E. R. Rice and M. Metzenbaum v. Hans May

Herein Hans May, a Philadelphia doctor, seeks to recover $11,500 from E. R. Rice and Mr. Metzenbaum, Los Angeles, oil lease buyers and sellers, for a fractional interest in a tract of oil land called the Rankin in Kern County, California, together with the same fractional interest in the owner’s interest in the oil leases to which the property was subject. The doctor originally bought the interest from the defendants. Shortly after the purchase, he became dissatisfied and they then agreed to buy it back for what he had paid for it. The district court held that May, the plaintiff, was entitled to judgment against Rice and Metzenbaum, the defendants, for the amount prayed for less certain deductions for royalties received by the doctor. In turn, Dr. May was ordered to reconvey to the defendants the interest he had previously acquired from' them. The defendants appeal.

Sometime prior to November, 1950, Rice and Metzenbaum, had sold to Dr. May a fractional interest in an oil property in Texas called the “Crutchfield.” .On that, the investment was about half of the amount paid for the interest in Rankin. And the returns to him on the Crutchfield turned out to be excellent, if not…