Miller v. Melde

• Decision Date: 05 March 1987
• Docket Number: No. 13-86-427-CV,13-86-427-CV
• Citation: Miller v. Melde, 730 S.W.2d 12 (Tex. App. 1987)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals
• Parties: K.R. MILLER, et al., Appellants, v. Curtis Odell MELDE & Cities Service Oil and Gas Corporation, Appellees.

Page 12

730 S.W.2d 12

K.R. MILLER, et al., Appellants, v. Curtis Odell MELDE & Cities Service Oil and Gas Corporation Appellees.

No. 13-86-427-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Corpus Christi.

March 5, 1987.

W.T. McNeil, Vance & McNeil, Edna, for appellants.

Henry A. Welfel, Jr., Woody, Gum, Heintz & Villafranca, P.C., Victoria, for appellees.

Before UTTER, SEERDEN and DORSEY, JJ.

OPINION

UTTER, Justice.

Appellee, Melde, brought a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that he owns 1/2 of the minerals and a 3/4 royalty interest pursuant to a deed conveying 15.734 acres of land to him. The trial court agreed with Melde and declared that he owns 1/2 of the minerals and a 3/4 royalty interest and that the Millers owned no interest in the mineral estate. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. ¹

By their sole point of error, the Millers claim that the trial court erred in rendering judgment for Melde.

In 1969, Allen conveyed the land to K.R. Miller in fee simple, making no reservations or exceptions. According to the record before us, there had been no prior reservations or exceptions of any mineral interest. Miller conveyed the same land to the Bergstroms in 1975. However, the deed contained the following clause:

However, there is reserved and excepted in prior conveyances one-half ( 1/2) of the oil, gas and other minerals in or under said premises for a term of fifteen (15) years from the date of said reservation.

The Bergstroms conveyed the land to Melde, with the following clauses contained in the deed:

This conveyance is made and accepted SUBJECT TO the following:

(1) There is reserved and excepted in prior conveyances one-half ( 1/2) of the oil, gas and other minerals in or under said premises for a term of fifteen (15) years from the date of said reservation.

(2) The said Grantors herein reserve unto themselves, their heirs and assigns, an undivided one-fourth ( 1/4) interest in royalty in the oil, gas and other minerals in and under the above described land.

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It is the intent and purpose of the foregoing reservation to reserve an undivided one-half of the oil, gas and other minerals, and in addition thereto an undivided one-fourth interest in royalty, for the term above provided, and to convey unto Grantee, his heirs, successors and assigns, an undivided one-half interest in the oil, gas and other minerals in and under the above described land, and an undivided one-fourth interest in royalty in the oil, gas and other minerals in and under said land.

The Millers argue that the clause in the Miller to Bergstrom deed operated to reserve a one-half interest in the oil, gas, and other minerals unto the grantors, the Millers. They cite Pich v. Lankford, 302 S.W.2d 645 (Tex.1957), as authority for their position. We find Pich distinguishable.

In Pich, as in the case at bar, there were two deeds containing similar clauses. The Howard to Sharp deed included the following clause: "Save and Except an undivided three-fourths of the oil, gas and other minerals in, on and under said land, which have been heretofore reserved." Id. at 646. The Sharp to Lankford deed contained the following language: "Save and Except an undivided three-fourths of the oil, gas and other minerals in and under the Southwest Quarter thereof, and an undivided one-fourth of the minerals in and under the remainder of said survey, which minerals do not belong to the grantors herein." Id.

The Court held...