(DOWNLOAD) "Cedar Creek Oil & Gas Co. v. Archer Et Al." by Supreme Court of Montana * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Cedar Creek Oil & Gas Co. v. Archer Et Al.
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 02, 1941
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 70 KB
Description
Oil and Gas ? Leases ? Quieting Title ? Drilling Agreement Held not Sublease ? Forfeitures ? Options ? Implied Covenant to Find Market for Product ? Equity ? Appeal ? Presumptions. Oil and Gas Leases ? Drilling Agreement Held not Sublease. 1. In an action by the holder of an oil and gas lease in the nature of one to quiet title and to have a drilling agreement entered into by the lessee and an operator cancelled of record, to which action the landowners were not parties, the agreement by which the operator contracted, for a percentage of the oil and gas discovered and saved, to carry out the obligations assumed by plaintiff lessee in the lease agreement between it and the landowners, held properly classifiable as a plain operating agreement and not as a sublease, construable in accordance with the general rules and laws relating to ordinary contracts. Same ? While Oil and Gas Development in Nature of Speculation, Parties to Contracts not Open to Charge of Being "Speculators" as Matter of Reproach or Censure in Pleadings or Argument. 2. While all oil and gas developments are more or less in the nature of speculation, there appears no sound reason for either of the litigants in an action between the lessee of oil and gas lands and an operator who in his drilling agreement with the lessee acquired certain contingent rights in the lease, each acquiring a right of property which the law does not prohibit either from disposing thereof, applying, in their pleadings and argument, the term "speculator" to the other in a way that could be construed as a reproach or censure. Same ? Forfeitures in Favor of Lessor ? Finding of Court That Lessee Entitled to Exception to Rule Held Error. 4. An option is a unilateral agreement binding on the parties only if finding that plaintiff lessee of oil and gas lands was given the status of a lessor and entitled to the benefit of the exception to the general rule relating to forfeitures as applied in oil and gas leases in favor of the lessor, set forth in Solberg v. Sunburst Oil &; Gas Co., 76 Mont. 254, 246 P. 168. Same ? Option ? Definition. 5. An option is a unilateral agreement binding on the parties only if the optionee exercises it. Same ? Implied Covenant in Drilling Agreement to Find Market for Gas Produced ? Agreement Held not Open to Such Construction. 5. Where the lessee of oil and gas lands entered into a drilling agreement with an operator which provided that the former should be - Page 478 entitled to 25 per cent. of the gas produced and that the latter should have an option to buy such 25 per cent. of the product in the pipe line connected therewith, at the market price thereof, which option he expressly waived, contention of plaintiff lessee that the agreement imposed an obligation, implied or otherwise, on the operator to find a market for the lessees share in the pipe line, over which he had no control, may not be sustained. Same ? Judgment Decreeing That Drilling Agreement Forfeited Held Error. 6. Under section 7408, Revised Codes, a condition involving a forfeiture must be strictly interpreted against the party for whose benefit it is created, and under it held that the trial court erred in declaring a forfeiture of the drilling agreement above referred to, for failure to find a market for plaintiffs share of the gas produced by defendant operator. Equity Cases ? Appeal ? Presumptions as to Correctness of Judgment ? Inapplicable in Case Where Equities in Favor of Appellant. 7. While review of a judgment in an equity case must be approached with the presumption that it is correct, and it will not be set aside unless there is a clear preponderance of the evidence against it, where a careful analysis of the pleadings, the evidence and the terms of a contract sought to be set aside shows that the equities of the case are clearly in favor of the unsuccessful party, the judgment will be reversed.
 "Cedar Creek Oil & Gas Co. v. Archer Et Al." by Supreme Court of Montana * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}