Chubb v. Lennan
Chubb v. Lennan
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
This appeal is from rulings sustaining demurrers of separate defendants to the second amended petition filed in an action seeking an accounting for mining royalties and the cancellation of all alleged contractual relationships existing between the plaintiffs and the defendants. The second amended petition extends over seventeen pages of the printed abstract and the exhibits, which are made a part thereof, require Over twenty-seven pages for printing purposes. Only such allegations as the court considers helpful to explanation of the decision will be summarized.
The Commerce Mining and Royalty Company, referred to in the exhibit, is named as one of the parties defendant to the action. It is designated in the petition as a business trust. The petition alleges that the named defendants, John A. Robinson, Carl A. Geist and A. E. Bendelari and George L. Coleman, Jr., constitute all of the trustees and shareholders of the named business trust; that such trust rvas revoked and dissolved on or about the 30th day of March, 1939, and that on or about such date Commerce Mining and Royalty Company deeded to the defendant, The Eagle-Picher Mining & Smelting Company, a corporation, certain mineral rights and leasehold interests in and to the involved property which the Commerce Mining and Royalty Company had theretofore obtained from other named defendants, C. G. and T. F. Lennan. The remaining named defendant, R. J. Tuthill, is alleged to have been at one time a part owner of a mining lease upon a portion of the premises and the
The petition discloses a series of mining leases, extensions thereof, and transactions pertaining thereto among the "various parties beginning in 1920 and extending until October 9, 1944, on which date the action was brought. Plaintiffs allege that all mining leases and agreements executed by the deceased, D. S. Chubb, prior, to March 16,1927, provided for the payment of eight percent royalty on minerals mined from the property and that the royalty was paid to such date. Apparently, in connection with the mining of the property for lead and zinc, ores and other valuable minerals prior to March 16, 1927, chat, tailings, sludge and slime had been accumulated .upon the surface of part of the property. Chubb had retained title to the surface rights and had caused part of the land hereinbefore described to be divided into town lots in connection with the platting of Chubb’s First Addition to the original town of Picher, now Treece, Kansas. Many of the lots must have been sold without reserving the mineral rights thereunder. While the petition is somewhat obscure on the point, we learn by reference to its Exhibit No. 6 that the defendant, C. G. Lennan, who was the wife of the defendant, T. F. Lennan, must have acquired title to a substantial number, if not all, of the lots in Chubb’s Addition which had been sold prior to March 16, 1927. Such a result must follow because the petition alleges that on such date Chubb and his wife executed to C. G. Lennan Exhibit 6. The exhibit is designated as a “quit claim deed,” but examination of it reveals that it is in the nature of a‘ royalty agreement in which Chubb conveyed to C. G. Lennan all of his interests in that part of lot 4 which had not been included in the plat of the addition, and approximately sixty described lots in the addition. In consideration therefor the grantee agreed to pay to Chubb three percent of the gross proceeds from the sale of all ore mined from beneath the surface and recovered from the chats, tailings, sludge and slime on the surface until February 18,1935, and thereafter five percent. In addition, however, the grantee agreed to pay Chubb the same royalty on all ores mined and recovered from approximately 100 lots in the addition to which Chubb apparently had lost title. Plaintiffs allege that prior to and at the time the quitclaim deed (Exhibit 6) was executed, the defendants, T. F. Lennan and his wife, C. G. Lennan, were conniving together to obtain title to certain ores and minerals underlying the lots in
Continued examination of the allegations of the petition discloses that on or about the 2d day of September, 1930, the defendants, • T. F. Lennan and C. G. Lennan, sold and assigned unto the de- ' fendant, Commerce Mining and Royalty Company, all their intérest in the lands hereinbefore referred to, as security for the payment of a debt aggregating $31,250, and that thereupon the Commerce Mining and Royalty Company took possession and control of all the rights and interests claimed to have been acquired by it. It is alleged that the trust thereby assumed and accepted the obligations of its grantors to the said Chubb. The petition continues by alleging, however; that on the 2d day of August, 1933, the defendants, T. F. Lennan and C. G. Lennan, and Commerce Mining and Royalty Company, caused and induced the said Chubb to execute a certain agreement which was designated as a “Contract” and set forth as Exhibit 8 to plaintiffs’• petition. We noté that the petition specifically alleges that the contract recited that it was the “desire of
A significant fact to be noted at this point is that the contract the plaintiffs seek to have set aside is the same contract referred to in the deed to the property under which the plaintiffs are claiming their interest. Such deéd clearly reads: “This conveyance is ma'de subject and inferior to any contractual rights now outstanding, . . . and more particularly, but without limiting thereto, the following contracts: (1) Mining contract dated August 2, 1933, between the undersigned and Commerce Mining and Royalty Company ...”
One of the grounds urged in support of the demurrers is that the plaintiffs have no legal right to maintain the action for the reason that if any cause of action is set forth in the amended petition it is in the heirs of Chubb and not in the grantees named in the deed under which the plaintiffs claim their rights. It is contended by the defendants that grantees named in a quitclaim deed may not maintain an action to set aside their grantor’s prior deed for fraud. In support of such contention they cite Carithers v. Weaver, 7 Kan 110. (See, also, 66 C. J. 1099, § 916.) Examination of authorities upon the general question develops that there is a conflict of judicial opinion as to whether the execution of an instrument which is clearly only a quitclaim vests in the grantees any right to set aside prior conveyances on the ground that such conveyances were obtained fraudulently. Such» rule is often followed in cases wherein the prior instruments were of record at the time the grantees obtained their deeds. In the present case all the previously-executed instruments
' The “various contracts” referred to in the contract dated August 2, 1933, included the lease to T. F. Lennan, under the terms of which eight percent royalty was to be paid to Chubb, and also included, obviously, the instrument dated March 16, 1927, which the plaintiffs seek to set aside. All such other contracts, deeds, or instruments were merged in the contract dated August 2, 1933. Possibly Chubb, by promptly bringing proper action, could have sought to have the instrument dated March 16, 1927, set aside but Chubb did not see fit to do so. Instead, he agreed to have any and all of his rights under that instrument and all previous instruments settled by the provisions of the contract dated August 2,1933. Since the plaintiffs’ rights are, by the terms of their grant, specifically and explicitly subject and inferior to the contract, it follows that they' are not in a position to have the instrument dated March 16; 1927, set aside. '
We do not need to consider the prolonged provisions of the contract of August 2, 1933, because the plaintiffs in the present case do not seek to recover under such contract. On the contrary, they seek to have it set aside. Since any rights they may have in and to the property are subject to such contract by reason of the specific terms of their grant, they are not in a position to have the contract set aside. In such circumstances it becomes immaterial whether the contract to which their rights are subject 'was obtained by fraud. Examination of the contract clearly develops that it was not void for lack of consideration because it contains many mutual obligations binding upon the respective parties thereto. The plaintiffs do not contend and are not in a position to assert that the provision in the deed which made their rights subject and inferior to the rights under the mining contract was inserted in such instrument by reason of any fraud and misrepresentations made to their grantor at the time the instrument was executed. The plaintiffs rely in part upon'the case of Flick v. Murdock, 115 Kan. 862, 225 Pac. 119. The facts in the cited case are not similar to those in the instant case. The action in the cited case was brought by all the heirs who were also grantees in a deed, and the instrument, under which
“A contention, based on the decision in the case of Flick v. Murdock, 115 Kan. 862, 225 Pac. 119, that plaintiffs purchased from Collins privilege to avoid the royalty deed, is without merit. Plaintiffs purchased with notice and with actual knowledge of the royalty deed. They got what their deed granted to them, which included the land, a share of rental and royalty, determinable by taking into account the royalty deed, and benefits under the royalty deed.” (p. 408.)
In the present case the plaintiffs apparently have been accepting the benefits 'arising from the operation of' the property under the contract. Whether they are estopped thereby to assert that the contract was invalid we need not decide.’' They do not contend in the present case that all payments due them in compliance with the provisions of the contract have not been made. To the contrary, they seek to assert that they should have received the royalty payments upon a different and higher percentage than that provided in the contract to which their.rights were subject. There is no merit to the contention in the existing circumstances.
The allegations in the petition pertaining to the defendant, The Eagle-Picher Mining & Smelting Company, having improperly suspended mining operations at a time when the involved property could have been operated with profit to such defendant and consequent gain by the plaintiffs also prove to be without merit because the second amended petition does not set forth a cause of action predicated upon a breach of the contract. Such contract provides that “mining or milling shall be carried on in good faith continuously and shall not be suspended at any time to exceed ten days in any one calendar month without the written permission of the lessors.” The lessors named in the contract were C. G. Lennan and her husband, T. F. Lennan. The plaintiffs’ predecessor in title, Chubb, was not a lessor and was not given the privilege under the- provisions of the contract to demand that the operators of the property continue to produce minerals from it. Moreover, the contract provided that the operators should not be obliged to mine or operate when either lead or zinc concentrates were worth in the Joplin
The rulings of the district court in sustaining the demurrers are affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.