73 S.W.2d 475, 478 [1934]:

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Related

Patterson v. Stanolind Oil & Gas Co.
305 U.S. 376 (Supreme Court, 1939)
L. S. Youngblood and M. L. McLain v. Hughes Seewald
299 F.2d 680 (Tenth Circuit, 1962)
O'NEILL v. American Quasar Petroleum Co.
617 P.2d 181 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1980)
Sellers v. Corporation Commission
1981 OK 19 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1981)
Miller v. Corporation Commission
635 P.2d 1006 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1981)
Patterson v. Stanolind Oil & Gas Co.
1938 OK 138 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Lombardo v. City of Dallas
73 S.W.2d 475 (Texas Supreme Court, 1934)
Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.
83 S.W.2d 935 (Texas Supreme Court, 1935)

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Bluebook (online)
1984 OK CIV APP 14, 683 P.2d 539, 80 Oil & Gas Rep. 527, 1984 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-american-royalties-inc-v-corporation-commission-oklacivapp-1984.