Rife v. Kerr

513 S.W.3d 601, 2016 WL 7383826, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 13498
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 21, 2016
DocketNo. 04-16-00018-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 513 S.W.3d 601 (Rife v. Kerr) 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
Rife v. Kerr, 513 S.W.3d 601, 2016 WL 7383826, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 13498 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

Luz Elena D. Chapa, Justice

The Rifes1 and the Kerrs2 dispute who has superior title to an undivided ½ interest in a mineral estate under 476.7 acres in Dimmit County. It is undisputed the Kerrs own the other undivided ½ interest in the mineral estate. The trial court granted the Kerrs’ no-evidence motion for summary judgment and denied the Rifes’ competing motion for summary judgment.

The Rifes have appealed. They argue they produced some evidence of superior title through a common source and the evidence conclusively establishes they are entitled to a rendition of judgment in their favor. The Kerrs respond they produced evidence raising a fact issue as to whether they adversely possessed any interest the Rifes and their predecessors in title might have owned. Although we agree the Rifes produced some evidence that they have superior title to an undivided ½ interest in the mineral estate, we conclude the Kerrs produced some evidence that they adversely possessed that interest from the Rifes and their predecessors in title. We therefore reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand this case for further proceedings.

Background

In this suit, the Rifes seek to prove they own an undivided ½ interest in the disputed mineral estate, which interest the Rifes describe as follows:

An undivided one-half (½) interest in and to all of the oil, gas, and related hydrocarbons and right to explore, develop and produce same in and under approximately 476.7 acres, more or less, of real property located in Dimmit County, Texas, hereinafter referred to as the “Property’ and described as follows: 476.7 acres, more or less, located in the Michael Devereux Survey No. 491, A-47, and the Heirs of Mary Wagster Survey No. 492-1/2, A-791, Dimmit County, Texas, being all of Lot Nos. 1 through 15, inclusive, and 18 through 21, inclusive, Block 1; and all of. Lot Nos. 33 through 36, inclusive, the South Half of Lot Nos. 37 through 40, inclusive, all of Lot Nos. 41 and 42, the South Half of Lot Nos. 43 through 46, and all of Lot Nos. 47 through 64, inclusive, Block 2 of the Good Luck Colony Subdivision, Dim-mit County, Texas, as depicted on the Plat thereof recorded in Volume 13, [607]*607Page 600 of the Deed Records of Dim-mit County, Texas, and more particularly described in Deed dated September 4, 1985, recorded in Volume 209, Page 565 of the Deed Records of Dimmit County, Texas, from the Estate of Charles A. Kerr, National Bank of San Antonio, Executor, and Helen F. Kerr, sole beneficiary of the Estate of Charles A. Kerr, as Grantors, to The Helen F. Kerr Trust, National Bank of San Antonio, Trustee, as Grantee, LESS AND [EXCEPT] Lots 2, 3 and 4, Block 1 and Lots 47 and 48 of Block 2 of the Good Luck Colony Subdivision.

The lots listed in this property description were originally platted as part of the Good Luck Colony Subdivision (or Good Luck Colony) in Dimmit County in 1909. This case concerns numerous conveyances occurring before the surface estate and mineral estate were severed. For clarity and brevity, we refer to the lots listed in Rifes’ description of their mineral interest as “the disputed lots.”

A. The Origin of Good Luck Colony & the Disputed Mineral Estate

In 1909, L.A. Kerr, T.R. Keck, and G.W. Henrichson founded Good Luck Colony. Good Luck Colony consisted of 10,037 acres of land owned by the three of them. The three founders subdivided the land into approximately 1,000 ten-acre lots. In 1909, the founders entered into an agreement with A.H. Rife, F.B. Earnest, and W.S. Findley for Rife, Earnest, and Find-ley to act as the founders’ agents in selling the lots. Under the 1909 agreement, the founders conveyed all of the lots to L.A. Kerr, Trustee, for the express purpose of expediting and simplifying the sale of the lots. The 1909 agreement provided L.A. Kerr, Trustee, would execute and deliver a warranty deed upon a purchaser’s payment. The 1909 agreement also provided the manner in which the founders and their selling agents would share costs and divide sales proceeds. It is undisputed the property conveyed to L.A. Kerr, Trustee, by the 1909 deed included the disputed lots. Thus, as of 1909, title to all of the Good Luck Colony lots, including the disputed lots, was held by L.A. Kerr, Trustee, for the purpose of facilitating real estate sales under the 1909 agreement.

After a series of agreements from 1910 to 1916, the unsold lots that “remain[ed] in the hands of L.A. Kerr, Trustee” were “set aside as the property of L.A. Kerr, Trustee, for the joint use and benefit of L.A. Kerr and A.H. Rife.” In 1910, the founders entered into a co-partnership agreement with A.H. Rife and J.E. Rogers3 to establish the Texas Land & Loan Company. The co-partnership agreement incorporated the rights and privileges of the 1909 agreement between the founders and the selling agents. According to the Kerrs, the co-partnership was relatively unsuccessful at selling the lots due to an economic recession.

In 1913, J.E. Rogers hired an attorney to file suit against L.A. Kerr, Trustee, T.R. Keck, A.H. Rife, and G.W. Henrichson to dissolve the co-partnership and to partition and divide the unsold lands. The suit was settled in 1914, and under the settlement agreement, the remaining partners became the owners of J.E. Rogers’s interests under the prior agreements.

A.H. Rife, L.A. Kerr, and Henrichson entered into another agreement in 1916. Under the 1916 agreement, all unsold lots that “remained in the hands of L.A. Kerr, Trustee,” were “set aside as the property [608]*608of L.A. Kerr, Trustee, for the joint use and benefit of L.A. Kerr and A.H. Rife.”4

B. The Parties’ Competing Claims to the Mineral Estate

The Kerrs maintain their title to the entire mineral estate is derived from a 1932 deed from L.A. Kerr to his wife, Alta Kerr. The 1932 deed to Alta Kerr conveyed:

[a]ll of Lots Numbers One (1) to Fifteen (15), inclusive, and all of Lots Numbers Eighteen (18) to Twenty One (21) inclusive, in Block Number One (1) of Good Luck Colony [and]
[a]ll of Lots Numbers Thirty Three (33) to Thirty Six (36), inclusive, all Lots Numbers Forty One (41) to Sixty Four (64), inclusive; and the South Half of Lots Thirty Seven (37) to Forty (40), inclusive, all in Block Number Two (2) in Good Luck Colony ....

The lots conveyed by the 1932 deed to Alta Kerr included all of the lots listed in the Rifes’ description of the mineral estate to which they now claim an undivided ½ interest. The 1932 deed was recorded. The Kerrs assert they “receive[d] their present mineral interest in [these lots] as a result of [a] transfer from, or the deaths of, Alta’s immediate successors.”

The Rifes argue their alleged interest in the mineral estate is derived from the 1916 agreement, as well as from a 1937 deed by which L.A. Kerr, Trustee, conveyed to A.H. Rife “a full undivided one-half (½) interest in and to all those certain tracts and parcels of land out of the Good Luck Colony lands as per the plat of same recorded in ... Dimmit County, Texas.” The deed referred to the Dimmit County deed records “for more particular description of said ... land ... in my name as trustee or to be recovered in my name as trustee.” The Rifes argue they inherited an undivided ½ interest in the mineral estate from A.H.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
513 S.W.3d 601, 2016 WL 7383826, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 13498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rife-v-kerr-texapp-2016.