Simmons v. Great Western Drilling Co.

294 S.W.2d 230, 6 Oil & Gas Rep. 1087, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1827
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 1, 1956
DocketNo. 6621
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 294 S.W.2d 230 (Simmons v. Great Western Drilling Co.) 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
Simmons v. Great Western Drilling Co., 294 S.W.2d 230, 6 Oil & Gas Rep. 1087, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1827 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

NORTHCUTT, Justice.

This was a suit brought by Ray Simmons as plaintiff, appellant here, against Great Western Drilling ' Company as defendant, appellee here, to recover compensation payable under the terms of án oral contract of employment. It was the contention of ap-pellee that appellant's suit was for services of appellant rendered in assisting appellee to acquire certain oil and gas leases and that appellant was not an employee of ap-pellee and could not recover becáuse the agreement was not in writing; that appellant did not' have' a license under the Real Estate Dealers License Act, Vernon’s Ann. Civ.St. art. 6573a and neither did he have a license under the Securities Act, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 600a. The case was tried to a jury upon special issues and the issues submitted were answered by the jury favorable to appellant but the trial court rendered judgment non obstante veredicto for the defendant and appellant perfected this appeal from that judgment. The trial court submitted the case to the jury upon the following three special issues:

“Special Issue No. 1
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence, that the plaintiff, Ray [231]*231Simmons, was the procuring cause of the acquisition by the defendants, Great Western Drilling Company, of the oil and gas lease covering the South 175 acres of the North One-half of Section 22 from the Cities Service Oil Company?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
“Answer: Yes.
"Special Issue No. 2
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff, Ray Simmons, was the procuring cause of the acquisition by the defendant, Great Western Drilling Company, of the oil and gas lease covering the North 145 acres of Section 22 from Cities Service Oil Company?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
“Answer: Yes.
"Special Issue No. 3
“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff, Ray Simmons, was the procuring cause of the acquisition by the defendant, Great Western Drilling Company, of the oil and gas lease covering the South Half of Section 22 from the Atlantic Refining Company?
“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
“Answer: Yes.”

The jury answered each of these issues “Yes.” The plaintiff requested nine special ' issues inquiring' whether plaintiff was a regular employee of defendant during the timé he was engaged in negotiating the farm-out agreements, if he did negotiate the same; if plaintiff had fully performed the acts of his employment; if plaintiff was employed to negotiate farm-out contracts for defendant; if defendant acquired the farm-out on the North One-half of Section 22 because of the negotiations of plaintiff under his employment; the same question as to the South One-half of- Section 22; if the negotiations and efforts by plaintiff were the producing cause of the acquisition by defendant of the farm-out on the South One-half of Section 22; if the negotiations and efforts of the plaintiff were the producing cause of the acquisition by defendant of the farm-out on the North One-half of 'Section 22, and the same question as to the South Half of ¡Section 22. All of these requested special issues were refused by the court. The farm-outs in question in this suit concerned Section 22. We are of the opinion, regardless of what the term “farm-out” may mean or how it may be interpreted, that appellant was approached by appellee in connection with securing farm-outs on certain properties located in Cochran 'County. ■ Plaintiff testified he was to try to get farrn-out agreements for defendant. Mr. Tucker, president of defendant company, testified on direct examination as follows:

“Q. Just tell them, Mr. Tucker, what was — the first conversation that you had with Ray, what was said? A. We pointed out to him the area we were interested in which roughly an area stretching from Section 5 across through Sections 10, 17, 23, told him that where we were looking at the map, and he could see, too, of course, that Cities Service, Stanolind, Atlantic and others had leases in there and I asked him if he thought he could secure a farm-out an any of that land and he said that he thought he could, he’d go to work on it.”
Mr. Tucker testified as follows:
“Q. Mr. Tucker, I believe that all of these agreements which Ray brought in, the ones you have paid him on and the ones that he claims you have not paid him on, were all executed by you, were they not ? A. The agreements ?
“Q. Yes, on behalf of Great Western. A. I’m sure they were, yes.
[232]*232“Q. Did Ray have any authority to execute any instruments on behalf of Great Western Drilling Company? A. No.
“Q. Did he have any authority to spend any of the money of Great Western Drilling Company? A. No, he didn’t spend any of our money.
“Q. He was not authorized to purchase anything on behalf of Great Western then? A. He was authorized to attempt to get farm-out agreements on there, there’s no purchase, price on the farm-outs, no cash price.
“Q. In other words, his sole duty was to go out and work up a deal and bring it in to you and if you approved it, then it would be executed by you or some other officer in Great Western Drilling? A. That’s right.”

After the plaintiff had discussed the farm-out with the Cities Service and Atlantic he reported to Mr. Tucker that the Cities Service and Atlantic stated that he would have to have a specific written request and Mr: Tucker wrote the written request and told defendant to make his letter just like the letter written by Mr. Tucker, only the appellant was to sign the letter. The letter written by Mr. Tucker and copied by Mr. Simmons was as follows:

“Farmout . deal. I have ■ an independent operator who is desirous of making a farmout agreement on the following property on which you hold Oil and Gas leases.
“S/2 Section 5 A-48.
“SW/4 Section 17 A-49
“SW/4 Section -23 A-4S
all.in Harrison & Brown Survey Cochran County, Texás.
“This operator agrees to commence, within- thirty days from date of contract, the drilling of a well to a depth of approximately 5000 feet and complete same in' the Slaughter zone of the- San-Andres line and to commence an additional well within 60 days after the completion of the first well and another well 60 days after the completion of second well and follow this schedule of commencing a well 60 days after the completion of the previous well until the property is fully developed. Further agreement will provide for you to retain Ys of ⅞ overriding royalty on the South Half of Section S and Vie of ⅞ overriding royalty on the Southwest Quarter of Section 17 and the Southwest Quarter of Section 23.

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626 F.2d 731 (Ninth Circuit, 1980)
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Great Western Drilling Company v. Simmons
302 S.W.2d 400 (Texas Supreme Court, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
294 S.W.2d 230, 6 Oil & Gas Rep. 1087, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simmons-v-great-western-drilling-co-texapp-1956.