Reiter v. Coastal States Gas Producing Co.

• Decision Date: 24 June 1964
• Docket Number: No. A-9585,A-9585
• Citation: 382 S.W.2d 243
• Parties: Edna H. REITER et al., Petitioners, v. COASTAL STATES GAS PRODUCING CO. et al., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 243

382 S.W.2d 243

Edna H. REITER et al., Petitioners, v. COASTAL STATES GAS PRODUCING CO. et al., Respondents.

No. A-9585.

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 24, 1964.

Rehearing Denied and Dissenting Opinion Filed Oct, 14, 1964.

Strickland, Wilkins, Hall & Mills, Mission, Turner, Rodgers, Winn, Scurlock & Terry, Dallas, W. W. Heard, Tulsa, Okl., for petitioners.

Malcolm McDermott, William E. York, Ewers, Toothaker, Ewers, Elick, Jones & Abbott, McAllen, W. L. Matthews, San Antonio, Ralph T. Rawlins, Edinburg, for respondents.

NORVELL, Justice.

This is an action in trespass to try title involving .8 of an acre out of the north six acres of Block No. 223 of the La Blanca Agricultural Company Tract out of the Llano Grande and La Blanca Grants in Hidalgo County, Texas, according to the map or plat of said tract which is of record in Volume 1, at page 33, of the Map Records of Hidalgo County, Texas.

The plaintiffs in the District Court were Edna H. Reiter, joined by her husband, C. S. Reiter, and Pan American Petroleum Corporation, the holder of a mineral lease under Mrs. Reiter. The defendants were Donna Irrigation District, Hidalgo County No. 1, and its mineral lessee, Coastal States Gas Producing Co. The trial court rendered judgment for the defendants, which was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 365 S.W.2d 953.

We reverse the judgments of the courts below and here render judgment that the petitioner-plaintiffs do have and recover of and from the respondent-defendants judgment for title and possession of the .8-acre tract of land in dispute, subject to the easement rights, if any, now held and being used by the Donna Irrigation District.

The controlling issue in this case is whether the Donna Irrigation District owns the .8 of an acre in dispute or is vested with an easement right with reference thereto. This question is in turn controlled by the construction of a deed dated September 23, 1904, executed by La Blanca Agricultural Company to A. E. Hester, Trustee. Upon the date mentioned La Blanca owned a tract containing some 13,0000 acres, including the .8 of an acre now in dispute. A portion of the 13,000 acres was being irrigated and it was contemplated that additional acreage would be placed under irrigation. The purpose of the coveyance to Hester, Trustee, was to place the lands, easements and other properties used for irrigation purposes in the name of the trustee, and thus separate the title to the irrigation properties from the title to the lands to be irrigated. Provision was made for easement rights to be exercised in the future by the parties operating the irrigation system and their successors. The deed recited that La Blanca Agricultural Company had 'granted, sold and conveyed and by these presents does grant, sell and convey unto the said A. F. Hester, Trustee, of the County of Cameron and State of Texas, all those certain tracts or parcels of land situated in the County of Hidalgo, State of Texas, with the improvements thereon, and more particularly described as follows:

'Ten (10) acres of land conveyed to T. J. Hooks by Lon C. Hill by deed dated the 8th day of December 1902, and recorded in book 'K', on pages 199 and 200 of the deed records of said Hidalgo County, and conveyed by said T. J. Hooks, to 'La Blanca Agricultural Company' by deed dated June 23rd, 1903, and recorded in book 'K' on pages 240 et seq., of the deed records of said Hidalgo County, and all the improvements thereon, consisting of boilers, engines, pump tools, buildings, canals, laterals and any and all other improvements of whatsoever kind not herein mentioned.

'Also the canal, laterals and flumes, and rights-of-way therefor now existing and on the following lands, and also any further rights of way that may be required for the purpose of building, extending and maintaining canals, laterals and flumes for the purpose of irrigation, on, across, along and around the following described tracts or parcels of land to wit: * * *.' (Italics supplied.)

(Here follows a list of deeds to La Blanca Agricultural Company under which said company acquired the 13,000 acres of land commonly known as the La Blanca Tract.)

The pertinent portion of the Hester deed is the provision relating to 'further rights of way that may be required for the purpose of building, extending and maintaining canals, laterals and flumes for the purpose of irrigation.'

This deed conveyed no then-presently existing legal title to any tracts or parcels of land under that portion of the deed which referred to 'further rights of way as may be required' for the purpose of extending and maintaining canals and laterals. No specific tracts or parcels of land were or could have been described at that time.

In Texas Electric Railway Company v. Neale, 151 Tex. 526, 252 S.W.2d 451 (1952), relied upon by respondents, this Court was concerned with conveyances of presently existing legal titles and not equities. This is true of all the cases discussed by the Court in that opinion. The specifically described tract is the basis condition for the application of the Neale rule that when a definite tract is conveyed, a legal fee simple title will pass, although in later portions of the deed, the proposed use of the tract is set out.

In Right of Way Oil Company v. Gladys City Oil, Gas & Mfg. Co., 106 Tex. 94, 157 S.W. 737, 51 L.R.A.,N.S., 268 (1913), the granting clause provided that the grantors 'do hereby grant, sell and convey unto the East Texas Railway Company, for the purpose of constructing, operating and maintaining its railroad, the right of way, two hundred feet in width, over and upon the above-described tract of land.'

In the Neale case, above mentioned, the granting clause of the deed provided that grantors '* * * in consideration of One Dollar to me (sic) in hand paid and the benefits which will accrue to my other property by reason of the construction of the Interurban Railway hereinafter mentioned, do by these presents grant, sell and convey unto (certain named) Trustees of the Southern Traction Company, their successors and assigns, the following described piece or parcel of land, to wit: (Here follows metes and bounds description).'

In Neale, Mr. Justice Smedley, writing for this Court, discussed and analyzed the line of cases headed by Right of Way Oil Co. v. Gladys City Oil, etc., Co., supra, and the decisions following Calcasieu Lumber Company v. Harris, 77 Tex. 18, 13 S.W. 453 (1890), and Brightwell v. International-Great Northern R. Co., 121 Tex. 338, 49 S.W.2d 437, 84 A.L.R. 265 (1932). It was said:

'Generally stated, the rules announced by these decisions are: First, that, as in the Right of Way Oil Company case, a deed which by the terms of the granting clause grants, sells and conveyes to the grantee a 'right of way' in or over a tract of land conveys only an easement; and second, that, as in the Calcasieu Lumber Company case and in the Brightwell case, a deed which in the granting clause grants, sells and conveys a tract or strip of land conveys the title in fee, even though in a subsequent clause or paragraph of the deed the land conveyed is referred to as a right of way.'

In Neale, the Court held that the conveyance was ruled by the Calcasieu-Brightwell line of decisions. There was a grant of a tract of land followed by a specific description thereof. A legal title was conveyed. This is true of every case in the Calcasieu-Brightwell line. The Neale case does not purport to overrule the Glayds City case and while the distinction between the two lines of authorities may seem a fine one, it should be remembered that Mr. Justice Smedley was not writing upon a clean slate but drawing a line of demarcation between decided cases. This case falls within the rule of the Gladys City case. The grant was to 'further rights of way that may be required.' The Hester instrument contains no specific description of the tract to be occupied by these 'further rights of ways,' and hence the conveyance is outside the Calcasieu-Brightwell rule of construction.

It may be further said that we are dealing with equitable rights which are controlled by equitable principles. The primary function of the Donna Irrigation District is to supply the landowners within its boundaries with irrigation water. It must have canals and laterals, but easements are amply sufficient for its legitimate purposes.

The respondents also contend that Mrs. Reiter cannot recover because certain deeds under which she attempts to deraign her title from La Blanca Agricultural Company (the common source) contain defective descriptions. The primary authority relied upon by them is Wooten v. State, 142 Tex. 238, 177 S.W.2d 56 (1944). There are certain factual differences between Wooten and this case. They lie primarily in the circumstance that Mrs. Reiter's tract was carved out of a larger tract of definite configuration, e. g., a block designated on a recorded map. Because of other considerations, however, we need not and do not determine if the rule of Wooten applies to the descriptions in this case, nor are we required to re-examine such rule in order to decide this cause.

On July 21, 1924, La Blanca Agricultural Company conveyed the north 19.09 acres of Block 223 of the La Blanca tract to J. C. Engelman, Inc., which was apparently acting as a sales agent and title conduit for La Blanca. On the next day, July 22, Engelman executed its conveyance of the north six acres to T. L. Humble, who thereafter conveyed such property to his daughter, Mrs. Reiter. It is asserted that because these deeds contained the words 'more or less' following the designation of the north 19.09 acres and the north 6 acres, no title passed out of La Blanca Agricultural Company. Neither La Blanca nor Engelman says these conveyances are defective, but the point is raised by the Donna Irrigation District as an alternative to its claim of fee simple title under the 1904 deed to Hester, Trustee. The Donna...