Oil v. Hickman

• Decision Date: 30 June 1925
• Docket Number: Case Number: 14224
• Citation: 243 P. 226,1925 OK 552,114 Okla. 86
• Parties: COSDEN OIL & GAS CO. v. HICKMAN et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1925 OK 552

243 P. 226

114 Okla. 86

COSDEN OIL & GAS CO. v. HICKMAN et al.

Case Number: 14224

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: June 30, 1925

Syllabus

¶0 Oil and Gas--Leased Premises Dedicated to Town Site--Right of Lessee to Object.

Where a tract of land has been leased for oil and gas purposes, and the lessor subsequently conveys the surface rights to a third party, taking a mortgage against the land for a portion of the unpaid purchase price, and said third party plats the land into a town site with the consent of the lessor, the lessee cannot be heard to complain of the dedication of such plat. However, the lessee is not thereby deprived of any of his rights to prospect for, develop, and produce oil, gas, or other minerals thereon according to the terms of said lease, by reason of the platting of said land.

Error from District Court, Kay County; Claude Duval, Judge.

Action by Cosden Oil & Gas Company against Lemon D. Hickman et al. for injunction. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

J. Q. Louthan, J. C. Denton, J. H. Crocker, and R. H. Wills, for plaintiff in error.

L. A. Daniel, for defendants in error.

PHELPS, J.

¶1 L. D. Hickman and his wife were the owners of a certain tract of 40 acres of land in Kay county, Okla., upon which they executed and delivered an oil and gas mining lease to the Gypsy Oil Company, which lease was afterwards assigned to and became the property of Cosden Oil & Gas Company. While said lease was still in full force and effect, L. D. Hickman and wife conveyed by warranty deed, subject to the lease, the land in question to Stuart McQuirk reserving, however, all oil, gas, and mineral rights, McQuirk giving Hickman a mortgage back for a portion of the purchase price. McQuirk then platted the land in question, together with other lands, into the town site of Hickman, dividing and dedicating the same into lots, blocks, streets, avenues, and alleys, and under arrangement between McQuirk and Hickman as the lots were sold a portion of the purchase price was paid to Hickman towards the satisfaction of his mortgage against the tract of land, and upon such payment Hickman released the mortgage in so far as it might affect the particular lot conveyed. The Cosden Oil & Gas Company then filed suit in the district court of Kay county, alleging that it desired to drill one or more wells upon the land in question under the terms of its lease, and that the platting of the same and selling the lots for town-site purposes interfered with its occupancy and development of the same under the terms of its lease, and prayed for a temporary injunction, and that upon hearing the same be made permanent. Due notice was served, and upon hearing the district court of Kay county denied the prayer of plaintiff's petition, and from such judgment and the court's order overruling motion for new trial plaintiff appeals to this court.

¶2 It is contended by plaintiff that the dedication of the land into lots, blocks, streets, avenues, and alleys of the town of Hickman was null and void for the reason that Hickman, the Gypsy Oil Company, and the Cosden Oil Company were not parties thereto nor participated therein, and that defendants have no right to establish a town upon the premises involved or to use said premises for town-site purposes. With this contention we cannot agree. Hickman holding a mortgage against the property. McQuirk, perhaps, would be prohibited from platting the land in question if to do so would conflict with the interest of...