Opinion ID: 1685183
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: did the 1971 decree adjudicate the validity of the leases?

Text: The 1971 lawsuit instituted by Pace was brought to declare the 1946 leases invalid. The prayer to the bill of complaint in that suit reads as follows: WHEREFORE, premises considered, your petitioner prays that lawful process issue from this Court to each of the defendants, commanding them to be and to appear before this Honorable Court at the next term of the Court, to then and there answer, plead or demur to this bill of complaint; and, that upon final hearing hereof, order be entered herein declaring all lease rights of every kind, character and description as to oil, gas and other minerals now outstanding against the SE 1/4 of SE 1/4, Section 34, Township 10 North, Range 9 West, Wayne County, Mississippi, be and are cancelled and declared to no longer exist; and, that damages be awarded petitioner against Gene W. Snell and W.P. Wooley in the amount of $10,000.00, and your petitioner prays for such other and further relief, both general and special, as to the Court may seem in equity and good conscience, and as in duty bound, petitioner will every pray. Answer under oath is waived. It is incongruous that Pace and his successor Dixie Oil now are arguing that the 1946 leases are valid and still in force. While the 1971 lawsuit was pending, Pace, Snell and Wooley, the holders of the leases, entered into a written settlement of the 1971 lawsuit wherein the leases were transferred by quitclaim to J.K. Pace. That agreement was attached to and made a part of the final decree entered in the cause. There was no adjudication as to whether the leases were valid or invalid or whether they had expired due to nonproduction and/or not reworking. The decree did nothing more than to acknowledge that the leases had been transferred to J.K. Pace by Snell and Wooley. The rights of other parties were not affected and the decree expressly so provided. In the present case the chancellor's decree is based in part on the proposition that the 1971 decree adjudicated the continuing validity of the 1946 leases. This was error. As stated earlier, the 1971 decree adjudicated nothing other than to recognize that the lawsuit had been settled as between Pace, Snell and Wooley.