Taylor v. Kerlin

327 S.W.2d 793, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 650, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2105
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 23, 1959
Docket13482
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 327 S.W.2d 793 (Taylor v. Kerlin) 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
Taylor v. Kerlin, 327 S.W.2d 793, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 650, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2105 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

BARROW, Justice.

This is an action for declaratory judgment filed by Gilbert Kerlin and North Central Oil Corporation, as plaintiffs, against George Taylor, Sam Taylor, William B. Lupe and Frank A. Cech, defendants, in which suit A. J. McBride, J. N. Groesbeclc, Jr., Carl Niglizzo and Waterloo Valve Spring Compressor Company, a corporation, intervened, aligning themselves with plaintiffs’ alleged cause of action. The defendants also cross-actioned for declaratory judgment. The issue involved is a fractional mineral interest in land. All the parties filed motions for summary judgment according to their respective contentions. Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment was granted and the defendants’ motion was denied. Judgment was accordingly entered. This appeal is from that judgment. William B. Lupe, however, did not appeal and the judgment against him is final.

The pertinent facts are as follows:

By deed dated March 15, 1946, Continental Oil Company and others conveyed to Gilbert Kerlin, hereinafter called Ker-lin, a tract of land containing 9,167.9 acres, more or less, known as the “Loma Alta Tract,” situated in Cameron County, Texas, and in such conveyance the grantors reserved unto themselves the entire mineral estate, but by separate instrument conveyed a royalty estate consisting of an undivided three-fourths of one-eighth of the oil and gas produced, and a portion of the production of other minerals on said land unto the grantee, Kerlin, as shown by the deed.

By deed dated June 19, 1947, Kerlin conveyed to George and Sam Taylor 871.2 surface acres, described by metes and bounds, out of said Loma Alta Tract, reserving all oil, gas and other minerals, and simultaneously, by separate deed, conveyed to them the royalty interest involved in this suit.

*795 Likewise, by similar instruments, Ker-lin conveyed to Frank Cech 500 surface acres on June 19, 1947, and the royalty interest involved herein. On June 20, 1947, he conveyed 733.9 surface acres to William B. Lupe and a royalty interest therein, and on June 27, 1947, conveyed another 500 surface acres to Cech and the royalty interest involved herein.

The parties to this appeal are in agreement that the conveyances from Kerlin to the Taylors and Cech are in the same form and in substantially the same language, and that the same construction should govern all of the deeds. The briefs have been confined to a discussion of the Taylor conveyance, therefore, this opinion will also be confined to a construction of the Taylor conveyance, but apply as well to the Cech conveyances. The decision of the case turns upon the construction of those conveyances, and particularly the following portions thereof.

The first part of the deed, insofar as pertinent, reads as follows:

“ * * * hereby grants, sells and conveys unto Sam Taylor and George Taylor of Nueces County, Texas, hereinafter called Grantees, an undivided interest, as hereinafter set out, in and to the oil royalty, gas royalty, and royalty on other minerals in and under and that may be produced and mined from the following described land situated in Cameron County, Texas, to-wit:”

This was followed by an elaborate description, by metes and bounds of the tract of 871.2 acres of land conveyed in the surface deed. This in turn was followed by a description in succeeding paragraphs, of the undivided royalty interest, closely similar to that which appears in the deed to Kerlin, except that it described the interest as one-third of that which had been conveyed to him, stating, for example, that it was “On oil, of Y& of that produced and saved from said land.” This was followed by the general intention clause, which provided:

“It is hereby intended to convey to the Grantees hereunder a one-third (1/3) of the three-fourths (¿4) of one-eighth (14) royalty interest conveyed to the grantor herein by Continental Oil Company, Texon Oil & Land Company, Group No. 1 Oil Corporation, and Group No. 2 Oil Corporation, each a Delaware Corporation, by royalty deed dated March 15, 1946, to which royalty deed and its contents reference is here made and it is expressly understood that this deed is subject to the conditions and reservations contained in said royalty deed to the Grantor dated March 15, 1946.”

It is the contention of appellees that Kerlin, by the subject deed, conveyed to the Taylors an undivided one-fourth of the one-eighth royalty interest in only the 871.-2 acres described in the deed; whereas, appellants contend that the deed conveyed to the Taylors not only the one-fourth of the one-eighth royalty interest in the land described, but also conveyed to the Taylors an undivided one-third (\4) of three-fourths (J4) of one-eighth (1/&) royalty interest in the entire 9,167.9 Loma Alto Tract. We agree with appellees. The parties are in agreement that the deed is clear and unambiguous, but contend that the language used supports their respective claims.

In the case of all contracts, including deeds, the cardinal rule of construction is that the intention of the parties is to be ascertained and effectuated, unless forbidden by law. 14-B Tex.Jur. 572, § 125. “In order to ascertain the intention of the parties, all of the provisions of the deed in controversy are considered, and every part of the deed is given effect where this can be done. The intention is not gotten from an isolated clause or paragraph, but gathered from a fair construction of the entire instrument. Each clause or paragraph *796 must be construed with reference to every other paragraph, and the effect of one paragraph upon the other determined.” 14 — B Tex.Jur., Deeds, S84, § 135. The strictness of the ancient rules for construction of deeds has been relaxed, and the controlling factor is the intention of the parties, when it can be ascertained from a consideration of all parts of the instrument, and such intention, when ascertained, will control over arbitrary rules. Harris v. Windsor, 156 Tex. 324, 294 S.W.2d 798.

Applying the foregoing rules to the subject deed, it seems clear to us from the provisions of the deed as a whole, that the royalty deed conveys an undivided one-fourth (/) of one-eighth (/) interest in the oil and other minerals in and under, and that may be produced from, the 871.2 acres of land described in the deed, as qualified and limited by the terms of the deed under which the grantor acquired his title (the deed of March 15, 1946), and nothing more. And that the language, “It is hereby intended to convey to the Grantees hereunder a one-third (1/3) of the three-fourths (4) of one-eighth (l/s) royalty interest conveyed to the grantor herein by Continental Oil Company, * * * by royalty deed dated March 15, 1946, to which royalty deed and its contents reference is here made and it is expressly understood that this deed is subject to the conditions and reservations contained in said royalty deed * * has reference to the character and quality of interest rather than the quantity of land conveyed. It is clear from the language used that it was intended by the parties that the deed convey 1/3

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Bluebook (online)
327 S.W.2d 793, 11 Oil & Gas Rep. 650, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-kerlin-texapp-1959.