Spartan Texas Six Capital Partners, Ltd. v. Perryman

494 S.W.3d 735, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 2150, 2016 WL 796073
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 1, 2016
DocketNO. 14-14-00873-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 494 S.W.3d 735 (Spartan Texas Six Capital Partners, Ltd. v. Perryman) 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
Spartan Texas Six Capital Partners, Ltd. v. Perryman, 494 S.W.3d 735, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 2150, 2016 WL 796073 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Sharon McCally, Justice

In this oil and gas royalty dispute, appellants/cross-appellees Spartan Texas Six Capital Partners, Ltd. and Spartan Texas-Six Celina, Ltd. (collectively, Spartan) and Dion Menser (Menser) challenge the trial court’s judgment in favor of appel-lees/cross-appellants Gary Don Perryman (Gary), Nancy K. Perryman (Nancy), and Leasha Perryman Bowden (Leasha).1 Spartan and Menser (collectively, Appellants) assert that: (1) Gary and Nancy (collectively, the Perrymans), both individually and through their company, GNP, Inc., failed to mention any prior convey-anees of a one-half royalty interest in the various deed conveyances in this case, so they are estopped from claiming a one-half royalty interest in the subject property to Appellants’ predecessors in interest under Duhig v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co., 135 Tex. 503, 144 S.W.2d 878 (1940); (2) alternatively, the Perrymans own no royalty interest in the subject property because a 1986 royalty deed conveyed all of GNP’s royalty interest to Appellants’ predecessors in interest; (3) Gary failed to disclose an inherited interest in the subject property in his 1984 bankruptcy case and both he and Nancy are judicially estopped from asserting a claim to this asset now; and (4) the trial court incorrectly described the subject property in the final judgment. In two. conditional cross-issues, the Perry-mans urge that the trial court erred in (1) denying their motion to transfer venue to Montague County, and (2) failing to hold that they acquired title to the royalty interest at issue by limitations.

We agree that Duhig applies to the facts of this case, sustain Appellants’ first issue, and determine that the Perrymans are estopped from claiming a royalty interest in the subject property under the-Duhig doctrine. However, we hold that the trial court did not err in determining that judicial- estoppel does not apply to the facts of this case; thus, Gary is not barred by this doctrine from claiming a 1/4 royalty interest inherited through his father’s estate. We overrule Appellants’ other .three issues; We further overrule the Perrymans’ conditional' cross-issues. We thus modify [739]*739the trial court’s judgment to reflect that Menser, Spartan, and Gary each own a 1/4 royalty in Tract One of the subject property. We affirm the judgment as so modified.2

I.Background

A. Introduction

This oil and gas dispute arises from horizontal drilling in the Barnétt Shale in Montague County, Texas. It began as a breach-of-contract suit by the mineral owners, Appellants, who had signed oil and gas leases, against an exploration company, EOG Resources. EOG Resources had drilled horizontal wells under Appellants’ land. Appellants asserted' that EOG Resources had drilled these wells and unitized and pooled their lands "with other lands, despite EOG Resources not having obtained their permission as required by the leases. EOG Resources joined third-party defendants, Gary, Nancy, and Lea-sha; EOG brought a third-party claim seeking a declaration regarding who owned the royalty interests in the property covered by the leases as between Appellants, Gary, Nancy, and Leasha. Gary, Nancy, and Leasha, as third-party defendants and counterclaimants and subject to a motion to transfer venue, filed a declaratory judgment action to quiet title, seeking a declaration that they collectively owned 7/8 of the 1/4 royalty in the leased property, as well as attorney’s fees. In response to the third-party defendants’ counterclaims, Appellants filed a general denial, asserted various affirmative defenses including judicial estoppel, and alleged they were entitled to attorney’s fees under the Declaratory Judgments Act.3

Appellants settled their disputes with EOG Resources. The claims between these parties have been severed and are not part of this appeal. The dispute in this appeal involves the claims by Gary, Nancy, and Leasha to a portion of the royalties to be paid under the Appellants’ leases.4 Because Gary, Nancy, and Lea-sha claim their royalty interests under a series of conveyances, we begin with a review of the pertinent facts of these conveyances.

B. The Conveyances

In 1977, Benjamin Perryman sold approximately 480 acres in Montague County to his son Gary and Gary’s wife, Nancy. The deed (Benjamin’s Deed) describes the property conveyed in ■ three tracts by a metes and bounds description of each tract. Although all three tracts are in the John Deck Survey, the first tract is separated from the other two by an intervening tract. This tract is described as 177 acres, more or less, and is part of the property subject to this dispute (hereafter, “Benjamin’s Deed First Tract”); Appellants claim no interest in the second and third tracts described in Benjamin’s Deed. The following paragraph appears at the end of the legal description conveying the three tracts in Benjamin’s Deed:

LESS, SAVE AND EXCEPT an undivided one-half (1/2) of all royalties from the production of oil, gas and/or other minerals that may be produced from the above described premises which are now owned by Grantor. It being understood . hereby that all of the rest of my owner- [740]*740: ship in and to the mineral estate in and under the above described lands is being conveyed hereby.

In 1980, Benjamin died intestate, and his two sons,.Gary and Wade Perryman each inherited a 1/4 royalty interest..

In 1983, the Perrymans conveyed the entire 480 acres- of land to an entity they formed, GNP, Inc. This conveyance was made-subject to four listed liens, “together with any other liens covering'the herein described property not specifically mentioned herein, but appearing of record in the Records of Montague County, Texas.” This deed (the Perrymans’ Deed) contains the identical metes and bounds description of the three tracts of land provided in Benjamin’s .Deed. Additionally, after the legal description, the following nearly identical reservation provides:

LESS, SAVE AND EXCEPT an undi.vided one-half (1/2) of all royalties fi’om , the production of oil, gas and/or minerals that may be produced from the above described premises which are now owned by Grantor. It being understood that all. of the rest of my ownership in and to the mineral, estate in and under the above described lands is being conveyed hereby.

The Perrymans’ Deed contained the following warranty language -following the property description and reservation:

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the above described premises, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in anywise belonging unto the said GNP, Inc. its successor and assigns forever and we do hereby bind ourselves and our heirs, executors and administrators, to Warrant and Forever Defend, all and singular the said premises unto the said GNP, Inc., its successors and assigns,, against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming, or to claim the same, or any part thereof.

In turn, GNP, through its officers Gary and Nancy, executed a deed of trust conveying, this same property with the same reservation language through ■ a Deed of Trust to Gainesville National Bank (GNP’s Deed of Trust). GNP’s Deed of Trust secured GNP’s debt to the bank of roughly $700,000.

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Bluebook (online)
494 S.W.3d 735, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 2150, 2016 WL 796073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spartan-texas-six-capital-partners-ltd-v-perryman-texapp-2016.