Barfield v. Holland, 12-90-00081-CV

• Decision Date: 27 July 1992
• Docket Number: No. 12-90-00081-CV,12-90-00081-CV
• Citation: 844 S.W.2d 759
• Parties: Edward BARFIELD, et al., Appellants, v. V.C. HOLLAND, et ux., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 759

844 S.W.2d 759

Edward BARFIELD, et al., Appellants, v. V.C. HOLLAND, et ux., Appellees.

No. 12-90-00081-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Tyler.

July 27, 1992.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 11, 1993.

James S. Robertson, Jr., Tyler, for appellants.

John W. Alexander, Winnsboro and G. Timothy Boswell, Mineola, for appellees.

GERALD T. BISSETT, Retired Justice. ¹

This is an appeal by Edward Barfield, James Dickey, Hemus, Inc., Hal Hudgins, Andrew Swann, Jim Perkins, Marvin Shapiro and Leah Fash, defendants in the trial court, from a summary judgment awarding all of the minerals under three separate and adjoining tracts of land of 33 1/2 acres each in Wood County, Texas, to V.C. Holland The parties will be referred to as "Plaintiffs" and "Defendants," as they were in the trial court, or by name.

and wife, Madeline Holland, plaintiffs in the trial court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiffs sued Defendants to recover title to all of the minerals under three tracts of land totalling 100 acres in Wood County, Texas. Defendants filed a general denial and pleaded affirmative defenses of bona fide purchasers for value without notice of Plaintiffs' claims, the four-year statute of limitation, estoppel to reform the deeds under which Plaintiffs claim, and for a judgment that the court declare them to be the owner of minerals in accordance with their ownership as revealed by the records of Wood County.

Defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment on the basis that Plaintiffs' cause of action for reformation of the deeds under which they claimed title to all the minerals was barred by limitations. The trial court granted this motion.

Defendants then filed another motion for partial summary judgment, asking the court to hold that as a matter of law Plaintiffs' remaining causes of action are without legal merit, that there are no fact issues, and that Defendants are entitled to ownership of their respective mineral interests as established by the record title in Wood County. This motion was denied by the court.

The defendant Hemus, Inc. is one of the defendant mineral claimants, and Hemus and Company, the predecessor of Hemus, Inc. took an oil and gas lease from Plaintiffs in 1981, paying them for a full 100% mineral interest. Hemus, Inc. filed a counterclaim against the Plaintiffs, seeking reimbursement of excess bonus paid to them in the event the Plaintiffs' mineral title is adjudged in this suit to be less than 100% ownership. Plaintiffs answered the counterclaim, pleading limitations.

Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment, which the court granted, and adjudged that Plaintiffs were vested with full fee title to all minerals in the 100 acres and that the counterclaim of Hemus, Inc. was barred by limitations.

Plaintiffs subsequently filed another motion for summary judgment, requesting attorney's fees which the court granted and ordered that Plaintiffs recover their reasonable attorney's fees and that same should be apportioned against Defendants as later ordered by the court. Plaintiffs and Defendants entered into a written stipulation as to the amount of reasonable attorney's fees and the respective ownership claimed between the Defendants' group for purposes of apportionment. The court rendered a judgment on October 23, 1989, which consolidated all previous summary judgments and became a final judgment which is the subject of this appeal.

In the partial summary judgment signed on August 31, 1989, and in the final judgment, the trial court described the 100 acres as being Tracts "One", "Two" and "Three", which are the same tracts hereafter referred to as Tracts "A", "B" and "C". Tract "One" in the judgment is the same as Tract "A", Tract "Two" in the judgment is the same as Tract "B" and Tract "Three" in the judgment is the same as Tract "C".

UNDISPUTED FACTS

The 100 acres of land, including both surface and minerals, were originally owned by V. Jarrell and wife, Artie Jarrell, who acquired title from J.F. Barto, et al., by Deed dated December 5, 1912. V. Jarrell died in 1922 and his wife, Artie Jarrell, died in 1960; both died intestate leaving their three (3) surviving children, viz: J.H. Jarrell, Otha Jarrell Phillips, and Tessie Jarrell Barfield, as their only heirs at law. These children each inherited an undivided one-third ( 1/3) interest in the land including surface and minerals.

Subsequently, the 100-acre tract was surveyed into three (3) 33 1/3 acre tracts, which is referred to by the parties and will be referred to by us as Tract "A," Tract "B," and Tract "C."

On January 19, 1963, Otha Jarrell Phillips, joined by her husband, Troy Phillips, conveyed to J.H. Jarrell all of her undivided Also, on January 19, 1963, J.H. Jarrell conveyed to Otha Jarrell Phillips and husband, Troy Phillips, all of his undivided interest in the surface of Tract "B" but he reserved his undivided interest in the minerals under the tract.

interest in the surface of Tract "A," but reserved her undivided interest in the minerals under the Tract.

Tessie Mae Barfield did not join in either of these deeds, nor did she execute any conveyances with regard to the 100 acres or any of the three (3) 33 1/3-acre tracts. Tessie Mae Barfield died intestate in 1969, and was survived by Edward Barfield, her only heir, who inherited the undivided one-third ( 1/3) interest of Tessie Mae Barfield in the 100 acres.

On March 17, 1969, J.H. Jarrell and Otha Jarrell Phillips joined by her husband, Troy Phillips, conveyed to Edward Barfield all of their undivided interest in the surface of Tract "C," but they reserved all of their undivided interest in the minerals under the tract.

By deeds dated June 23, 1970, J.H. Jarrell and wife, Loura Jarrell, and Otha Jarrell Phillips and husband, Troy Phillips, conveyed Tracts "A" and "B", respectively, to Plaintiffs V.C. Holland and wife, Madeline Holland. Edward Barfield conveyed Tract "C" to plaintiffs V.C. Holland and wife, Madeline Holland, by deed dated June 29, 1970. All three deeds contained covenants of general warranty. The grantors in the deed did not reserve any minerals.

The Hollands paid $10,000.00 to J.H. Jarrell, Otha Phillips, and Edward Barfield each for their respective conveyances. Each deed described a specific 33 1/3 acre tract ² out of the original 100-acre tract. The Hollands immediately went into possession of the three tracts of land, enclosed the same with a fence, made valuable improvements to the property, paid all property taxes assessed on the property, and began using the property in their dairy farming operation. The lands have been continuously possessed, used, and the taxes paid thereon since June of 1970 to the present by V.C. Holland and wife, Madeline Holland, and their successors in title. The Hollands sold 20 acres of the surface to Mullins in 1973, reserving all minerals in the deed. They sold the remaining 80 acres of the surface to Ogle in 1979, reserving all minerals.

On March 31, 1976, V.C. Holland and wife, Madeline Holland, leased the 100-acres for oil and gas to John L. Loftis, III.

On February 26, 1981, Plaintiff, V.C. Holland and wife, Madeline Holland, leased the 100-acres for oil and gas to Defendant Hemus and Company (now Hemus, Inc.). Plaintiffs warranted their ownership of the 100 acres of minerals and were paid by Hemus based on a 100% ownership of the minerals. This lease was subsequently assigned to Trend Resources. The property subsequently was developed and went into production under this lease.

In June of 1984, Trend Resources discovered that the Hollands did not own, according to the record title, the full 100-acres of minerals. Accordingly, Trend took additional mineral leases as follows:

1. Trend leased the interest of Loura Jarrell by lease dated June 22, 1984. ³

2. Trend leased the interest of Troy Phillips by lease dated June 22, 1984. ⁴

3. Trend leased the interest of Edward Barfield by lease dated June 22, 1984.

The interest of the Hollands, as well as all of the interest of the Jarrell heirs and assigns is now leased and is in mineral production. The leased premises are operated The mineral interest of Edward Barfield is still claimed and owned by him.

by FMP Operating Company and Adobe Resources Corporation, who have been non-suited.

The mineral interest formerly owned by Otha Jarrell Phillips, and later owned by her husband, Troy Phillips, now deceased, is now owned by Defendant, James Dickey. ⁵

By royalty deed dated May 4, 1985, Loura Jarrell deeded all of her undivided interest in the royalty under the 100-acres to Hemus, Inc., in consideration of payment of the cash sum of $22,220, calculated at the rate of $1000 per acre. This royalty interest has been divided among the following Defendants in this suit: Hemus, Inc., Leah Fash, Marvin Shapiro, Paul Barenkemp, Hal Hudgins, Jim Perkins, Paul Champion and Andrew Swann.

Trend Resources expended $7,400.00 in acquiring the leases from Loura Jarrell, Troy Phillips, and Edward Barfield. On October 9, 1984, Hemus, Inc., reimbursed Trend Resources the $7,400.00.

All of the deeds and mineral leases, above-mentioned, were timely filed for record and duly recorded in the Deed Record of Wood County, Texas. All conveyances and leases affecting Tracts "A," "B" and "C" described the lands conveyed or leased by metes and bounds.

THE APPEAL

The Equitable Partition Issue

Defendants present three points of error. They contend in their first point of error that the trial court erred in rendering summary judgment for Plaintiffs and in holding that Plaintiffs were owners of all minerals underlying the 100-acre tract. They argue that the doctrine of equitable partition does not support the judgment. On the other hand, Plaintiffs argue that the doctrine of equitable partition supports the judgment in that the mineral estate of the 100-acre tract was "divided in accordance with the deeds given [to Plaintiffs] by Jarrell, Phillips and Barfield."

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