Starr

Plaintiff sued upon a contract whereby the defendants agreed to pay him the sum of $5,000 if they failed to commence the drilling of an oil well before a fixed day. Plaintiff had judgment and the defendant Lundeen alone has appealed on a typewritten transcript under section 953 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure.

At the time of the execution of the undertaking plaintiff held a lease from the title owners of a lot of land 30x130' feet located in the Signal Hill oil field in the county of Los Angeles. This lease called upon plaintiff to “spud in and commence the actual drilling of a well” within forty days after delivery to him of a certificate showing title to the premises vested in the lessors, to continue drilling with reasonable diligence until oil was found in paying quantities, or until the well should reach a depth of thirty-five hundred feet, and to pay the lessors as royalties sixteen and two-thirds per cent of the proceeds received from the sale of all oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances extracted. On December 9, 1922, plaintiff and defendants Lundeen and Lee executed an “oil and gas contract” whereby these defendants agreed to commence the drilling of a well…