Gibson v. Central Ky. Natural Gas. Co.

• Decision Date: 31 October 1958
• Parties: Mattie GIBSON et al., Appellants, v. CENTRAL KENTUCKY NATURAL GAS CO., Inc., Appellee.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 256

321 S.W.2d 256

Mattie GIBSON et al., Appellants, v. CENTRAL KENTUCKY NATURAL GAS CO., Inc., Appellee.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Oct. 31, 1958.

Rehearing Denied March 20, 1959.

Redwine & Redwine, Harold G. Wells, Winchester, for appellants.

L. A. White, Mt. Sterling, for appellee.

STANLEY, Commissioner.

The primary question before us is whether a certain parcel of land is included in an oil and gas lease. Underlying that is the question of whether or not the lessors owned the minerals.

The appellants, Mattie Gibson, widow, and the heirs of Prewitt Gibson, deceased, sued the appellee, Central Kentucky Natural Gas Company, to quiet title to the parcel and for $3,000 in damages for trespass. The appellee, as defendant, set up a mineral lease from Prewitt and Mattie Gibson of 238 acres and alleged it includes the parcel in controversy. The defendant also alleged that the plaintiffs did not own the oil and gas and that the same was owned by others from whom the defendant had also obtained a lease. It further pleaded estoppel.

The court found the plaintiffs did not own the minerals, but, nevertheless, found the lease executed by Prewitt and Mattie Gibson included the parcel and, further, that the plaintiffs were estopped from claiming otherwise by reason of having received rentals therefor. The judgment was entered dismissing the complaint and the appeal follows.

It was not error for the court to overrule the appellants' motion for a jury trial since suits to quiet title are and have historically been properly triable in equity before a chancellor, and it is within the discretion of the court whether questions of fact will be submitted to a jury. KRS 411.120; Chenault v. Eastern Kentucky Timber & Lumber Co., 119 Ky. 170, 83 S.W. 552. The Civil Rules of Procedure have not changed the method of trial of equitable issues. Clay, CR, 38.01, Comment 2.

About the year 1939 the appellee (hereinafter Gas Company) set about to obtain oil and gas leases, particularly for gas storage, covering an exhausted gas field in Menifee, Powell and Montgomery Counties, which is known as the Menifee Gas Storage Field. See Central Kentucky Natural Gas Co. v. Smallwood, Ky., 252 S.W.2d 866. In obtaining these leases the Company's agents pursued the practice of accepting the acreage which the several landowners stated they had with the understanding that if the acreage should be found incorrect, adjustments would be made in the rentals to conform. On October 10, 1939, Prewitt Gibson and Mattie Gibson executed such a lease of 'two hundred (200) acres more or less, including lands conveyed by Hannah Chatman Si Chapman and Charlie Hudson.' The entire tract was described as being bounded on the north, east, south and west by the lands of named parties. After surveys had been made by the Gas Company, Prewitt and Mattie Gibson executed another lease to it, of date July 1, 1948, which is the same as the former lease except that the acreage is described as containing '238 acres more or less.'

The parcel in controversy is one which was conveyed to the Gibsons by John Bellamy and wife on December 30, 1925. The Bellamy deed describes the land in a general way and says it contains 60 acres, more or less. It was not recorded until October 22, 1953.

The plaintiffs testified positively that this parcel was not included in either of the leases. They gave no reason why it should have been excluded but point to the references in both leases as including conveyances to the lessor by four persons other than John Bellamy. They also point in their brief to the fact that the Bellamy deed was not placed of record until five years after the last lease was executed. Nevertheless, it appears that the general boundary of the acreage by the...