Duvall v. Carr-Pool

• Decision Date: 14 December 2016
• Docket Number: No. CV–16–267,CV–16–267
• Citation: Duvall v. Carr-Pool, 509 S.W.3d 661 (Ark. App. 2016)
• Parties: Jerry D. DUVALL, Wanda Duvall, R.D. Williams & Company and XTO Energy Inc., Appellants v. Vicki E. CARR–POOL As Trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust, Appellee
• Court: Arkansas Court of Appeals

509 S.W.3d 661

Jerry D. DUVALL, Wanda Duvall, R.D. Williams & Company and XTO Energy Inc., Appellants

v.Vicki E. CARR–POOL As Trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust, Appellee

No. CV–16–267

Court of Appeals of Arkansas, DIVISION III.

Opinion Delivered DECEMBER 14, 2016

Gordon & Caruth, PLC, by: Ben Caruth and Jeannie L. Denniston, for appellants.

Cullen & Co., PLLC, by: Tim Cullen, for appellee.

DAVID M. GLOVER, Judge

This is the second time this case is before us on appeal.In the first appeal, our court dismissed for lack of a final order.Duvall v. Carr–Pool , 2016 Ark. App. 118, 2016 WL 740535.We now have a final order; appellants Jerry and Wanda Duvall(Duvall) have again appealed the Conway County Circuit Court's decision to quiet title to mineral rights (the "mineral rights") in appelleeVicki Carr–Pool, as trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust (Carr–Pool), in the following real property (the "real property") in Conway County, Arkansas, to wit:

The Northeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter (NE1/4NW1/4) of Section 33, Township 8 North, Range 17 West, except 10 acres in the Southwest corner thereof, conveying 30 acres, more or less.

We affirm the trial court's decision to quiet title to the mineral rights in Carr–Pool, but we do so on a different basis than determined by the trial court.

In April 2013, Carr–Pool filed a petition to quiet title in the mineral rights and for a declaratory judgment that Duvall owns only the surface rights to the real property.Duvall resisted her petition.Prior to trial, the parties jointly stipulated the following facts concerning the chain of title and curative-title measures:

1.January 25, 1967, Warranty Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins conveyed the surface rights to the property at issue to Dr. W.J. Cargile and reserved all oil, gas, and other minerals for Mayne and Matilda Hawkins.

2.July 10, 1970, Warranty Deed, Dr. W.J. Cargile conveyed the surface rights to the property at issue back to Mayne Hawkins, Conway County Circuit ClerkPage 26 of Record BookNo. 104.

3.The July 10, 1970, Warranty Deed from Dr. W.J. Cargile to Mayne Hawkins stated that all oil, gas, and other minerals were reserved by Cargile.Cargile never obtained an interest or ownership in the oil, gas, and other minerals as all interests in oil, gas, and other minerals were reserved by Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins in the Warranty Deed dated January 25, 1967.

4.August 5, 1974, Warranty Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins conveyed a Warranty Deed to Duvall involving the property at issue.Rights conveyed by said Deed are at issue in this herein lawsuit.Conway County Circuit ClerkPage 485 of Record BookNo. 117.

5.The legal description in the August 5, 1974 Warranty Deed states:

"The Northeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter (NE1/4NW1/4) of Section 33, Township 8 North, Range 17 West, except 10 acres in the Southwest corner thereof, conveying 30 acres, more or less;

It being understood that all oil, gas, and other minerals in or under or that may be produced from said land have been previously reserved or conveyed."

6.December 12, 1980, Mineral Deed, Mayne Hawkins and Matilda Hawkins, husband and wife, conveyed all of the oil, gas, and other minerals for the property at issue to themselves and Ruby Hawkins as Joint Tenants with the Right of Survivorship, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 37, Page 642.

7.January 2, 1981, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessors, Mayne Hawkins, Matilda Hawkins and Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Munn Exploration Company, Inc.For the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 37, Page 847.

8.February 11, 1988, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessors, Matilda Hawkins and Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Nadel and Gussman for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Record Book 70, Page 491.

9.September 21, 1990, Ruby Hawkins heir and the sole remaining Joint Tenant with Right of Survivorship for the property at issue.An Affidavit was filed with the Conway County Circuit Clerk on September 19, 2009, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 188, Page 0056.

10.November 3, 1994, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessor Ruby Hawkins Cargile and Lessee, Gary A. Monroe for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 85, Page 666.

11.March 10, 1998, Mineral Deed, Ruby Hawkins Cargile conveyed her minerals interests in the property at issue to herself, Ruby Hawkins Cargile, as Trustee of the Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book 87, Page 349.

12.June 18, 2005, Oil and Gas Lease entered into between Lessor, Ruby Hawkins Cargile, as Trustee for the Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, and Lessee, Griffith Land Services, Inc. for the property at issue, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book #186, pages 60–65.

13.October 6, 2006, Ruby Hawkins died intestate.

14.January 22, 2007, Mineral Deed, Bettye S. Carr, the successor Trustee of Ruby Hawkins Cargile Living Trust dated February 27, 1998, conveyed and quitclaimed via a Mineral Deed the mineral interests in the property at issue to herself and said Mineral Deed was recorded with the Conway County Court Clerk on January 24, 2007, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book #141, Pages 58–62.

15.February 12, 2007, Mineral Deed, Bettye S. Carr conveyed and quitclaimed via a Mineral Deed the mineral interest in the property at issue to herself, Bettye S. Carr, as Trustee of the Bettye S. Carr Revocable Trust dated the 3^rd day of December, 1996, and said Mineral Deed was filed with the Conway County Circuit Clerk on or about February 20, 2007, Conway County Circuit Clerk Oil and Gas Record Book #142, Pages 339–343.

16.October 16, 2009, Warranty Deed, conveyed from Bettye S. Carr, both individually and as Trustee of the Bettye S. Carr Revocable Trust dated the 3^rd day of December, 1996, to Vicki Elizabeth Carr–Pool, as Trustee of the TRV Irrevocable Trust, dated the 14^th day of October, 2009, Conway County Circuit Clerk Book 252, Page 0290.

....

25.August 2012, XTO Energy Inc. suspended royalty payments to the TRV Irrevocable Trust for the property at issue based on alleged title defects.

26.XTO Energy Inc. and R.D. Williams and Company entered into an independent contractor agreement with respect to the acquisition by R.D. Williams and Company of oil and gas leases in an area which included the lands which are the subject of this litigation.

At trial, Carr–Pool testified that the only issue to be litigated was who owned the mineral rights; she acknowledged that Duvall owned the surface rights to the real property.She explained that on December 12, 1980, Mayne and Matilda Hawkins conveyed the mineral rights to themselves and Ruby Hawkins as joint tenants with right of survivorship; Mayne died in January 1984; Matilda died in September 1990; Ruby, as sole survivor, conveyed the mineral rights to the Ruby Hawkins Cargile Trust in March 1988; Ruby died intestate in October 2006; and Carr–Pool's mother, Bettye Carr, inherited Ruby's estate.Carr–Pool explained that her mother, as successor trustee of the trust, conveyed the mineral interests to herself in a mineral deed dated January 22, 2007, and then, on February 12, 2007, her mother conveyed the mineral rights by quitclaim deed to the Bettye S. Carr Revocable Trust; then, a warranty deed transferred the mineral rights to the TRV Irrevocable Trust, of which Carr–Pool is the trustee.Carr–Pool stated that since the 1974 deed from the Hawkinses to Duvall, she and her predecessors in title had entered into oil-and-gas leases for the mineral rights in 1981, 1988, 1994, and 2005, and there had never been any objection to any of the leases.Carr–Pool testified she contacted XTO in August 2012 because she knew it had drilled on the real property, and she had not received any royalty payments; she learned there was language in the 1974 deed that was being questioned by XTO, and she needed to obtain a stipulation of interest from Duvall.It was Carr–Pool's testimony that when she called Duvall, he told her he was a greedy person and if he could get the minerals, he would do it.Duvall never signed the stipulation Carr–Pool sent to him.

Sharon Kindy, a petroleum landman who worked for R.D. Williams and Company, testified she was familiar with the real property because XTO sent her a title opinion on the property and asked her to do curative work on any title defects; specifically, she was asked to obtain a stipulation of interest because, according to the title opinion, the deed in Duvall's name stated that all of the minerals had been previously reserved or conveyed, and XTO wanted to know exactly what that meant, how it was being taken, and who was claiming the property.Kindy said she contacted Duvall to see if he was claiming the mineral rights; when she explained why she was calling, he told her he"guessed"he would sign it because the Hawkinses had been good to him and had financed the real property for him when he did not have the money to pay for the real property.Kindy said Duvall did not say he claimed the mineral rights, but he also did not say he didn't claim them.Kindy said after she spoke with Duvall, he informed her he would be filing a quiet-title suit and would not sign a disclaimer of interest.

Jerry Duvall testified that the language "it being understood that all oil, gas, and other minerals in and under or that may be produced from said land have been previously reserved or conveyed" was in his 1974 deed from the Hawkinses, and he made no objection at that time; he said there was not much he could say when he bought a piece of property that was subject to previous reservations.He stated he did not do a title search until after Sharon Kindy had contacted him, and he saw where Cargile had reserved the mineral rights, but he also said he saw that when Cargile sold the real...