Phoenix Oil Co. v. Mackenzie Oil Co.

154 A. 894, 34 Del. 460, 4 W.W. Harr. 460, 1930 Del. LEXIS 32
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedDecember 22, 1930
DocketNo. 5
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 154 A. 894 (Phoenix Oil Co. v. Mackenzie Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Phoenix Oil Co. v. Mackenzie Oil Co., 154 A. 894, 34 Del. 460, 4 W.W. Harr. 460, 1930 Del. LEXIS 32 (Del. 1930).

Opinion

Pennewill, C. J.,

delivering the opinion of the court:

This case is before the court on writ of error to the Superior Court in and for New Castle County wherein the award of the Referee, appointed to determine the issues of fact and law in the case, was affirmed.

The suit was brought to recover on certain promissory notes given in part payment for an oil property sold by the plaintiff to one N. F. Clark. A contract was executed by the plaintiff and Clark wherein the price for the property was agreed to be $400,000 of which $200,000 was to be paid in cash and notes, and the remaining $200,000 was to be paid out of oil produced from the property. Under the contract the vendee was bound to develop the lease and prosecute with diligence the drilling of certain wells, and properly maintain the same until the vendor was paid the amount agreed upon. The cash payment provided for was made, and the notes were given as per agreement. The notes contained thereon the written guaranty of the defendant and the- suit is against it as guarantor. The lease contract was formally assigned by Clark, the vendee, to the defendant on June 20, 1921. Of the amount of the consideration for the lease provided to be paid in cash and notes, $100,-000 was paid, leaving a balance of $100,000 unpaid and represented by the notes in suit. It was to recover this sum, with interest, costs and attorney’s fee, that the suit was brought. Of the $200,000 payable in oil, there has been paid $31,515.60, leaving a balance due on [468]*468the purchase price of the property of $168,420.40, in addition to the amount due on the notes.

On December 12, 1921, an extension agreement was entered into by the parties whereby the time for the payment of the notes was extended. It was a considerable time thereafter when the suit was brought to recover on the notes.

The Referee found, as a fact, that the value of the lease was not $400,000, the contract price, but $250,000, and because of the deceit or misrepresentation of the value of the lease by the plaintiff, and particularly of the producing capacity of Well No. 1, the defendant had sustained damages in the amount of $150,000, the difference between the contract price for the property and its real value. These damages, allowed under the counterclaim, the Referee held could not be deducted from the notes because the amount, due from the defendant to the plaintiff, because of its failure to perform its contract, was greater than the $150,000.

The affirmance of the report of the Referee by the lower court was, in the main, on the same grounds. This will appear from a reading of an analysis of that report and the court’s opinion immediately preceding the report of this case.

In view of the fact that the material parts of the report of the Referee and the opinion of the lower court will be reported together there is no reason for stating at considerable length the facts in the case and the contentions of counsel, which are fully and clearly stated in the opinion of the lower court.

Neither will we undertake to'state specifically, the numerous exceptions filed in this court to the judgment below, because they sufficiently appear in the course of this opinion, as well as in the opinion of the lower court. And, in order to avoid, as far as possible, needless repetition and prolixity, we will not recite the many authorities deemed by counsel pertinent to the case, most of which are referred to, and many discussed in the opinion below.

The court below correctly stated that a defrauded vendee had, as a general rule, any one of three remedies:

1. He may repudiate and rescind the contract, return the property bought and sue for the recovery of any part of the consideration paid by him.

[469]*4692. He may affirm the contract, elect to keep the property bought, and to otherwise abide by its provisions, but bring an action for deceit for the recovery of the damages suffered by him by reason of the false representations of the seller.

3. He may affirm the contract, but instead of suing the vendor for the damages suffered by him, he may wait for the vendor to bring suit against him for his failure to perform his obligations under the contract, and by way of recoupment set up the damages suffered by him by reason of the fraudulent misrepresentations of the seller.

The defendant chose and pursued the last-mentioned remedy, and filed a plea of recoupment.

All of the legal questions raised in this case, and elaborately discussed by counsel here and below, were so fully considered, and, in our opinion, correctly decided by the lower court, that there is no reason for an extended opinion in this court, or perhaps, for any opinion other than a judgment of affirmance.

But, because some of the questions involved are very important, were argued at great length, and with much zeal and apparent confidence on both sides, we think the reasons for our conclusions should be briefly given.

There is one important fact that is not and cannot be disputed, viz.: That the contract involved was made in the State of Texas and is governed by the law of that state. While this is not denied, the defendant does vigorously contend that the law of that state, applicable to a case like the present one, is not correctly stated in the case of Empire Gas & Fuel Co. v. Pendar (Tex. Civ. App.), 244 S. W. 184, 191, and other cases relied on by the plaintiff. But we are not convinced, notwithstanding the able argument made on behalf of the defendant, and the cases cited by it, that the law laid down in the Pendar case has been overruled or disregarded in other Texas cases where the facts were practically similar.

We shall not prolong this opinion by quoting at length from decided cases, but because of the importance and pertinency of the Texas Pendar case in this litigation, the similarity of its facts to [470]*470those in the present case, and the strength and reasonableness of the court’s opinion, we quote at some length from the opinion.

In this case the court said:

“We are now brought to a consideration of the sixth question: Was the plaintiff entitled to judgment for the $30,000 which defendant had by the terms of the contract agreed to pay in oil ‘if oil should be produced from the leased premises’ by defendant, upon a showing that defendant had refused and was still refusing to recognize the contract and to explore for the oil on the leased land as it had obligated itself to do?
“This question, we think, should be answered in the affirmative. The undisputed evidence showed that appellant not only failed, but positively refused to proceed with the performance of its express agreement to drill upon said land and develop the same for oil. The time within which it agreed to drill had expired long prior to the trial of this suit and long prior to the filing of plaintiff’s first amended original petition on June 3, 1920.
“The simple question arising out of these undisputed facts is whether a lessee which has reserved the right to pay a part of the consideration for the execution of the lease in oil to be produced from the premises, and which has expressly agreed to develop said property, can defeat its obligation to pay the amount payable in oil by breaking its agreement to drill and produce oil from the premises.

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154 A. 894, 34 Del. 460, 4 W.W. Harr. 460, 1930 Del. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phoenix-oil-co-v-mackenzie-oil-co-del-1930.