Humphries v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Company

• Decision Date: 09 April 1968
• Docket Number: No. 24985.,24985.
• Citation: 393 F.2d 69
• Parties: M. T. HUMPHRIES et al., Appellants, v. TEXAS GULF SULPHUR COMPANY et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

393 F.2d 69 (1968)

M. T. HUMPHRIES et al., Appellants, v. TEXAS GULF SULPHUR COMPANY et al., Appellees.

No. 24985.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

April 9, 1968.

E. B. Votaw, Vidor, Tex., for appellants.

Thomas H. Lee, Jesse J. Lee, Houston, Tex., Major T. Bell, Ewell Strong, Samuel C. Lipscomb, Beaumont, Tex., Crawford Martin, Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., George A. Weller, Beaumont, Tex., Joseph C. Brown, Houston, Tex., John P. Blair, Beaumont, Tex., Benjamin R. Powel, Galveston, Tex., W. Forrest Smith, Dallas, Tex., Preston Shirley, Galveston, Tex., James W. Lee, Houston, Tex., for appellees.

Before JONES, WISDOM and THORNBERRY, Circuit Judges.

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

This diversity action proves that unlike old soldiers, expectant heirs never even fade away. It is one of a trilogy that hopefully will terminate the continuing battle between the heirs and the active users of the Humphries survey.¹ In deciding who owns the Humphries survey we must consider problems of Texas land law and more particularly that fascinating though somewhat abstruse part concerning the validity and effect of the ancient Spanish land grants that form the foundation for innumerable ownership rights in Texas. The land involved in this case, known as the Humphries survey, is located in Southeast Texas. It has made an enormous economic contribution to the state, primarily because of the famed Spindletop Oil Field discovered there is 1901. Appellees have claim to the land under rights that extend back to 1836, but the active use of the land is best documented from 1884. Despite these claims, the heirs argue that they deserve to share the land and mineral rights with appellees. Before discussing these demands, a skeletal history of the ownership of the land is helpful. On February 14, 1835, a land grant for a league of land (4,428 acres) was issued by the Government of Coahuila and Texas to a colonist named "Pelham" or "William" Humphries. The next relevant conveyance is from William Humphries by general warranty deed to William Inglish on February 14, 1836, recorded in 1860 in Jefferson County. Next, the children or heirs of Inglish conveyed the land to W. P. H. McFaddin by deed dated December 31, 1883, recorded January 10, 1884. Texas Gulf Sulphur claims its rights to the mineral estate from conveyances and mineral leases made by McFaddin and his transferees.

All the appellants in the Beasley, Green and instant case claim as heirs of either "Pelham" or "William" Humphries. Each set of heirs has, however, a different theory to justify its demand for the land or minerals: In the instant case the assertion is that the land was granted to Pelham and not William Humphries and that all subsequent conveyances are therefore fraudulent; in the Beasley case the assertion is that the William Humphries who conveyed to Inglish was not the heir of Pelham and consequently had nothing to convey; finally, the Green case presents the issue of whether a tax deed in 1850 vested title to the land in the State of Texas. Although these assertions will be considered separately, what is said here is also dispositive of the Beasley and Green appeals.

Appellants in the instant case claim only a mineral interest in the land. They have mounted a vigorous attack on the entire chain of title based on numerous technical points of Texas land law and the general history of Texas from 1836 to the present. Their main point is that the original grant in 1835 was to Pelham and not William Humphries. The basis for this contention is that in the original grant the colonist named throughout is Pelham, except that in the first line the name "William" has been interlined over the name "Pelham." That interlineation has generated all the controversy surrounding this land. The thrust of appellants' argument is, therefore, that all subsequent conveyances have been fraudulent and that the land at all times has remained in the Pelham Humphries family. Appellees have offered evidence that the colonist was in fact William Humphries. This was done by connecting various events surrounding the original grant in order to identify the original grantee. They showed that on September 24, 1834 a certificate of character was granted to a man named William Humphries; that it was a man named William Humphries who signed a bond of title obligating him to convey the land to Inglish; and that it was a William Humphries who received the labor of land (170 acres) that went only to the man who got the original grant. From these facts appellees urged that since it is agreed that only one valid grant was issued to a man named Humphries, it is more reasonable to conclude that his name was William.

Appellants also attacked the deed from William Humphries to Inglish as a forgery. Another conveyance which adds further mystery to the ownership rights to this land is also challenged as a forgery. This conveyance is for the same tract of land described in the Inglish deed and is from Pelham Humphries to Snively on September 7, 1857, recorded in Jefferson County, January 5, 1861. The court below rejected all of appellants' claims and granted summary judgment for appellees, reasoning that whether the land was granted to Pelham or William, the deeds from William Humphries to Inglish and from Pelham Humphries to Snively were valid and divested any Humphries heirs of title. Its decision was based on the fact that affidavits of forgery filed by appellants did not impeach either deed since the affidavits were based on belief and presented no admissible factual evidence to sustain the plea. The court also concluded that appellees gained title to the land by adverse possession.

Another basis also utilized by the district court permits affirmance of the summary judgment without immersing this Court in the factual thicket surrounding the controversy. Thus we affirm the summary judgment because the absolute non-use of and non-claim to the land by appellants and their predecessors for more than 125 years, when measured against appellees' active use and claim, justify the imposition of a conclusive presumption that all the Humphries heirs have lost their title. We adopt this approach because it is the one that Texas courts have taken recently in dealing with problems of ownership rights based on old Spanish land grants. These cases establish a rule that acquiescence by a former owner and his descendants in the possession and assertion of ownership of land on the part of another affords a basis for finding that title passed to the possessor by deed or otherwise. Moreover, creation of this presumption of the passage of title provides an excellent shorthand way to put a judicial stop to the Pelham Humphries litigation. These endless suits have been an harassment to the land and mineral owners as well as a useless expense of time and money by litigants and courts. Finally, the facts of this case are peculiarly suited to the creation of a conclusive presumption. Our brief encounter with this litigation has uncovered a controversy so complicated, conflicting and confusing that no one will ever really know the exact history of the land. Indeed, courts have been rather ambivalent about who got the land. There are decisions that indicate the grant was to Pelham, Glover v. McFaddin, 5th Cir. 1953, 205 F.2d 1, while others support the assertion that the grant was really to William, McBride v. Gulf Oil Corp., 292 S.W.2d 151 (Tex. Civ.App. — Beaumont 1956, writ ref'd n. r. e.). The death of Pelham Humphries is also a mystery. The Glover court said he died in 1835; there is evidence in the Beasley case that he died in 1837 or 1838; and in the instant case there is an intimation that he was still alive in 1866. Consequently, attention will now be directed to the Texas decisions to ascertain when and why this presumption arises.

Texas courts have created a conclusive presumption that an heir is without title on numerous occasions. The decision of Page v. Pan American Petroleum Corp., 381 S.W.2d 949 (Tex.Civ.App. — Corpus Christi 1964, writ ref'd n. r. e.) provides a good illustration. There the grant was isued in 1829 to the mother of J. W. P. and S. H. P. The mother later died intestate in 1833, leaving her sons as heirs. In 1839, by a deed recorded in 1840, J. W. P. conveyed all of his right, title, and interest in the land to Sweeny. As there was no record of a conveyance out of S. H. P., the plaintiffs claimed to have inherited his half interest. The defendants claimed record title from Sweeny and the J. W. P. deed. They asserted that the long and notorious claim of title and dominion, payment of taxes, and the long acquiescence of plaintiffs and those under whom they claimed established as a matter of law that in some manner the title now asserted had passed from plaintiffs' ancestors and was now owned by them. The court agreed with this argument and granted summary judgment for the defendant. It reasoned that the long nonassertion of claim to the land could only be explained by a conveyance from plaintiffs' ancestors, either by an oral conveyance, lost deed, or an unrecorded deed. By granting summary judgment, the court made the presumption irrebutable:

However, as to whether an issue of fact or a question of law is presented depends upon the entire record of each case. And when, as in the present case, the record clearly presents a situation where, in the total absence of any facts to the contrary, reasonable minds could reach no other conclusion but that the long continued and undisturbed possession and claims of title, acquiesced in by plaintiffs\' ancestor from whom they claim for over fifty years and by his descendants for another sixty years, could be explained only by the presumption of an unrecorded conveyance, the court will presume such a conveyance as a matter of law.

381 S.W.2d 949, 954.

The facts of the instant case justify application of the holding in Page. When McFaddin got the grant...