Schaffner v. Benson
| Citation | 166 N.E. 881,90 Ind.App. 420 |
| Decision Date | 27 June 1929 |
| Docket Number | 13,229 |
| Parties | SCHAFFNER v. BENSON |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Rehearing denied September 14, 1929. Transfer denied December 5, 1929.
From Gibson Circuit Court; Clyde McGary, Special Judge.
Suit by Benjamin F. Benson against Jacob Schaffner and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, the defendant named appealed.
Reversed.
T Morton McDonald, for appellant.
Luther Benson, for appellee.
Suit by appellee against appellant and others to cancel an oil and gas well lease, and to have appellee adjudged the owner of certain oil well casing used by appellant in the completion of a certain well. The cause having been put at issue by denial, the court found the facts specially and stated its conclusions of law thereon in favor of appellee, for whom judgment was rendered.
Exceptions to the conclusions of law and to the action of the court in overruling motion for new trial present the only questions for review.
We shall set forth, in substance, the facts found which are material to a determination of the questions presented.
On December 13, 1918, appellee, being the owner of certain real estate, leased the same for a valuable consideration to William P. Hurst, granting to him the right to enter upon the land and drill for oil and gas, it being agreed that, if a well was not completed within 18 months from date of lease, lessee was to pay to lessor the sum of 25 cents per acre annually until a well should be completed. The lease was for a term of five years and as long thereafter as oil and gas should be found in paying quantities, lessee to have "the right at any time to remove a part or all of the property, machinery or fixtures placed thereon by lessee." By successive assignments, the lease was transferred to Foster & Adams Gas and Oil Association, hereinafter designated as "Foster & Adams," which association entered into a contract with Schaffner Brothers, a copartnership, by the terms of which they were to drill a well on the leased premises. In compliance with the contract, a well was drilled to the depth of 2,357 feet, and was properly encased with oil-well casing. Neither oil nor gas was found in paying quantities, and, in August, 1921, Foster & Adams "abandoned said well and said lease and said casing, and never at any time thereafter made any attempt to develop said lands or any part thereof described in said lease. " The casing remained in the well until June, 1923, when it was, by Foster & Adams, drawn and stacked upon the real estate. The lease expired December 18, 1923, and thereafter, on March 3, 1925, Foster & Adams, treating the casing as their own property, sold it to Jacob Schaffner, appellant herein; but appellee, claiming abandonment of the casing by Foster & Adams and resulting ownership in himself, refused to permit Schaffner to remove the property, and instituted suit to cancel lease and to have the court adjudge the ownership of the property. Pending the litigation, the court appointed a receiver, who sold the casing pursuant to court order, for the sum of $ 2,525, and now holds the proceeds.
Conclusions of law stated by the court were to the effect that appellee was entitled to the proceeds of the sale of the casing in hands of receiver, and that the lease be canceled.
The important question is as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the court's finding that, in August, 1921, Foster & Adams abandoned the lease, the well it had completed, and the casing. The facts not being in dispute, the question as presented by the record before us is a question of law.
It is urged by appellee that abandonment as found by the court is shown by the fact, as found, that Foster & Adams, after August, 1921, took no further steps to develop the lease, and did nothing with the well they had drilled, from the time of its completion in August, 1921, to June, 1923, when they drew the casing, and that nothing was thereafter done with the casing till March, 1925, when, claiming ownership, Foster & Adams sold the property to appellant.
In considering the question, it must be borne in mind that the lease was for the term of five years, from December 18, 1918 to December 18, 1923, longer only if gas or oil should be found in paying quantities; and that the lessee was given the right at any time to remove the property and fixtures it had placed thereon in development of the lease. There was...
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