Johnson v. Finkle, from North Dakota, centers around the long-standing but oft-forgotten headache that is the Duhig doctrine. If you aren’t familiar, you should be. Here it is:
The Rule
“Where a grantor conveys land in such a manner as to include 100% of the minerals, and then reserves to
Lawyers and landmen are taught that a document affecting real or immovable property not recorded in the public records means nothing to a stranger. Like O. J.’s quest for the real killer, lower premiums after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the present I would have given my wife except I forgot our
Occasionally in my litigation experience I’m reminded of time-honored rules of law. Often I’m pleased, sometimes I’m not. So it was, I assume, for the parties in Midnight rilling, LLC v. Triche et al .The Rules
In Louisiana
Comparative Title Analysis in Texas, North Dakota and Montana co-authored by Katie English and Taylor Lamb
The Title Question
Harold Smith, the owner of Blackacre, and his wife, Wendy Smith, execute a deed covering all of their interest in Blackacre to Tiger Drilling. The deed reserves to Harold and Wendy a 50% mineral interest. Does
Comparative Title Analysis in Texas, North Dakota and Montana. Co-authored by Katie English and Taylor Lamb
The Title Question
Your title examiner often encounters a conveyance to an individual “as Trustee” with no Trust specified in the instrument. For example, the Mineral Deed conveys all right, title and interest in Blackacre to “Harold Smith, Trustee,”
Most of the time, if you read Stroud et al v. Hosford et al. even Hamilton Burger might have won on these facts. But when a lease subject to an override is terminated and replaced by another, Texas cases usually end up against the overriding royalty owner.
The Holding:
The court agreed with the jury
A provision in a contract, no matter how unequivocal, does not always trump the law. The oil and gas lease allowed assignments, but no change or division in ownership of the land or royalties would be binding on the lessee until the acquiring party had furnished lessee with the instruments constituting his chain of title
At Looper Reed we advise our clients that it is good business to accommodate your neighbor informally, if you can. Sometimes that leads to attempted world domination, as Chamberlain learned from Hitler in 1938. Closer to home it is my college-age son using his bedroom floor as a summertime closet. It can also lead to
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Or, as said by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, “A rule of property long acquiesced in should not be overthrown except for compelling reasons of public policy or the imperative demands of justice.” There were no such imperatives in Butler vs. Charles Powers Estate, in which the Court
Valid Description? We don’t need no valid stinking description!
Actually, in May v. Buck, a Texas Court of Appeals says you do. The need for a sufficient property description in a oil and gas transaction seems like an easy-enough and fundamental concept to grasp, but its application has escaped many a