Rox Petroleum, L.L.C. v. New Dominion, L.L.C.

2008 OK 13, 184 P.3d 502, 169 Oil & Gas Rep. 337, 2008 Okla. LEXIS 11, 2008 WL 375843
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 12, 2008
DocketNo. 104,664
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 2008 OK 13 (Rox Petroleum, L.L.C. v. New Dominion, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rox Petroleum, L.L.C. v. New Dominion, L.L.C., 2008 OK 13, 184 P.3d 502, 169 Oil & Gas Rep. 337, 2008 Okla. LEXIS 11, 2008 WL 375843 (Okla. 2008).

Opinion

TAYLOR, J.

11 The plaintiff, Rox Petroleum, LLC. (Rox) brought this suit against the defendants, New Dominion, L.L.C., GingerLynn, Inc., Oklahoma Title Clearing Corporation, Norma L. Doerfler, and Hoster Brothers, Inc.1 (surface owners) to quiet title to mineral interests in the southwest quarter of see[504]*504tion 24, township eleven north, range three west of the Indian Meridian (the property). Except for GingerLynn, Inc., all the surface owners filed a counterclaim with their answers. The question before us is whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the surface owners. We answer that the district court did err.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This is an appeal from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Summary judgment is a pretrial procedure available where there is no dispute as to the material facts, Pickens v. Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, 1997 OK 152, 17, 951 P.2d 1079, 1082, and the evidentiary materials establish each and every material fact necessary to support a judgment as a matter of law. Manley v. Brown, 1999 OK 79, ¶ 22, 989 P.2d 448, 455-456. Summary judgment settles only questions of law, which we review de novo. Id. Summary judgment is proper when there is no dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

II. FACTS

¶ 3 In 1927, Jennie Clauer was the record owner of the surface and mineral interest in the property. On December 8, 1927, Jennie Clauer and her husband executed a mineral deed conveying an undivided one-fourth interest in the minerals to Indian Territory THluminating Oil Company and an undivided one-fourth interest to Foster Petroleum Corporation (conveyed minerals) for "a period of ten (10) years, and as long thereafter as oil and gas is produced from said land...."

¶ 4 In 1942, the property vested in Jennie A. Clauer, Henry Irving Clauer, Jack B. Clauer, and Mary Jane Herring.2 In December of 1955, Mary Jane Herring executed a quitclaim deed and Jennie A. Clauer and Jack B. Clauer also executed a quitclaim deed to the property in favor of The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.3 Both quitclaim deeds passed title to the property with the following reservation:

EXCEPT all the oil, gas and other minerals, all that portion of such minerals now owned by grantors being reserved by them, with the right of ingress and egress for mining and producing the same....

(Emphasis added.)

¶ 5 In 1956, The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce conveyed the property by warranty deed to American First Title and Trust Company. This warranty deed, as does the subsequent deeds in this chain of title, contains the following or similar language: "Less and except all ofl, gas, minerals which may be produced from all of the property herein described and conveyed." The surface owners trace their title back to the 1955 quitclaim deeds and claim title to the minerals based on them.

¶ 6 Jennie A. Clauer and Mary Jane Herring died, leaving Jack B. Claver as the sole surviving joint tenant. Jack B. Clauer died with the residue of his property passing to the Board of Trustees of Carleton College. Rox claims the reversionary interest to the conveyed minerals passed under this residue clause and claims title based on it through a series of conveyances.

III. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE DISTRICT COURT

¶ 7 Rox moved for summary judgment, and the surface owners responded and also moved for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment to the surface owners and, in its order, allocated the shares in the minerals nineteen thirty-sixths to Rox, Inc. and seventeen thirty-sixths to the surface owners and nondefendants. Appeal was taken pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 1.86, 12 0.8.2001, ch. 15, app. 1. No appellate briefs were ordered to be filed, and appellate review is confined to the record actually presented to the trial court. Id. at [505]*505rule 1.36(g). Feeling constrained by Ford v. Raab, 1987 OK 98, 744 P.2d 956, the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. This Court granted a writ of certiorari.

¶ 8 Rox argued that the reservation in the two 1955 quitclaim deeds conveying the property to The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce reserved the reversionary interest to the conveyed minerals underlying the property. Relying on Ford v. Raab, 1987 OK 98, 744 P.2d 956, Lahman v. Bassel, 1962 OK 174, 373 P.2d 245, Whitman v. Harrison, 1958 OK 141, 327 P.2d 680; and Kassner v. Alexander Drug Co., 1943 OK 293, 194 Okla. 36, 147 P.2d 979, the surface owners argued the 1955 quitclaim deeds did not clearly express a reservation of the reversionary interest in the conveyed minerals.

IV. ANALYSIS

¶ 9 In determining whether a rever-sionary interest is reserved or excepted in a deed, the foremost consideration is the parties' intent. Knight v. Kimble, 1924 OK 472, ¶¶ 3-4, 99 Okla. 48, 225 P. 909, 910. It is a rule that the intent to reserve or except a reversionary interest from a grant must be unambiguous and unequivocal. Ford, 1987 OK 98 at ¶¶ 8-9, 744 P.2d at 959. The rule that the reservation of a reversionary interest must be clearly expressed is based, at least in part, on title 16, section 29 of the Oklahoma Statutes. Section 29 provides: "Every estate in land which shall be granted, conveyed or demised by deed or will shall be deemed an estate in fee simple and of inheritance, unless limited by express words." Section 29 applies equally to quitclaim deeds and warranty deeds.

¶ 10 Under the rule that a reservation of a reversionary interest must be clearly expressed, a person conveying real property is presumed to convey all his interest in the property. Kassner, 1943 OK 293 at ¶¶ 7-16, 147 P.2d at 980-981; accord Ford, 1987 OK 98 at ¶¶ 9-11, 744 P.2d at 959. This rule does more than give rise to an evidentiary presumption; it gives rise to "a fixed presumption imposed by law" and establishes a rule of construction for a conveyance. Kassner, 1943 OK 293 at ¶ 15, 147 P.2d at 981. "The rule comes into play when the conveyance is executed and delivered, so as to settle titles, which therefore need not wait suspended until testimony of intent is given years later." Id. The presumption may be rebutted only by a clear, express contradictory intent found within the four corners of the conveyance itself. Id. at ¶ 16. Parol evidence may not be relied upon to rebut the presumption. Id. at ¶ 18, p. 982. Thus, if the conveyance does not clearly express an intent to except or reserve a reversionary interest within its four corners, the conveyance will be deemed to have transferred the reversionary interest. Ford, 1987 OK 98, 744 P.2d 956.

T11 In the 1955 quitclaim deeds, the grantors excepted "all that portion of [the oil, gas, and other] minerals now owned by grantors being reserved by them." We must determine the interest in the conveyed oil, gas, and minerals owned by the grantors at the time the 1955 quitclaim deeds were executed. In doing so, we examine the 1927 mineral deed to determine what interest the grantors retained in the conveyed minerals. A deed, such as the 1927 mineral deed, given for a term and so long after as oil and gas is produced transfers a determinable fee upon a conditional limitation. Ludwig v. William K. Warren Foundation, 1990 OK 96, ¶ 6,

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ROX PETROLEUM v. New Dominion, LLC
2008 OK 13 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 OK 13, 184 P.3d 502, 169 Oil & Gas Rep. 337, 2008 Okla. LEXIS 11, 2008 WL 375843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rox-petroleum-llc-v-new-dominion-llc-okla-2008.