Ohio Oil Co. v. Shaffer

97 P.2d 99, 150 Kan. 773, 1939 Kan. LEXIS 205
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 9, 1939
DocketNo. 34,406
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 97 P.2d 99 (Ohio Oil Co. v. Shaffer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohio Oil Co. v. Shaffer, 97 P.2d 99, 150 Kan. 773, 1939 Kan. LEXIS 205 (kan 1939).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Smith, J.:

This was an action to enjoin the holder of an oil and gas lease from drilling on land and to quiet title of plaintiff to this lease. Judgment was for the defendants, overruling a demurrer of [774]*774plaintiff to the answer and cross petition of defendant Shaffer. Plaintiff appeals.

After allegations as to the corporate existence of plaintiff, the petition alleged that on and for many years prior to June 25, 1934, W. M. Hill was the owner in fee simple of lots 8 and H-8, in section 18, township 24 south, range 4 west, Reno county, Kansas; that on June 25, 1934, Hill, a single man, gave an oil and gas lease on lots 8 and H-8 to Charles M. Coats, which lease was for a term of five years; that through assignments, which are not questioned, the plaintiff became the owner of this lease; that lots 8 and H-8 formerly bordered the Arkansas river, but that prior to June 25, 1934, there had been added to these lots by accretion about 12.5 acres of land; that by the terms of the Ohio lease any accretions to lots 8 and H-8 were included in this lease; that sometime prior to June 25, 1934, Hill, with others, gave defendant Shaffer an oil and gas lease covering the 12.5 acres of accreted land just mentioned; that Shaffer entered upon this accreted land and was drilling an oil and gas well in direct violation of the lease of plaintiff.

The prayer of the petition was that Shaffer be enjoined from drilling the well in question and that the title of plaintiff to the lease be quieted.

Defendant Shaffer, in his answer and cross petition, admitted W. M. Hill was the owner in fee of the land in question bordering the Arkansas river which, with other lands, were contained in the oil and gas lease held by plaintiff; that prior to that date about 12.5 acres of land had accreted to lot H-8; that on May 8, 1937, Hill leased this 12.5 acres of land to defendant Shaffer and by virtue of that lease Shaffer was drilling a well on this land; that the drilling operations of defendant were not in violation of the lease of plaintiff, because that lease did not cover any accretions and specifically did not cover the 12.5 acres of accreted land adjacent to lot H-8, and the plaintiff had no interest in the oil and gas underlying this approximately 12.5 acres. The answer and cross petition further alleged that prior to November, 1913, one W. M. Hill owned the real estate in question, a part of which was described as lots 4 and 8 in section 18, township 24, range 4, which adjoined the Arkansas river, a navigable stream; the westerly line was meandered along the river by the United States government prior to 1891; that on the government survey these lots were designated as lots 4 and 8, containing 89-6 acres; that he also owned the accretions thereto; [775]*775that in 1913 the legislature of the state of Kansas passed a law providing for the survey of land bordering on navigable streams (Laws 1913, ch. 295); that pursuant thereto; on November 7, 1913, the county commissioners' of Reno county, Kansas, ordered the land along the Arkansas river surveyed by the county surveyor; that, carrying out this order, G. L. McLane, county surveyor of Reno county, surveyed the land in question, made a plat of the survey, and certified and recorded it on page 33 of the Accretions Survey Book; that this plat was designated a plat of section 18, township 24, range 4; that it delineated specifically the boundary lines of and showed four lots in section 18, township 24, range 4, designated and containing acreage as follows:

“Lot 4, containing 57.6 acres.
Lot 8, containing 30.5 acres.
Lot D-4, containing 14.3 acres.
Lot H-8, containing 7.17 acres.”

The answer and cross petition alleged further that the total acreage of lots 4, D-4, 8 and H-8 was exactly 109.57 acres; that the total acreage of lots 4 and 8, as shown by said plat, was 88.1 acres, whereas the total acreage of lots 4 and 8, according to the original government survey, was 89.6 acres; that on or about October 4,1929, an additional survey was made of the land in question by L. G. Dale, deputy county surveyor of Reno county, Kansas, and on November 16, 1929, a plat of this survey was recorded, and showed 12.539 acres additional accretions since the McLane survey of 1914; that it is concerning this 12.539 acres additional accretions since the McLane survey of 1914 that there is a dispute in this action; that subsequently, in August, 1933, a survey of the land in question was made and a plat thereof recorded, which showed 17.76 acres additional accretions since the survey of 1929; that on .December 12, 1929, Hill executed an oil and gas lease to H. H. Stecher, covering 12.539 acres additional accretions since the McLane survey of 1914, according to the survey of November 16, 1929. The answer and cross petition alleged further that this lease was recorded December 14, 1929, in the office of the register of deeds of Reno county, and that this lease was made soon after the recording of the plat of the survey made in 1929, as above set forth, and was made more than fifteen years after the plat of the McLane survey of 1914 had been recorded; that this lease was released December 24, 1931, but Hill executed a second lease covering the identical land to H. H. Stecher [776]*776on February 19, 1932; that this oil and gas lease was for a term of five years from February 19, 1932; that this second lease was made more than two years after the recording of the plat of the above-mentioned survey of 1929 and eighteen years after the recording of the plat of the McLane survey of 1914. The answer and cross petition alleged also that this second lease by Hill to Stecher was made more than two years prior to the time the oil and gas lease was made by Hill to Coats, which is the lease under which.plaintiff claims, and this second lease by Hill to Stecher was in full force and effect on June 25, 1934, when the oil and gas lease was made by Hill to Coats; that after the survey of August, 1933, and on September 29, 1933, an oil and gas lease was made by Hill to Stecher covering the more than seventeen acres additional accretions after the survey of 1929, which was for a term of five years from September 29, 1933, and was made and duly recorded and in full force and effect prior to and on the date when the oil and gas lease was made to plaintiff’s assignor; that on June 25, 1934, Hill executed the.lease, under which plaintiff claims through subsequent assignments, to Charles M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
97 P.2d 99, 150 Kan. 773, 1939 Kan. LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohio-oil-co-v-shaffer-kan-1939.