Sohio Petroleum Co. v. Gunter

205 S.W.2d 110, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 780
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 17, 1947
DocketNo. 2605
StatusPublished

This text of 205 S.W.2d 110 (Sohio Petroleum Co. v. Gunter) 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
Sohio Petroleum Co. v. Gunter, 205 S.W.2d 110, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 780 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

GRAY, Justice.

Appellees Loyd Gunter et al. filed this suit in the District Court of Jones County, Texas, against Sohio Petroleum Co. et al., in trespass to try title to the oil, gas and [111]*111other minerals in and under the east half of the west half of Section No. 34, Block No. 18, T & P Ry. Co. land in Jones County, Texas. The petition was in the usual statutory form and the defendants answered hy pleas of not guilty. It was agreed that W. L. Gunter was the common source of title. The statement of facts contains no oral testimony and the case was submitted to the court without a jury on certain stipulations .and recorded instruments.

From the agreed statement of facts, we learn that prior to February 11, 1925, W. L. Gunter was the fee-simple owner of the west half of said Section No. 34, Block 18, T & P Ry. Co. land in Jones County, Texas, containing 320 acres; that on said February 11, 1925, W. L. Gunter and wife executed and delivered to M. H. Gossett, trustee, for the Federal Land Bank of Houston, their deed of trust covering said 320 acres of land to secure the payment of a note for '$5,200, to renew and extend the balance due, on the amortization plan, a certain note previously executed against said property and maturing January 1, 1932. Said deed of trust was duly placed on record in Jones County.

Thereafter, on April 26, 1928, said W. L. Gunter and wife executed and delivered to H. P. Lyons and A. A. Hammer their deed of conveyance of an undivided one-half interest in and to all of the oil, gas and other minerals in and under, and that may be produced, from the east half of the west half of . said Section 34, Block 18, T & P Ry. Co. ■survey, containing 160 acres, more or less, and being the same land involved in this suit. While it is not clearly shown by the record, we understand that the defendants other than those named above were assignees of grantees H. P. Lyons and A. A. Hammer. The said grant was conditioned that in the event no well for the production of oil or gas be drilled upon said land during a period of ten years from the date of said deed, then the grant terminated and full title to the minerals should be reinvested in W. L. Gunter and wife, Julie Gunter, their heirs and assigns. In the agreed statement of facts, it is stipulated that a well for oil and gas was drilled upon the said •tract of land under and by virtue of an oil and gas lease previously executed thereon, to a depth of about 3100 feet, which depth was sufficient to test the Noodle Creek pay, then known in that area. The record is silent as to whether oil or gas was found in paying quantities, but we assume that said well was what is known as a dry hole.

Under date of May 20, 1941, the Federal Land Bank transferred and assigned to Miss Nannie Tompkins the unpaid balance of said indebtedness amounting to $4,087.61, and the deed of trust lien securing the payment of same. But the note evidencing said indebtedness was cancelled. However, a few days prior to said assignments, said W. L. Gunter and wife executed and delivered to said Miss Nannie Tompkins a new deed of trust to secure the payment of the indebtedness thus renewed and extended. The said transfer and assignment provided that said Miss Nannie Tompkins should be sub-rogated to all the rights, titles, equity and interest owned and held by said bank to secure the payment of the remaining indebtedness due it. The said transfer and assignment further assigned and transferred “all its rights, titles, equity, interest, and demands in and to said land by virtue of being the owner and holder of the unpaid balance of .said indebtedness and the deed of trust lien securing the payment thereof; with the understanding, however, that note is this day cancelled, but the indebtedness in so far as the unpaid balance is concerned, is continued in full force and effect.”

The new deed of trust was so executed by W. L. Gunter and wife to secure the payment of the indebtedness of $4,087.61, the renewal note was payable on demand with an interest rate until maturity at the rate of 8% per annum, payable annually on each May 12th. Said M. H. Gossett, original trustee of the Federal Land Bank, being deceased, said Miss Nannie Tompkins by proper instruments duly recorded, designated Davis Scarborough as substitute trustee of said original deed of trust, and he was also named as trustee in said second deed of trust.

Thereafter, on September 4, 1941, said Davis Scarborough, trustee, executed a trustee’s deed to said property to said Miss Nannie Tompkins, conveying to her the said above mentioned 320 acres of land, said [112]*112deed reciting that default had been made and said land sold under the power of sale in said deed of trust. Plaintiffs in said suit, appellees here, purchased same from said Nannie Tompkins. On the trial, the court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, from which the defendants perfected this appeal, and the sole question here presented is as to the validity of said sale, which was under the original deed of trust, and whether it foreclosed the oil, gas and other mineral interests previously owned by the defendants.

Appellants complain that their rights were jeopardized and violated by the execution of a new deed of trust, which changed the rate of interest to 8% per annum, provided for annual instead of semi-annual payments as in the original deed of trust and the principal made payable on demand. We again call attention to the fact that the foreclosure was under the original deed of trust and not under the new one. In oral argument before this court, appellants contended that their right to redeem before final sale was impaired. The mineral deed under which appellants hold does not confer any right of redemption. The oil and gas lease on the property at the date of said mineral deed did provide that lessee might redeem against an impending foreclosure. But if we concede that appellants, as the owners of an interest in the property, and independent of any express contractual provision, did have the right to pay off said indebtedness before said sale, we think they are in no position to complain. The said original deed of trust, in full force and effect on date of said mineral deed, and by which appellants are bound, provided in detail a method of’foreclosure. The foreclosure as had was in strict conformity to said provisions. When the substitute trustee posted notices as required by said deed of trust and furnished the grantors in said deed of trust and debtors therein with proper notice, he met the requirements of said deed of trust and the law in such cases. Posting of said notices was notice to appellants. It is not intimated in the record that appellants ever tendered the amount of the unpaid balance of said debt, or that they went into any court seeking a temporary injunction to stop the sale. We conclude that, granting appellants had the right to redeem and to protect their interest, they wholly failed to do so.

In their contention that the sale of the property in controversy under the original deed of trust was void, appellants cite and rely upon only one case, to wit, Amicable Life Insurance Company v. Slovak, Tex.Civ.App., 217 S.W. 200, 202. We have carefulty examined said Slovak case and it is very apparent that the holdings in said case are not controlling in this case, because the fact situation in said Slovak case was altogether different from that of the case at bar. Slovak and his wife had purchased two tracts of land in McLennan County, Texas, which became their homestead. Said tracts of land were purchased partly on credit for which they executed their vendor’s lien notes in the sum of $2,500.

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Related

Willis v. Sanger Bros.
40 S.W. 229 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1897)
Amicable Life Ins. Co. v. Slovak
217 S.W. 200 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1919)

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205 S.W.2d 110, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 780, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sohio-petroleum-co-v-gunter-texapp-1947.