Haskell v. Sutton
| Decision Date | 18 April 1903 |
| Citation | 53 W.Va. 206 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Haskell and Others v. Sutton and Others. |
Petroleum oil and natural gas are included in the comprehensive idea which the law attaches to the word "land," and are a part of the soil in which they are found. A lease of land for the purpose of mining coal, or extracting oil or natural gas from the soil, or rock, is, in effect, a grant of a part of the corpus of the land. (p. 214).
Without authority from a court of equity in a proper proceeding, a guardian, in this State, cannot lease the land of his ward for oil, or gas purposes, or for other developments, (p. 215).
A widow entitled to dower in land, is not seized of any part of the land, by any right of dower, until it is assigned to her. (p. 215). j
Where a person enters upon land, without authority, under a void lease, and drills ther.on, and takes petroleum oil therefrom, and removes the same from the premises; and threatens to drill other wells, and to take the oil produced therefrom, a court of equity wiL perpetually enjoin him from all operations under said void lease, will cancel said lease, and retain the cause for all purposes, and proceed to a final determination of all the matters at issue therein; although the plaintiffs | may have a remedy at law against the wrong doer, for the trespass, (p. 216).
Appeal from Circuit Court, Hancock County. Bill by Haskell Bros, against H. S. Sutton and others. Decree for plaintiffs, and defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Oliver Marshall and Henry M. Russell, for appellants. D. E. Mitchell and John E. Donaiioe, for appellees.
James W. Morrow, died intestate on the 25th day of March, 1878, seized and possessed in fee of a tract of land, containing one hundred and seventy-five acres, situate in Hancock County, West Virginia. He left surviving him, his widow, Emma Morrow, and two sons, Walclen Morrow, born in 1870; and George Morrow, born in 1876, his sole heirs at law. On the 27th day of October, 1888, said Emma Morrow was duly appointed guardian of her two minor children, Walden and George Morrow. By the death of their father, said Walden Morrow and George Morrow became the joint equal owners, and possessed in fee, of said tract of land, subject to the dower therein of their mother, Emma Morrow.
On the 2nd day of November, 1888, said Emma Morrow, in her own right, and as guardian of said infant children, by written agreement of that date, without first obtaining authority so to do, under chapter 83 of the Code, leased to John McKeown, for oil and gas purposes, for the term of twenty years, one hundred and thirty-five of said one hundred and seventy-five acres. This lease was duly admitted to record, and recorded in the office of the clerk of the county court of Hancock County on the 14th clay of February, 1889. The lessee was, by the terms of the lease, to deliver to the lessor the one-eighth part of the oil discovered or produced, on the premises described, and to delr er the same in tanks or pipe lines to the credit of the party of the first part. The lease recites that "the sum of $4,500.00 given and received as consideration for the above lease." McKeown, under this lease, entered upon the land, drilled two holes thereon, one of which had a small showing of oil before cither of said children became of age; and in 1890, he removed therefrom with his tools and fixtures, and has not, since that time, done any further drilling for oil or gas thereon. Some time prior to the 24th day of September, 1898, said McKeown died, leaving heirs. On the day and year last aforesaid, Sarah McKeown, B. D. J. McKeown and Scott McKeown, heirs of the said. John McKeown, assigned and transferred said Morrow lease to Sutton Brothers, who are defendants in this suit, which assignment was also recorded on the 17th day of October, 1901, in said clerk's office. On the 4th day of August, 1900, by their agreement in writing of that date, said Emma, Walden, and Geogre Morrow leased said one hundred and thirtyfive acres of land to Wm. A. Haskell, for the period of one year, for oil and gas purposes, with the exclusive right to the lessee of operating thereon for oil and gas. The usual royalty of one-eighth of the oil produced and saved from the premises, Miui $200.00 for each productive gas well, was reserved to the lessors. On the 3rd day of August, 1901, by another written agreement, by and between said lessors and lessee, Wm. A. Haskell, in consideration of one dollar, the said lease was extended for two years from the date last aforesaid, and as much longer as oil or gas should be found in paying quantities. In the early part of January, 1901, said Sutton Brothers, a company composed of Henry L. Sutton, Alden H. Sutton, Carl. E. Sutton and N". A. Sutton, took possession of part of said one hundred and thirty-live acres of land, under said McKeown lease, assigned to them as aforesaid, and commenced operations thereon in search of oil and gas. On January 19, 1901, a written notice, signed by said Wm. A. Haskell and Walden Morrow was served on Sutton Brothers, or one of them, notifying them, that Haskell held a lease for oil and gas purposes oil. the said one hundred and thirty-five acres of land from Emma Morrow and sons, the owners of said farm, dated August 4, 1900, and forbidding Suttons from carrying on any operations on the land for oil and gas.
On the 18th day of October, 1901, Haskell Brothers, a firm composed of said Wm. A. Haskell and Frank Haskell, (the latter being interested in the lease of August 4th, 1900), Emma Morrow, Walden Morrow and George Morrow, presented their bill in equity to the judge of the circuit court of Hancock county, duly verified by affidavit, alleging substantially the foregoing facts, and also that said Hutton Brothers had continued their operations on said land; had held possession thereof for that purpose; and were producing oil therefrom, to the irreparable loss and damage of plaintiff, without any right or title so to do; that said Sutton Brothers had produced large quantities of oil from said land, which was then in the lines and tanks of The Eureka Pipe Line Company unsold or otherwise disposed of. The bill also alleges that the said McKeown lease was and is illegal, null and void, of no binding force whatever, and did not pass to the lessee named therein the interests of said minor children in said tract of land for any purpose whatsoever; that said minors were then of full age, and in possession of said land; and that said illegal and invalid lease, under which said Sutton Brothers were operating, is a cloud upon the title of plaintiffs, which they are entitled to have removed, and their title to said land quieted. The said bill made the said Sutton Brothers and the Eureka Pipe Line Company defendants thereto, and prayed that the said McKeown lease be declared illegal, null and void; that said Sutton Brothers be inhibited and restrained from producing and selling any oil from said premises, and that said Sutton Brothers, and the Eureka Pipe Line Company be required to account for the oil produced as aforesaid; that said Sutton Brothers be restrained and enjoined from interefering with plaintiffs in their rightful possession of said land, and also from the further production of oil thereform; and that the title of plaintiff, Haskell, in and to the leasehold estate in the oil and gas rights in said tract of land be settled and quieted, and for general relief.
The said judge thereupon granted an injunction, which inhibited, enjoined and restrained Sutton Brothers, their agents, etc., from further dfilling for oil and gas upon said tract of land; and also inhibited, enjoined and restrained the said Sutton Brothers, and the Eureka Pipe Line Company from selling or otherwise disposing of any oil, which had been run into the lines of said pipe line company, or any oil that might be produced from the said tract of land, until the further order of the court. On the 31st day of December, 1901, a motion was made by the defendants in the said circuit court to dissolve said injunction; and the cause, as to said motion, being then heard upon the bill, duly verified, the order of injunction, the process duly executed and motion to dissolve the injunction, said motion was overruled and disallowed.
The answer of said defendants, Sutton Brothers, was then filed. It admits many of the allegations of the bill, but denies that said lease made by Emma Morrow, in her own right, and as guardian as aforesaid, to John McKeown, wras or is illegal, null, or void, and of no binding force whatever. On the contrary, defendants aver that the lease, when executed, was a valid lease, in so far as it undertook to grant to the lessee the interest of the said Emma Morrow, as the widow of said James W. Morrow, in the oil and gas in or under the land described in the lease; that from the death of said James W. Morrow, until that time, said Emma Morrow, as widow as aforesaid, had been entitled to her dower interest in the land described in the lease; that until the making of the lease, she was entitled to her share by virture of her dower right, of the oil and gas; and that she was entitled to, and did by said lease, assign and convey her said interest in said oil and gas to the said McKeown.
The answer further avers that the circumstances attending the making of the said lease, and the circumstances which have since taken place, are such as to make the said lease valid in all of its particulars and details, with respect to the rights in the said land of the said George Morrow and Walden Morrow, as heirs at law of the said James W. Morroav, and to estop the said George Morrow and Walden Morrow from repudiating or denying the said lease and from interfering with said lease or the rights of these defendants thereunder. Defendants allege...
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