Irion v. Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana

• Decision Date: 05 January 1942
• Docket Number: 36296.
• Citation: 6 So.2d 143,199 La. 363
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: IRION v. STANDARD OIL CO. OF LOUISIANA.

6 So.2d 143

199 La. 363

IRION v. STANDARD OIL CO. OF LOUISIANA.

No. 36296.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

January 5, 1942

Rehearing Denied Feb. 2, 1942.

Thomas M. Milling, of Baton Rouge, Cecil Morgan, of Shreveport, George A. Wilson, of New Orleans, and Clarence L Yancey and John P. Everett, both of Shreveport, for appellant.

Plauche & Plauche, of Lake Charles, for appellee.

McCALEB Justice.

The Standard Oil Company of Louisiana has appealed from a judgment, which was granted to the plaintiff, Robert R. Irion, on the face of the pleadings, condemning it to pay to Irion the proceeds of certain royalty oil produced from lands belonging to the latter situated within the area of the Eola Oil Field in Avoyelles Parish.

The facts of the case, which are stated in the pleadings, are not in dispute and we find them to be as follows:

The plaintiff, Irion, being the owner of two tracts of land in the Parish of Avoyelles, leased certain parts of the land to different oil concerns who brought in three producing oil wells thereon. In these oil leases, he retained to himself a fixed royalty interest, part of which was later transferred by him to other persons and, at the present time, his royalty interest in one of these tracts amounts to .019531 and in the other to .031250.

The defendant, Standard Oil Company, purchased the oil produced by the operators of the wells. It, however refused to pay Irion for his remaining royalty interest in the oil for the reason that, between the time when Irion leased his land for mineral development and the beginning of production, Acadian Production Company and others had filed certain instruments in the real estate records of Avoyelles Parish which cast a cloud upon Irion's royalty interest and Standard Oil Company insisted that, unless this cloud on his title was removed from the records, payment of the royalty interest could not safely be made to him.

In view of these objections made by Standard Oil Company, Irion and some of the other owners of the oil lands brought a jactitation, or slander of title, suit in the District Court of Avoyelles Parish against Acadian Production Company and the other persons who had filed instruments in the real estate records which operated as a cloud upon their titles. After issue was duly joined in that suit, which is entitled 'Robert R. Irion, Sr., et al., v. Acadian Production Company', No. 10,770 of the docket of the Twelfth Judicial District Court for the Parish of Avoyelles, a judgment was rendered and signed on January 24, 1941, quieting Irion and the other plaintiffs in their possession of the tracts of land belonging to them and 'cancelling and erasing from the records of the Parish of Avoyelles' all of the instruments which were complained of by Standard Oil Company as casting a cloud upon Irion's title to the royalty oil purchased by it. Subsequent to the time when the delays had expired for the defendants to take a suspensive appeal from that judgment, Irion and the other plaintiffs had it executed by causing the Clerk of Court and Ex Officio Recorder of Avoyelles Parish to cancel and erase from the records of the Parish all of the objectionable instruments recorded by the defendants in that suit which Standard Oil Company contended cast a cloud upon the royalty interest of Irion.

After the Clerk and Ex Officio Recorder of the Parish of Avoyelles had issued his certificate showing the cancellation and erasure from his records of the instruments complained of, Irion delivered to Standard Oil Company a certified copy of the judgment rendered in the suit in Avoyelles Parish, together with a certified copy of the Clerk's certificate of cancellation, and made written demand upon it for payment of the royalty money due him. Whereupon, Standard Oil Company refused to make the payment contending that the judgment rendered by the District Court in Avoyelles Parish had not become final since the time allowed by law to the defendants for taking a devolutive appeal from that judgment had not expired. This suit followed.

The sole contention of Standard Oil Company is that it is in the position of a mere stakeholder in the possession of money which belongs either to Irion or to the defendants in the...