(DOWNLOAD) "Matzen v. Hugoton Production Co." by Supreme Court of Kansas * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Matzen v. Hugoton Production Co.
- Author : Supreme Court of Kansas
- Release Date : January 14, 1958
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
The opinion of the court was delivered by This was an action to recover the landowners' royalty from
November 1, 1954, to April 30, 1955, under a producing oil and
gas lease in the Hugoton Gas Field (field). The principal
question presented is the amount to be paid to plaintiff lessors
as royalty under the terms of the leases in effect between them
and the defendant Hugoton Production Company (Hugoton) as lessee
operator. A jury was waived and trial had by the court. Judgment
was in favor of plaintiffs, and Hugoton has appealed from the
order overruling its motion for a new trial. Plaintiffs have
cross-appealed from adverse rulings and orders of the trial
court. The trial court made extensive findings of fact and conclusions
of law, pertinent portions of which are summarized: Plaintiffs
are the owners of 320 acres in the field in Grant County, Kansas.
In 1941 Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company (Panhandle) acquired
oil and gas leases covering a block of approximately 95,000 acres
(block) in the field among which were two leases covering
plaintiffs' half section and later included in a 640-acre
unitization agreement on which Hugoton now owns and operates one
producing gas well. The royalty clause in each of the leases
covering plaintiffs' land read, in pertinent part, as follows:
"The lessee shall pay lessor, as royalty,
one-eighth of the proceeds from the sale of the gas,
as such, for gas from wells where gas only is found.
. . ."
Pursuant to the two leases on plaintiffs' land and the
unitization agreement plaintiffs were entitled as royalty to
one-sixteenth of the proceeds from the sale of gas produced from
the well on the unit of which their leases were a part.