Sundance Minerals L.P. v. Moore

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of appellees on their counterclaim in this suit to determine the type of royalty reserved in a deed. In 1958, J.B. Holder and Ruth Holder conveyed 515 acres of real property to J.D. Armstrong and Ophelia Armstrong. The Holders, however, reserved in the deed an undivided and non-participating one-half interest in the oil, gas and other mineral rights. The deed further stated that the Holders shall be entitled to one half of the usual one eighth royalty received for such oil, gas and other minerals produced from said land. The appellant, Sundance Minerals L.P., contends that the trial court erred by granting appellees' motion for summary judgment contending that the deed reserved a fraction of a royalty and denying its motion that the deed instead reserved a fixed, fractional, nonparticipating royalty. Reading the document as a whole, it is clear they intended to reserve to themselves and their successors one half of "such royalty as may be reserved in any oil, gas, or mineral lease," and that the "one half of the usual one eighth" language is merely an example showing the type of interest they intended to reserve, not a further limitation. Fort Worth Court of Appeals, No. 02-10-00403-CV, 10-20-2011.

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OPINION

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of appellees Wanda Jo Moore and Maxine Holder, in their individual and other capacities, and Robert E. Holder, Ricky Joe Holder, Terry S. Holder, Philip B. Holder, Janilee Holder Wisdom, Scotty D. Plaster, Rex. L. Plaster, and Larry F. Plaster on their counterclaim in this suit to determine the type of royalty reserved in a deed. Appellant Sundance Minerals, L.P. contends in two issues that (1) the trial court erred by granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment contending that the deed reserved a fraction of a royalty and denying its motion that the deed instead reserved a fixed, fractional, nonparticipating royalty and (2) the trial court erred in awarding attorney’s fees to appellees. We modify the trial court’s judgment and affirm it as modified.

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