Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Co. v. Parker Oil Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 27 June 1938 |
| Docket Number | 34557 |
| Citation | 183 So. 229,190 La. 957 |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
| Parties | ARKANSAS-LOUISIANA GAS CO. v. PARKER OIL CO., Inc., et al |
Second Rehearing Denied August 5, 1938
Original Opinion on January 10, 1938, Reported at 190 La. 957.
OPINION On Rehearing.
On March 3, 1908, complying with the provisions of Act 134 of 1896, the Rodessa Land & Development Company, which owned the Southwest Quarter of Section 23, Township 23, North, Range 16 West, with the exception of an eleven acre tract owned by J D. Bickham, created a subdivision known as "Parker Addition" to the town of Rodessa, surveyed the subdivision, made a map thereof and formally dedicated to public use the streets and alleys shown thereon. This map with the approval of the parish surveyor endorsed thereon was recorded in the conveyance records of Caddo Parish in Book 50 at page 73.
The Rodessa Land & Development Company conveyed the property composing the Parker Addition to the Rodessa Oil & Land Company, and on February 7, 1934, the Rodessa Oil & Land Company executed in favor of the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company an oil and gas lease covering the larger part of the town of Rodessa and also the Parker Addition, which adjoins the town on the North.
The lease contained the following stipulation in reference to both the town of Rodessa and the Parker Addition thereto, viz.: "together with all streets and alleys lying next to and adjoining said blocks and lots, subject to the public's presently existing right of passage over said streets and alleys, comprising the town of Rodessa, Louisiana, situated in Section 23, Township 23 North, Range 16 West, and the Parker Addition thereto situated in Sections 22 and 23, Township 23-N, Range 16-W, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, as per plat of said town and addition as recorded in the records of Caddo Parish, Louisiana, aggregating 520 acres, more or less."
On April 9, 1936, the Rodessa Oil & Land Company, the lessor of the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company, at the request of its lessee, filed a petition with the Police Jury of Caddo Parish to have the streets and alleys in the Parker Addition closed.
The Rodessa Oil & Land Company alleged in its petition to the Police Jury that it was the owner of the Parker Addition to the town of Rodessa, embracing the South Half of the Northwest Quarter of Section 23, with the exception of eleven acres identified as the Stewart property on the map annexed to the petition.
The Police Jury, pursuant to the application of the Rodessa Oil & Land Company, passed a resolution abandoning the streets and alleys of the Parker Addition and restoring their ownership to the present owners.
The action of the Police Jury was taken under the authority of Act 151 of 1910, authorizing police juries and municipal corporations (the Parish of Orleans excepted) to revoke and set aside dedications of roads, streets and alleys when they have been abandoned or are no longer needed for public use.
The eleven acre tract designated as the Stewart property on the map annexed to the petition of the Rodessa Oil & Land Company addressed to the Police Jury of Caddo Parish was owned by Glenn Fitts at the time the Police Jury adopted its resolution abandoning the streets and alleys in the Parker Addition to the town of Rodessa, Fitts having acquired the eleven acre tract by mesne conveyances from J. D. Bickham, who owned the tract at the time the Parker Addition was created by the Rodessa Land & Development Company.
The eleven acre tract owned by Fitts, as shown by the map, is bounded on three sides by the streets, alleys, blocks and lots comprising the Parker Addition. A street designated on the map as Parker Street, on which it has a frontage of 726 feet, forms the Western boundary of the tract.
On April 17, 1936, Glenn Fitts executed an oil and gas lease to R. J. Reinke, covering a strip of land 25 feet in width and 726 feet in length lying along and adjoining the west side of his eleven acre tract. The tract of land covered by this lease is in reality the east half of Parker street adjacent to the eleven acre tract owned by Fitts. On June 29, 1936, this lease was assigned by Reinke to the Parker Oil Company, Inc.
In the latter part of June, 1936, the Parker Oil Company began to drill an oil well on the strip of land covered by the lease from Glenn Fitts. Shortly thereafter, the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company, as lessee in possession under its mineral lease from the Rodessa Oil & Development Company, brought this suit to enjoin the drilling operations of the Parker Oil Company. Upon the hearing of the rule nisi the temporary injunction was denied by the trial judge. Thereafter, the Parker Oil Company completed the well as a producer of oil in commercial quantities. The Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company then amended its petition and alleged that the drilling and completion of the oil well was a trespass upon the tract of land of which it was in possession as lessee. The prayer of the amended petition was that the Parker Oil Company be enjoined from operating the oil well; that it be required to remove its equipment and materials from the premises; and that plaintiff be recognized as the owner of the exclusive right to produce oil, gas and other minerals from the property.
The trial on the merits resulted in a judgment in favor of the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company and against the Parker Oil Company. The trial judge held that the lease of the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company covered the strip of land involved in the suit and that plaintiff was in possession of the strip, but that the operations of the Parker Oil Company thereon were conducted in good faith and therefore it was entitled to the reimbursement of the drilling costs from production before the injunction granted should become operative.
The Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company appealed from the judgment. The Parker Oil Company answered the appeal and asked that the judgment be reversed and plaintiff's demands be rejected; and, in the alternative, that, if plaintiff's title should be upheld, the judgment be affirmed so far as it allowed defendant the right to be reimbursed for the cost of drilling, equipping and operating the oil well.
After hearing the case on appeal, this court affirmed the judgment decreeing plaintiff to be the owner of the product of the oil well drilled by the defendant, enjoining defendant from drilling or operating any well upon the property and ordering defendant to remove all its equipment and material therefrom.
This court reversed the judgment decreeing that plaintiff's ownership of the product of the well was subject to the right of the defendant to be reimbursed the expenses of drilling, equipping and operating the well.
On the application of the defendant Parker Oil Company a rehearing was granted and the case has been heard for the second time by this court.
The primary question to be determined is the nature and effect of the dedication of the streets and alleys in the Parker Addition by the Rodessa Land & Development Company and the revocation of that dedication by the Police Jury on the application of the Rodessa Oil & Land Company.
Plaintiff contends that there never was any effective dedication because it never was expressly accepted by the proper authorities on behalf of the public and the streets and alleys never were used by the public for the purposes intended by the appropriation.
Defendant, on the other hand, contends that the streets and alleys in the Parker Addition were formally dedicated to public use and that the dedication has been recognized by the present owner, the Rodessa Oil & Land Company, its lessee, the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Company, and the Police Jury of Caddo Parish.
The plan of the Parker Addition to the town of Rodessa filed in the Clerk's office of the Parish of Caddo by the Rodessa Land & Development Company was prepared by S. S. Robertson, Civil Engineer, at the request of J. D. Lee, President of the Rodessa Land & Development Company, acting under a resolution of the Board of Directors of the corporation. In addition to filing the plan for record, the Rodessa Land & Development Company, through its president J. D. Lee, specifically declared that the streets and alleys as set out on the plan were dedicated to the public. This appears from the following declaration endorsed on the plan prior to its recordation, viz.:
The plan was approved for the public and for the Parish of Caddo by L. Z. Crawford, parish surveyor, in the following statement appearing on the plan, viz.:
Act No. 134 of 1896, to which reference is made in the certificate of the parish surveyor, requires all real estate owners who desire to subdivide their property into squares or town lots for the purpose of sale, to cause to be made and filed in the conveyance records of the parish a correct map of the property so divided, which map shall contain, among other things, the following:
The record shows that the Rodessa...
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