Tvedt v. Bork

414 N.W.2d 11, 98 Oil & Gas Rep. 345, 1987 S.D. LEXIS 353
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 14, 1987
DocketNo. 15595
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 414 N.W.2d 11 (Tvedt v. Bork) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tvedt v. Bork, 414 N.W.2d 11, 98 Oil & Gas Rep. 345, 1987 S.D. LEXIS 353 (S.D. 1987).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Conrad Tvedt brought an action to quiet title to his severed mineral interests and to recover damages for an unauthorized oil and gas lease made by the surface owners, Doc Bork & Sons, Inc. (Bork), with lessee, Ogle Petroleum, Inc. Tvedt and Bork stipulated to the facts and made motions for summary judgment.1 The circuit court entered summary judgment partially in favor of Tvedt declaring that he was entitled to possession of the mineral rights after July 1, 1985. The court decided, however, that Bork, as owner of the surface rights, was entitled to retain the oil and gas lease payments made by Ogle Petroleum during the years 1980 through 1984. We reverse and remand.

[12]*12FACTS

Lars and Thelma Tvedt, the original owners, sold the property involved in this dispute to Calvin and Evelyn Blom in 1967 retaining for themselves all oil, gas and mineral rights. In 1968 Tvedts conveyed their full mineral rights to their son, Conrad. The mineral deed to Tvedt and the warranty deed to Bloms were recorded that same year. Bloms later sold their property to Bork. In November 1980 Bork leased the oil and gas rights to Ogle Petroleum. The lease provided for a bonus payment to Bork upon execution of the lease, royalty payments for any oil or gas produced, and annual delay rentals on a per acre basis if production did not commence within one year of the lease.2 There was no evidence that production ever occurred on the property and apparently only the $10 bonus and $2,500 annual delay rentals were paid from 1980 through 1984. In April 1981, Bork recorded an affidavit of possession pursuant to SDCL 43-30-7 and -8.13 seeking to merge the severed mineral rights with the surface rights.

In 1984 Tvedt, as owner of the severed mineral interests, recorded an affidavit pursuant to SDCL 43-30-8.1 seeking to preserve his severed mineral interests. The 1985 Legislature repealed SDCL 43-30-8.1 and replaced it with SDCL ch. 43-30A. Therefore, in August of 1985, Tvedt again sought to preserve his mineral interests by recording a “statement of claim” pursuant to SDCL 43-30A-4.4

1. DID BORK’S AFFIDAVIT VEST THE SEVERED MINERAL RIGHTS IN BORK?

The trial court entered a “finding” 5 that Bork’s filing of an affidavit pursuant to [13]*13SDCL 43-30-8.1 in 1981 made it the rightful owner of the mineral rights and entitled it to the rentals it received under the lease until the effective date of SDCL ch. 43-40A, or July 1, 1985.

Contrary to the trial court’s findings, however, the affidavit filed by Bork pursuant to SDCL 43-30-8.1 in 1981 did not have the effect of vesting Bork with the severed mineral interests. Affidavits of possession filed pursuant to this statute must also satisfy SDCL 43-30-7, which is referred to in section 8.1. According to section -7:

No such affidavits of possession may be filed as to any lands before the expiration of twenty-three years from recording of deed of conveyance or other instrument of conveyance under which title is claimed, ... to any land as to which claim under the provisions of § 43-30-5 has been filed, [emphasis supplied].

Thus, an affidavit of possession is intended to show possession for twenty-three years from the date of recording of the original conveyance. Also SDCL 43-30-8 provides in part that, “[w]hen an affidavit has been filed and recorded as provided in § 43-30-7 ... [it] shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, for the purpose of this chapter, [emphasis added]” The obvious purpose of “this chapter” is to provide some evidence of marketable title and not to transfer existing valid interests.

Marketable title acts with provisions similar to South Dakota’s protect record title holders from ancient title claims or defects if the record title holder has an unbroken chain of title starting with some “root of title”. See e.g. Presbytery of Southeast Iowa v. Harris, 226 N.W.2d 232 (Iowa 1975); P. Bayse, Clearing Land Titles §§ 171-174, 176, 182 (1970); L. Simes & C. Taylor, The Improvement of Conveyancing by Legislation 3-5 (I960); W. Barnett, Marketable Title Acts — Panacea or Pandemonium, 53 Cornell L.Q. 45, 52 (1967); R. Poulston, Legislation, Existing & Proposed, Concerning Marketability of Mineral Titles, 7 Land & Water L.Rev. 73, 75 (1972); Annotation, Construction and Effect of “Marketable Record Title” Statutes, 31 A.L.R.4th 11 (1984). In the case of mineral interests, their severance creates a separate estate and the “root title” to the mineral interests is the recorded instrument or conveyance severing the minerals. In this case, it was the deed recorded in 1968 that severed the minerals by reserving them for Tvedt’s predecessors in title, his parents. See SDCL 43-28-17 (defining conveyance); Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. Advance Realty Co., 78 N.W.2d 705 (N.D.1956). The deed reserving the minerals is then the “deed of conveyance or other instrument of conveyance under which title is claimed [to the mineral interests],” SDCL 43-30-7. The twenty-three years is measured from the date of recording of this conveyance before an affidavit of possession pursuant to sections -7, -8, and -8.1 can take effect. See Northern Pacific Ry. Co., supra; Sims & Taylor, supra at 59 (comparing and distinguishing the effect of affidavits of possession, etc., from instruments of conveyance). Even then, prima facie evidence is rebuttable. SDCL 43-30-8. Marketable title acts operate to extinguish ancient title claims and defects, and not to cut off existing interests before the running of the twenty-three year period from “root title”. Therefore, Bork’s filing of an affidavit pursuant to section -7, but before the running of twenty-three years from the time the minerals were severed in 1968, could not have the effect of cutting off a severed mineral interest and vesting it in Bork. Consequently, the trial court incorrectly concluded that Bork’s affidavit of possession vested him with the severed mineral interests.

2. DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL LEASING WITHOUT TRESPASS

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Bluebook (online)
414 N.W.2d 11, 98 Oil & Gas Rep. 345, 1987 S.D. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tvedt-v-bork-sd-1987.