Baldwin v. The Blue Stem Oil Company

• Citation: 106 Kan. 848,189 P. 920
• Decision Date: 08 May 1920
• Docket Number: 22,686
• Parties: MARTHA G. BALDWIN and JOHN P. BALDWIN, Appellees, v. THE BLUE STEM OIL COMPANY et al., Appellants
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

189 P. 920

106 Kan. 848

MARTHA G. BALDWIN and JOHN P. BALDWIN, Appellees, v. THE BLUE STEM OIL COMPANY et al., Appellants

No. 22,686

Supreme Court of Kansas

May 8, 1920

Decided January, 1920.

Appeal from Greenwood district court; ALLISON T. AYRES, judge.

Judgment affirmed.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

1. GAS AND OIL LEASE--Terminated in Three Years--No Extension. A gas and oil lease which provides that it shall remain in force for three years from its date, and as long thereafter as gas or oil is produced from the land by the lessee, and which provides that the lease shall terminate if no well is completed on the land before one year from the date thereof unless a year's rent is paid, which payment shall defer the completion of a well for twelve months, and which provides that upon like payments the completion of a well shall be deferred for like periods, terminates at the end of three years, and is not extended beyond that period by failure to drill a well on account of water failure, muddy roads, storms, sickness of employees, or inability to get casing as a result of the action of the government.

2. SAME--Refusal to Set Aside Judgment--No Error. It is not error to refuse to set aside a judgment and permit an amended answer to be filed where the application for such permission is not made until four months after the judgment has been rendered, and the facts sought to be shown by the proposed amendment were known to the defendants when the original answer was filed.

3. SAME--Tender of Rent--No Extension of Lease. Under the facts stated in the first paragraph of this syllabus, a tender of rent on the day before the expiration of the three years does not extend the lease.

S. F. Wicker, Gordon A. Badger, both of Eureka, W. A. Ledbetter, H. L. Stewart, and R. R. Bell, all of Oklahoma City, Okla., for the appellants.

A. F. Sims, of Howard, Howard J. Hodgson, and Homer V. Gooing, both of Eureka, for the appellees.

OPINION

MARSHALL, J.:

The plaintiffs commenced this action to cancel oil and gas leases given by them to W. S. Thomson, on certain property in Greenwood county. Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs on their motion for judgment on the pleadings, and the defendants appeal.

The questions argued are that the court committed error in sustaining the plaintiffs' motion for judgment on the pleadings, in rendering judgment cancelling the leases, and in refusing the motion of the defendants to set aside the judgment and permit them to amend their answer.

The defendants became the owners of the leases by regular assignments from W. S. Thomson. Two leases were given, each identical with the other except in the description of the property leased. Each lease was dated January 17, 1916, and contained the following provisions:

"It is agreed that this lease shall remain in force for a term of three years from this date, and as long thereafter as oil or gas, or either of them, is produced from said land by lessee. . . . If no well is completed on said land on or before the 17th day of January, 1917, this lease shall terminate as to both parties, unless the lessee on or before that date shall pay or tender to the lessor, or to the lessor's credit in the First National Bank at Eureka, Kansas, or its successors, which shall continue as the depositor regardless of changes in the ownership of said land, the sum of Three Hundred Eighty and no-100 dollars, which shall operate as a rental and cover the privilege of deferring the completion of a well for twelve months, from said date. In like manner and upon like payments or tenders the completion of a well may be further deferred for like periods of the same number of months successively. And it is understood and agreed that the consideration first receipted herein, the down payment, covers not only the privileges granted to the date when said first rental is payable as aforesaid, but also the lessee's option of extending that period as aforesaid, and any and all other rights conferred."

No well had been completed under either lease on January 17, 1919 and none was commenced until about December 7, 1918. The answer alleged as excuses for not commencing to drill before the 7th day of December, 1918, that it was necessary to have an adequate supply of water to furnish power for running the machinery; that the defendants were dependent on water from rainfall that collected in ponds and creeks in the vicinity of the lands described; that until November 7, 1918, rain did not fall in a quantity sufficient to supply water for drilling; that they immediately thereafter began preparations for drilling a well, but on account of excessive rainfall the roads became muddy so that fuel for the engine and casing for the well could not be transported over the public roads; that a blizzard intervened which prevented the defendants from carrying on their work; and that their employees became sick and were compelled to cease work and thereby interfered with the drilling of the well. The answer also alleged that it was impossible for them to obtain coal and casing on account of the action of the United States...