Wolfe v. Stanford

• Decision Date: 19 January 1937
• Docket Number: Case Number: 23955
• Parties: WOLFE v. STANFORD.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1937 OK 21

64 P.2d 335

179 Okla. 27

WOLFE v. STANFORD.

Case Number: 23955

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: January 19, 1937

Syllabus

¶0 1. PARTITION - Right to Partition of Oil and Gas Rights Severed From Remainder of Fee.

Oil and gas rights, though severed from the remainder of the fee, may be subject to partition, either in kind or by sale, as the circumstances may justify.

2. SAME - Partition in Kind or by Sale and Division of Proceeds.

Partition in kind of oil and gas rights is proper where there has been no development on or near the property and there is no other reason to believe one portion of the tract involved is more valuable for oil purposes than another. Where partition in kind cannot properly be allowed, partition may be accomplished through sale and division of the proceeds.

3. SAME - Discretion of Court as to Partition - Prevention of Partition as Matter of Defense to Be Pleaded and Proved.

Generally, the right of partition is absolute, but in connection with the partition of oil and gas rights, the court is vested with sufficient discretion in denying or awarding relief to prevent the remedy from becoming an instrument of fraud or oppression. The prevention of partition upon this ground is a matter of defense to be pleaded and proved as such.

4. SAME - Tenancy in Common - Validity of Conveyance of Undivided Interest in Oil and Gas Rights by One Cotenant in Land Without Consent of Others Regardless of Effect on Rights in Partition Action.

One of several cotenants in land may convey his undivided interest in the oil and gas rights without the consent of his cotenants. Such a conveyance is not void as to nonconsenting cotenants, nor can it be avoided or ignored by them on the theory that it may alter or affect their rights in a partition action.

Appeal from District Court, Hughes County; Geo. C. Crump, Judge.

Action by C.C. Stanford against C. Dale Wolfe to separately partition surface rights in land. C. Dale Wolfe, as defendant, seeks to partition both surface and royalty. Judgment on the pleadings for the plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded.

V.R. Biggers, A.S. Norvell, C. Dale Wolfe, and W.M. Haulsee, for plaintiff in error.

Ethel Hamilton and Chas. N. Hamilton, for defendant in error.

BUSBY, J.

¶1 This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court of Hughes county granting a partition of lands subject to oil, gas, and mineral rights and refusing to grant the same relief in connection with such rights. In their brief the parties use the term "surface rights" to refer to that portion of the fee remaining after elimination of the oil, gas, and mineral rights. The term is legally inaccurate, but convenient. In this opinion we shall use it in the same sense for the sake of brevity. For the same reason we shall employ the terms "oil rights" and "royalty" in a general sense to include oil, gas, and mineral rights and the authority to explore for and produce the same.

¶2 C. Dale Wolfe is the owner of an undivided one-half interest in both the surface and royalty in 80 acres of land situated in Hughes county, Okla. C.C. Stanford owns the other undivided one-half of the surface. He owns also a fractional undivided interest, but less than one-half, in the oil rights. The remainder of the royalty is apparently owned by W.A. Bean, M.E. Gilbert, J.B. Leftwich, S.B. Turner, W.A. Smith, Harry Allen, and S.F. Russel. The precise fractional interests of the last-named individuals is not reflected in the record. Neither does the record disclose the date or manner in which these individuals acquired their royalty.

¶3 On October 22, 1931, C.C. Stanford, as plaintiff, commenced this action in the district court of Hughes county against C. Dale Wolfe, as defendant. The plaintiff asserted his ownership of an undivided one-half interest in the surface and sought to partition the surface rights only. Thereafter the defendant filed his answer in which he admitted Stanford's interest in the surface, asserted his ownership of an undivided one-half interest in both surface and royalty and named the plaintiff and the individuals previously designated by name in this opinion as the co-owners of the other undivided one-half interest in the royalty. The defendant sought to have the named individuals made additional parties to the litigation and to procure a partition of the entire estate in the land.

¶4 The plaintiff filed his motion for judgment on the pleadings, which was sustained The trial court rendered its judgment granting partition of the surface rights, but denied partition of the oil rights, incidentally refusing to make the named royalty owners parties to the suit. The defendant appeals. The order of appearance of the parties is reversed in this court. However, we shall continue to refer to them by their trial court designation.

¶5 A proper treatment of this case requires the consideration of several questions which are specifically or inferentially presented by the briefs. With a view to promoting clarity of expression, we shall state these questions in our own language and rearrange the sequence of consideration.

¶6 The defendant contends and the plaintiff denies that oil rights are subject to partition after they have been carved out of the fee by conveyances. In most jurisdictions, including Oklahoma, partition in some form, that is, either in kind or by sale, is allowed between tenants in common of the right to explore for and produce oil and gas. Coker et al. v. Vierson et al., 170 Okla. 528, 41 P.2d 95 (a case involving royalty interests); Clark v. Mercer Oil Co., 139 Okla. 48, 281 P. 283 (a case involving partition of a producing oil and gas lease). See, also, Hall v. Douglas, 102 W. Va. 400, 135 S.E. 282, Stern v. Great Sou. Land Co., 148 Miss. 649, 114 So. 739; Black v. Sylvania Prod. Co., 105 Ohio St. 346, 137 N.E. 904, and Henderson v. Chesley (Tex. Civ. App.) 273 S.W. 299 (all cited in Coker v. Vierson, supra). See, also, Fortney et al. v. Tope et al. (Mich.) 247 N.W. 751, and Morley v. Smith et al. (W. Va.) 118 S.E. 135.

¶7 Both law and equity should recognize the necessity of the remedy as a method of avoiding the intolerable situation which would arise upon disagreement between co-owners having a right to the use and possession of the same property. 2 R. C. L., p. 723, par. 8. Generally speaking, the law favors the partition of property held by cotenants in recognition of the principle that property rights are more valuable and the use and enjoyment of property is best promoted when individuals own the same in such a way that they are entitled to exclusive use and enjoyment. Thus courts are adverse to any rule which compels unwilling persons to use their property in common. 2 R. C. L. 716, par. 2.

¶8 We perceive no sound reason for denying the continued application of the foregoing principle to oil and gas rights held by tenants in common, provided, of course, the remedy of partition in this class of cases is sufficiently within the control of the court having jurisdiction to grant the relief to prevent its use as a weapon of oppression - a matter which will be considered presently. Partition of oil and gas rights being an available and recognized remedy, we now pass to a consideration of the sufficiency of the answer in this case to invoke the relief. The motion for judgment on the pleadings challenged the sufficiency of the answer before the trial court, and presumably the answer was held insufficient.

¶9 Reference to the answer discloses that in stating the ground upon which the partition of oil and gas rights was sought, the defendant set up the fact that undivided interests were owned by different parties, naming them. He then asserted that "it would be a manifest injury to him" to partition the surface without also granting a division of royalty. No facts which would cause the "manifest injury" were pleaded, save and except the diversity of ownership. Was it essential that the defendant also plead facts showing other peculiar additional circumstances such as a loss in the value of the property, mismanagement, or irreconcilable differences as to disposition or control of the property?

¶10 In Clark v. Mercer Oil Co., supra, it is stated as a rule of pleading that such additional allegations are necessary when partition is not available under the statute. The rule is subject to grave doubt. It was adopted from the Kansas case of Beardsley et al. v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 96 P. 859, wherein it was announced without supporting authority. The theory of the Kansas court was that the right to partition property under the statute was absolute, whereas the right to partition in equity was not. The absolute nature of the right to partition had been previously recognized by the Kansas court in Kinkead v. Maxwell et al., 75 Kan. 50, 88 P. 523. This case was cited in the Beardsley Case as establishing the absolute nature of the right under the statute. But in the Beardsley Case the important fact was overlooked that the absolute nature of the right was not recognized in the Kinkead Case in consideration of the wording of the statute or the nature of the remedy. It was, on the contrary, based upon the generally recognized rule independent of the statute, and the principal supporting authority was an Illinois equity case of Martin v. Martin (Ill.) 48 N.E. 924, 62 A. S. R. 411 (in which the general rule was recognized, but the existence of exceptions noted). See, also, Hill v. Reno, 112 Ill. 154, 54 Am. Rep. 222. Thus the Kansas court said, in effect, the right is absolute under the statute because it is absolute in equity; then later, that the right of partition, though absolute under the statute, is not absolute in equity. Upon consideration of the asserted difference in the right, a different rule as to the facts necessary to be pleaded was adopted, and particular application of the rule was made to personal property. In Clark v. Mercer Oil Co., supra, we said the rule...