Steinberger v. Liles

69 S.W.2d 210, 1934 Tex. App. LEXIS 1395
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 19, 1934
DocketNo. 2535.
StatusPublished

This text of 69 S.W.2d 210 (Steinberger v. Liles) 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
Steinberger v. Liles, 69 S.W.2d 210, 1934 Tex. App. LEXIS 1395 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

O’QUINN, Justice.

Appeííants brought this suit against appel-lee in the district court of Montgomery county, Tex., seeking to recover judgment on account of an alleged deficiency of 50 acres of land under an assignment of an oil and gas lease. The bonus paid for the lease was $6,-000 in cash, and $25,000 to be paid in oil. The amount sought to be recovered was $1,572.90 of the $6,000 cash paid, and a reduction of the $25,000 to be paid in oil to $18,446.92.

*211 Appellee answered by general demurrer, special exceptions, general denial, and specially denied that he had made any representations to ^appellants as to the amount of the acreage in the tract of land, and that the extent of the acreage was unknown to him. He further specially denied that the sale was made on an acre basis, but that same was a conveyance in solido, and that there was no warranty in the assigned lease as to the acreage. He denied fraud, and alleged that appellants were estopped to claim shortage because of their failure to inform themselves as to the extent of the acreage included in the lease for in that they were in as good position as appellee to ascertain same, and had all the facilities and were possessed of all the knowledge relating to same as appellee. He further answered and said that appellants were not entitled to recover because since their purchase of the lease they had sold the property which they actually obtained under the lease for a sum in excess of the amount they paid to appellee, and hence had not suffered any injury.

The case was tried to a jury upon one special issue, which reads:

“At the time of the negotiations between plaintiff, Steinberger, and the defendant concerning the assignment by defendant to Stein-berger of the unsold portion of the lease from Robert Cartwright, Jr., to defendant, covering certain lands in the John A. Davis Survey, or at and prior to the execution of said assignment from defendant to Steinberger, did defendant represent or state to said Steinber-ger that the number of acres covered by the unsold portion of said Cartwright lease, and conveyed to Steinberger by' defendant, was as much as 190.75 acres.
“Answer yes or no as you may.find the facts to be.”

The jury answered, “No.”

Upon the answer of the jury, judgment was entered that appellants take nothing by their suit. Motion for a new trial was overruled, and the case is before us on appeal.

Appellants’ two assignments of error are in effect the same, and assert that the court erred in overruling their motion for a new trial because the answer of the jury to special issue No. 1 is against the undisputed evidence because, they say, the undisputed evidence proves conclusively that at the time of and prior to the execution of the assignment of the lease in question, appellee exhibited to appellant Steinberger the lease assigned to said Steinberger, and represented to said Steinberger that the undisposed of acreage covered by said lease was as much as 190.75 acres, and therefore the said verdict of the jury was without support in the evidence.

Appellants admit in their brief that the evidence was conflicting as to whether or not appellee made any verbal statements to Stein-berger as to the number of acres covered by the assigned lease, and that they do not complain of the answer of the jury that appellee did not state to Steinberger that the unsold acreage covered by the lease was as much as 190.75 acres, but they say that the finding' of the jury, to the effect that appellee did not represent to Steinberger that such number of acres was as much as 190.75 acres, is against the undisputed evidence.

December 8,1931, Robert I. Cartwright, Jr., of Dallas county, Tex., for a valuable consideration, executed to appellee, J. Robert Liles, of Montgomery county, Tex., an oil lease; the land leased being described as follows: “All land and interest in land owned by lessor in the John A. Davis Survey, Abstract.No. 188 in Montgomery County, Texas, and estimated for the sole purpose of computing the bonus and rentals due and that may become due under this lease, at two hundred eighty five (285) acres of land, whether there be more or less.”

The lease contained no field notes describing the land by metes and bounds.

The lease, clause 4, provided that if operations were not commenced on said land on or before one year from the date of the lease, the lease should terminate, unless on or before the expiration ■ of said period, one year, the lessee paid or tendered payment to the lessor the sum of $570. The lease could thus be kept alive for a term of five years, and carried the right to assign same.

January 30, 1932, appellee conveyed to W. N. Hooper 50 acres out of said Davis tract covered by said lease, and on March 12, 1932, assigned and conveyed to the Imperator Oil Corporation 44.25 acres out of said tract. On April 2,1932, Liles assigned the entire unsold portion of his lease from Cartwright to appellant Clint 0- Steinberger for a consideration of $6,000 cash, and $25,000 to be paid in oil.

The instrument by which appellee assigned to Steinberger the unsold portion of the Davis tract of land leased to him by Cartwright,after reciting the facts (Cartwright’s lease to Liles, Liles’ sale of 50 acres to Hooper, and 44.25 acres to Imperator Oil Corporation), continued: “And, whereas, it is the intention of the said J. Robert Liles, lessee, in the above described lease, to bargain, grant, sell and convey and assign by this conveyance all of the *212 certain tract of land conveyed by said lease, save and except the two tracts above referred to, which have heretofore been conveyed, and * * * the undersigned, the present owner of said lease, and all rights thereunder or incident thereto, does hereby bargain, sell, transfer, assign and convey unto Clint O. Steinberger all the rights, title and interest of the original lessee and present owner in and to said lease and the rights thereunder so far as it covers the above described tract of land.”

There was no warranty other than that the ¡lessop Liles, was the owner of the lease from Cartwright, and had authority to assign same, and that the lpnd covered by the assigned lease was free from liens and incumbrances.

After Liles assigned to Steinberger the Cartwright lease, less the tracts of 50 and 44.25 acres he had sold, Steinberger .investigated.the extent of acreage in the Davis tract leased by Cartwright to Liles, and it was. found that it contained' only 235 acres. On the trial it was agreed by the parties that this was the correct acreage of the tract. It is contended by appellants that they acquired the lease from appellee on an acre basis, and •that the tract was represented to Steinberger as containing 285 acres, and as it actually contained only 235 acres, they are entitled to recover the pro rata part of the $6,000 cash paid for the lease to the extent of the shortage, 50 acres, or $1,572.90.

The contention is without merit. We think the lease on its face clearly shows that the land was not conveyed by the acre, but that it was a conveyance in solido. The description of the land- in the Cartwright lease to appel-lee reads: “All land and interest in land owned by lessor in the John A. Davis Survey, Abstract No.

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