Clark v. Richfield Oil Co.

I dissent. As was shown by their amendment to their answer to the complaint, the most important and, in fact, the controlling defense relied upon by the defendants in the action was that the plaintiffs “sold to said William H. Stevely, the said premises described in said lease, and all of the rights of the plaintiffs in and to said land, and in and to said lease, and all of the royalties and proceeds of the sale of gas, oil and gasoline extracted from said premises, and that thereafter said plaintiffs had no right, title or interest in or to said land, or the oil or gas or gasoline to be extracted therefrom, or in or to said lease, but held only the bare legal title to said land. . . . ”

In reality, the only consequential and disputed issue of fact in the ease was whether, on the sale of the property in question, the rights which had already accrued under the terms of the lease, or which rights might thereafter accrue to the lessor, who then was the owner of the property, were reserved to the plaintiffs; or whether such rights were, by the parties to the agreement, intended to be transferred to the purchaser, who is now one of the defendants.

But, although on the trial of the…

From a judgment in the sum of $2,811.01 entered as against appellants Nordenholt and Stevely this appeal is taken. As to the other defendants named in the complaint a nonsuit was granted.

The facts which form the basis of the action here involved are few in number. Respondents were the owners of certain real property and, as lessors, leased to one of the defendants named in the complaint the right to remove gas and oil therefrom, it being agreed under the terms of the said lease that respondents were to receive as royalty or rent 1/12 of all gas, oil and other hydrocarbon substances produced from said leased property. Thereafter on September 29, 1927, and subsequent to the making of said oil lease respondents made and entered into an agreement with appellant Stevely by the terms of which they agreed to sell the property upon which they had granted the oil lease, to appellant Stevely for the sum of $6,000, payable $2,000 at the time of the signing of the agreement, and the balance in two equal payments at one and two years respectively. This agreement provided that upon payment of the full purchase price respondents would deliver to the buyer a good and sufficient grant deed to…