Dyson Descendant Corp. v. Sonat Exploration Co.

• Decision Date: 31 August 1993
• Docket Number: No. 01-92-00054-CV,01-92-00054-CV
• Citation: 861 S.W.2d 942
• Parties: DYSON DESCENDANT CORPORATION, Larry Dyson, Martin White, and Herbert C. Jahnke, Jr., Appellants, v. SONAT EXPLORATION COMPANY and Sonat Minerals, Inc., Appellees. (1st Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 942

861 S.W.2d 942

DYSON DESCENDANT CORPORATION, Larry Dyson, Martin White, and Herbert C. Jahnke, Jr., Appellants, v. SONAT EXPLORATION COMPANY and Sonat Minerals, Inc., Appellees.

No. 01-92-00054-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Houston (1st Dist.).

Aug. 31, 1993.

Herbert C. Jahnke and Associates, Herbert C. Jahnke, Jr., Ted Hirt, Houston, for appellants.

Richard L. Merrill, Fabio & Merrill, Houston, for appellees.

Before OLIVER-PARROTT, C.J., and COHEN and EVANS, ^* JJ.

OPINION

OLIVER-PARROTT, Chief Justice.

Dyson Descendant Corporation, Larry Dyson, and Martin White (the plaintiffs) appeal from a summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The plaintiffs assert a right of reverter or an ownership interest in the mineral estate claimed by one of the defendants, Sonat Minerals, Inc., because the Whiting and Runnells deeds underlying the defendants' title are allegedly void. The trial court found no merit in the plaintiffs' assertion and imposed sanctions against them and their attorney, finding that their cause of action had no basis in law or fact.

We hold the plaintiffs failed to raise a material issue of fact on the validity of the Whiting and Runnells deeds. We find the trial court did, however, err in awarding sanctions against the plaintiffs and their attorney. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Basis for the Summary Judgment

The trial court, "after hearing, reviewing and examining the pleadings, the Motion for Summary Judgment, the Motion for Sanctions, the Second Motion for Summary Judgment, the Motion for Leave to File Affidavit of Defendants' Attorney in Support of Attorneys' Fees and Request for the Assessment of Additional and Conditional Attorneys' Fees Against Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs' Counsel, the summary judgment evidence, and the arguments of the parties," found as follows:

1) there is no genuine issue as to any material fact;

2) Defendants and Counter-Plaintiffs [Sonat Exploration Company and Sonat Minerals, Inc.], are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law and this summary judgment disposes of all issues and claims involved in this suit;

....

5) James Dyson and Catherine Dyson, the ancestors of the individual Plaintiffs and persons from whom all Plaintiffs and Cross-Defendants allege to have derived their claim of title in the James Dyson League, A-8, Orange County, Texas, completely divested themselves of all title in the James Dyson League as a result of the following described conveyances which were valid:

a) Warranty Deed dated November 1, 1837, from James Dyson to Samuel Whiting, conveying the North half (N/2) of the James Dyson League, which deed was filed for record on February 4, 1838 ... (the Whiting deed)

b) Warranty Deed dated November 6, 1837, from James Dyson and his wife Catherine Dyson to H.D. Runnells, conveying the South half (S/2) of the James Dyson League, which deed was filed for record on April 7, 1838 ... (the Runnells deed)

6) Plaintiffs and Counter-Defendants have failed to establish any reacquisition of title, by limitations, conveyance or otherwise, as to the James Dyson League, either in Plaintiffs or in James Dyson, Catherine Dyson or their issue following the above recited 1837 conveyances to Samuel Whiting and H.D. Runnells;

7) Defendant and Counter-Plaintiff, SONAT MINERALS INC., is the owner of the record title and is entitled to be quieted in its possession of the various oil, gas and mineral interests located within the James Dyson League, A-8, Orange County, Texas, as described in that certain deed dated December 1, 1984, from Boise Southern Company to Sonat Minerals Inc., and filed of record on December 3, 1984, with the County Clerk of Orange County, Texas.... (the Boise deed)

Under the terms of this judgment, the defendants prevailed because the trial court found the Whiting and Runnells deeds valid, no reacquisition of title in the Dysons or their issue after the Whiting and Runnells conveyances, and record title in Sonat Minerals, Inc. by virtue of the Boise deed.

When a summary judgment expressly states the ground on which it is granted, the ground specified in the judgment is the only one on which the summary judgment can be affirmed. Carlisle v. Philip Morris, Inc., 805 S.W.2d 498, 518 (Tex.App.--Austin 1991, writ denied). A summary judgment is proper only when a movant establishes that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Swilley v. Hughes, 488 S.W.2d 64, 67 (Tex.1972). In reviewing the granting of a motion for summary judgment, this Court will take all evidence favorable to the nonmovant as true. MMP, Ltd. v. Jones, 710 S.W.2d 59, 60 (Tex.1986); Goldberg v. United States Shoe Corp., 775 S.W.2d 751, 752 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, writ denied). Summary judgment is proper for a defendant if its summary judgment proof establishes, as a matter of law, that there exists no genuine issue of material fact concerning one or more of the essential elements of the plaintiff's cause of action. Goldberg, 775 S.W.2d at 752.

This Lawsuit

The plaintiffs sued TXO Production Corporation and Sonat Exploration Company on February 16, 1990, and added Sonat Minerals, Inc. as a defendant on August 17, 1990. Upon motion of the plaintiffs, TXO Production was dismissed from the suit on November 1, 1990.

The plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that they possessed an ownership interest in the mineral estate and/or a possibility of right of reverter in Railroad Commission Leases # 16479 and # 12299 and in the Whiting parcel and Runnells parcel of the James Dyson League. They generally described the mineral estate at issue as:

A portion of the James Dyson League also referred to as Abstract A-8 duly recorded in the Land Records of Orange County, Texas ("James Dyson League").

The plaintiffs stated that the James Dyson League was divided into two halves, composed of the north half (the Whiting parcel) and the south half (the Runnells parcel). They made the following four types of arguments in their fourth amended original petition ¹ to support their claim:

1. The Whiting and Runnells deeds "appear tainted with apparent fraudulent activities" because the recordation dates are added after the fact, entries in volumes A, B, and C of the Jefferson County ² land records are out of order chronologically, and deed entries appear to be backdated and entered on a Sunday. Therefore, these two deeds should be considered void ab initio.

2. The relevant Jefferson County deed records have been manipulated in a manner that makes them suspect because there is backdating, incorrect order of the deeds, and numerous improper handwritings, penmanships, and signatures.

3. Catherine Dyson, the wife of James Dyson, did not sign the Whiting deed; therefore, it could not convey the homestead and community property of James and Catherine Dyson. Catherine Dyson's signature on the Runnells deed did not have a privy acknowledgment; therefore, it could not convey her interest.

4. The notary, George A. Patillo, who acknowledged the Runnells deed, had an inherent conflict of interest that was tantamount to fraud because he was a relative of the grantee, Runnells, and because he was financially interested in the transaction.

Because of the alleged fraud and the alleged defects in execution and acknowledgment, the plaintiffs contended the Whiting and Runnells deeds are legally ineffective, and that they, as heirs of James and Catherine Dyson, are entitled to an ownership interest and/or possibility of reverter in the mineral estates.

On October 9, 1990, Sonat Exploration and Sonat Minerals filed a plea in abatement, special exceptions, original answer, counterclaim, and motion for sanctions. The defendant and appellee, Sonat Exploration, stated that it owned no interest in the James Dyson League. The defendant and appellee, Sonat Minerals, agreed that it owned various mineral and royalty interests under approximately 3,262.767 acres of the James Dyson League. Sonat Minerals based its record title to these interests on a deed it received from Boise Southern Company dated December 1, 1984, and recorded in volume 583, page 134 of the real property records of Orange County, Texas (the Boise deed).

The defendants moved for summary judgment, asserting that Sonat Minerals owned record title in the mineral interests in question based on the Boise deed. The defendants also contended that, as a matter of law: (1) the plaintiffs had no right of reverter or ownership interest because James and Catherine Dyson had conveyed away all their interest in the James Dyson League by virtue of the Whiting and Runnells deeds, or at the latest, in 1845 through the LeGrand deed; ³ (2) there were no homestead laws or privy acknowledgment requirements in 1837; (3) Catherine Dyson's signature was not required because the James Dyson League was held solely in James Dyson's name and the husband acting alone could convey the interest of his wife and himself; and (4) the deed records are regular on their face, and the plaintiffs did not contend that the deeds themselves were tainted by fraud. In their objections to the plaintiffs' response to the defendants' motion for summary judgment filed on May 23, 1991, and their objections to plaintiffs' motion for extension of time to file supplemental response filed on July 8, 1991, the defendants argued that the plaintiffs provided no evidence to show that on November 6, 1837, the date of the Runnells deed, Patillo was related to Runnells or financially interested in the transaction. They also argue that, even if he was, as a matter of law, such a circumstance would not invalidate the deed.

Attached to the motion for summary judgment were the affidavit of Christine H. Sale, an employee of Sonat Exploration who performed services for Sonat Minerals, and certified copies of the James Dyson land grant, the Whiting deed, Runnells deed, LeGrand deed, and Boise deed. According...