Camp v. Atlantic Refining Co.

• Decision Date: 26 February 1944
• Docket Number: No. 6095.,6095.
• Citation: 179 S.W.2d 326
• Parties: CAMP et al. v. ATLANTIC REFINING CO. et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 326

179 S.W.2d 326

CAMP et al. v. ATLANTIC REFINING CO. et al.

No. 6095.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.

February 26, 1944.

Rehearing Denied March 9, 1944.

Appeal from District Court, Gregg County; Earl Roberts, Judge.

Action by Cliff Camp and others against the Atlantic Refining Company and others for damages allegedly resulting from the shut down of an oil well on plaintiffs' leasehold by reason of the alleged wrongful acts of defendants in causing issuance and service of writ of permanent injunction against such well. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal.

Affirmed.

A. B. Curtis, of Fort Worth, Marion S. Church, of Dallas, and A. L. Camp, of Fort Worth, for appellants.

Bromberg, Leftwich, Gowan & Schmucker and Chas. B. Ellard, all of Dallas, and Thompson, Walker, Smith & Shannon, of Fort Worth, for appellees.

WILLIAMS, Justice.

A permit granted by the Railroad Commission of Texas under an exception to rule 37 to drill the oil well here involved on a 16/100-acre tract in the Henry Hathaway Survey, Gregg County, was on appeal invalidated. See Atlantic Refining Co. v. Buckley, Tex.Civ.App., 123 S.W.2d 413. During pendency of above appeal, Cliff Camp and C. Orm, composing the co-partnership of Cliff Camp Drilling Company, John T. Buckley and others, owners of the mineral leasehold estate, drilled the well into production. Thereafter, on or about July 1, 1939, a new permit because of alleged changed conditions was granted above parties by the Commission. Although this second application so made and granted was to drill said well, it was in fact an application to reopen and produce the well theretofore drilled.

The Atlantic Refining Company and Kewanee Oil Company being unsuccessful in their contest to the second application before the Railroad Commission, appealed therefrom and instituted suit No. 62106 in the District Court of Travis County. On March 16, 1940, that court entered a final judgment in which the permit granted on July 1, 1939, was cancelled and said leaseholders were enjoined from producing oil from the well and the clerk was directed to issue a writ of injunction accordingly. On an appeal, the decree entered by the Travis County District Court was reversed and the action of the Railroad Commission in granting the second permit was sustained. See Buckley v. Atlantic Refining Co., Tex.Civ.App., 146 S.W.2d 1082. The above leaseholders suspended producing oil from the well for the period from April 10, 1940, the date of service of above writ of injunction upon them, until April 10, 1941, the date of the final disposition of the appeal from the Travis County District Court judgment.

In the instant suit some of the leaseholders of the .16-acre tract, hereafter referred to as appellants, seek to recover from the Atlantic Refining Company and Kewanee Oil Company, hereafter referred to as the appellees, their pro rata damages allegedly resulting from the shut down of the well from April 10, 1940, to April 10, 1941, by reason of alleged wrongful acts of appellees in causing the issuance and service of the writ of permanent injunction.

In the suit No. 62106, appellees sought not only to invalidate the second permit; but also to protect their adjacent leaseholds from drainage and to enjoin the operators of the well from producing oil. With respect to the operation of the well, appellees prayed, "That upon final trial hereof the action of defendant Railroad Commission in granting the permit * * * be declared to be arbitrary * * * void * * * and be ordered cancelled; that, with the exception of the Railroad Commission, all defendants * * * be enjoined from drilling a well pursuant to said permit * * * and if upon final trial * * * it should appear that said well has been drilled * * * that the defendants * * * be enjoined from producing any oil from said well; * * * further if upon final trial hereof it should appear that said well has been drilled, that a mandatory writ of injunction issue requiring all defendants (the operators) to plug said well in accordance with the rules of the Railroad Commission."

After trial of suit No. 62106, in which all litigants with their attorneys appeared and announced ready for trial, the court decreed, as recited in the judgment: (1) That the two orders or permits "be and the same are hereby cancelled"; (2) that defendants Cliff Camp, C. Orm, John T. Buckley and others (operators of well) "be and they are hereby enjoined from producing any oil from the well * * * pursuant to said * * * permits granted said defendants by the Railroad Commission * * * and that the clerk of this court is directed to issue a writ of injunction so enjoining them"; (3) that the named defendants "do plug the well * * * and the clerk of this court is directed to issue a mandatory writ of injunction so providing"; and (4) that the order to plug the well * * * "be and the same is hereby stayed pending an appeal of this cause." To the judgment so rendered on March 16, 1940, the operators of the well and the Railroad Commission of Texas, each then and there in open court excepted and gave notice of appeal. The defendants in cause No. 62106 (operators) either in person or by their attorneys were present in court when above judgment was rendered; and also were present on the same date when the court announced that he fixed the amount of supersede bond to be filed in said cause by any defendant desiring to supersede the judgment at the sum of $5000. Thereafter, by order made April 13, 1940, on motion of Cliff Camp, C. Orm and Ray Hopper, the amount of supersedeas bond to be given by any defendant desiring to supersede the judgment requiring the well to be shut down was reduced and fixed at the sum of $2000. The operators of the well filed on April 17, 1940, an ordinary appeal bond. No defendant in cause No. 62106 filed any supersedeas bond in the trial or appellate courts. The term of the Travis County District Court in which the judgment was rendered expired March 30, 1940.

Defendants in said cause No. 62106, other than the Railroad Commission, continued to produce oil from the well after the rendition of the judgment, and were daily so producing oil on or about April 8, 1940, when Atlantic and Kewanee, through their attorneys of record, called the attention of the clerk to the provisions of the judgment enjoining production of oil, and to the provisions of said judgment directing the clerk to issue a writ of injunction so enjoining production, and requested the clerk to issue the writ of injunction which the said judgment had theretofore directed him to issue. On April 9, 1940, such writ of injunction was issued and served.

Upon trial in the instant suit, the court denied recovery for damages grounded upon the court's findings that "neither the Atlantic Refining Company ...