Anthis v. Sullivan Oil & Gas Co.

• Decision Date: 13 September 1921
• Docket Number: Case Number: 11476
• Citation: 203 P. 187,83 Okla. 86,1921 OK 321
• Parties: ANTHIS v. SULLIVAN OIL & GAS CO. et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1921 OK 321

203 P. 187

83 Okla. 86

ANTHIS v. SULLIVAN OIL & GAS CO. et al.

Case Number: 11476

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: September 13, 1921

Syllabus

¶0 1. Contracts--Construction--Language of Contract. The object to be attained in construing contracts is to ascertain the meaning and intent of the parties as expressed in the language used.

2. Oil and Gas--Lease--Construction. The phrase, "It is agreed that this lease shall remain in full force for the term of one year from this date and as long thereafter as oil or gas or either of them is produced therefrom," is not ambiguous or susceptible of more than one construction.

3. Same--Termination of Lease--Quieting Title. In an action to quiet title for the reason the lease terminated by its own terms, where the lease provided it should remain in full force for one year and as long thereafter as oil or gas or either of them was produced therefrom, and more than one year thereafter the evidence is uncontradicted that the lessee plugged the only well on said premises that had produced oil or gas and there was no other well upon said premises from which oil or gas might be produced, held the lease terminated by its own terms and it was error to refuse to quiet plaintiff's title.

4. Contracts--Construction -- Language of Contract. The law will not make a better contract for parties than they themselves have seen fit to enter into, or alter it for the benefit of one party and to the detriment of the others; the judicial function of the court of law is to enforce a contract as it is written.

5. Oil and Gas--Termination of Lease--Quieting Title. From an examination of the record, held, the lease in the instant case, according to the uncontradicted testimony, had terminated by its own terms and it was error for the trial court to refuse to quiet the title in the plaintiff and against the defendant.

W. W. Noffsinger and A. L. Harris, for plaintiff in error.

Charles O'Connor and Allen K. Swann, for defendants in error.

McNEILL, J.

¶1 This action was commenced in the district court of Creek county by Austin Anthis against The Sullivan Oil & Gas Company and The Whitehead Oil & Gas Company to cancel a certain oil and gas lease on the lands owned by plaintiff. The original petition prayed for cancellation of the oil and gas lease for the reason the defendants had breached the terms of the lease, in that the oil lease provided the lessees should deliver to the lessor one-eighth of the oil produced and saved from the premises and the lessees had violated the terms of said lease by converting all the oil to their own use and failed to pay or deliver the royalty to plaintiff. There-after a supplemental petition was filed, asking that the title be quieted in plaintiff for the reason the lease terminated by its own terms. The lease contained the following provisions:

"It is agreed that this lease shall remain in force for the term of one year from this date (10th day of January, 1917) and as long thereafter as oil or gas or either of them is produced therefrom by the party of the second part, his successors or assigns."

¶2 The petition alleged that no oil or gas had been produced from said premises since about the 1st of December, 1918, and the property was no longer producing oil or gas, and that the only well on said premises that ever had produced oil or gas had been plugged and abandoned, and the lease by its own terms terminated. To this petition the defendants answered denying that oil and gas were not being produced from said premises. Denied that the well had been plugged, and alleged that they were further developing the premises and at that time were drilling a well on the premises and had drilled the same to a depth of 500 feet, and further alleged that if the well had been plugged it was only plugged by reason of the same caving, and alleged they had spent large sums of money in the development of the premises. The parties settled and compromised the controversy relating to the amount of on royalty due for oil that had been sold by the defendants upon the defendants paying to the plaintiff the sum of $ 500, leaving but one issue to be tried to the court, to wit, whether the lease terminated by its terms by reason of the failure of the defendants to produce on from the premises. The court made certain findings of fact and conclusions of law, but it is only necessary to notice the fourth and fifth findings, which are as follows:

"It is agreed that this lease shall remain in full force for a term of one year from this date and as long thereafter as oil or gas, or either of them is produced therefrom. And that said lease is ambiguous and contains no provision for its termination applicable to the facts in this case, after the expiration of one year."

¶3 The fifth finding is as follows:

"That oil was produced for a period of one year and up to December, 1918, from said lease, and the last payment received for royalty oil by the lessor was January 20, 1919."

¶4 The court, after making said findings, rendered judgment in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiff. From said judgment the plaintiff appealed, and for reversal contends the court erred in holding said lease ambiguous, and that after the court found that oil was produced only up to December, 1918, then as a matter of law, under and by virtue of the terms of the lease, the same terminated. The uncontradicted evidence disclosed that no oil was produced from the premises at the time of filing the supplemental petition, nor was it being produced at the time of the trial, nor were there any wells on the premises at the time of filing the supplemental petition or at the time of the trial from which oil could be produced. The record disclosed that, at the time of executing the lease in question, a well had been drilled upon the lands of the plaintiff, but that oil had never been...