Court Opinion

ID: 9640173
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:59:58.519148+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:27.845193
License: Public Domain

NORTHCOTT, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the findings and conclusions in the majority opinion as to the facts as found by the special master and confirmed by the trial judge. I regret that I cannot concur as to the interpretation, as a matter of law, of the clause giving the lessee the right to withdraw from the lease “in case - the lessee finds he cannot work this lease at a profit”. There is no ambiguity in this clause, its • words are plain and simple and its meaning is clear. It gave the lessee the right- to surrender the lease whenever, in good faith, he found he could not work the lease at a profit. The decision was left to the judgment of the lessee. As stated in the “majority opinion the proposed development was highly speculative and in order to have the coal mined the owners of the property were willing to give the lessee this option. Through all the changes in the lease and changes of ownership of the mine this clause was left unchanged, certainly with full notice to all parties.
Ambiguity. should not be read into a plqin clause in order to avoid the consequences of a contract made between competent parties. There are other clauses in the lease that show that this clause was intended to run throughout the life of the lease or any extension of it.
Nor do I think it proper to write into this clause the words “under normal conditions”. Had the parties desired to so limit the clause they could have done so in the original lease. It is a known fact that normal conditions in the coal business in the section where this property is located have remained very bad since the giving of the notice of withdrawal in the instant case. From that date until now it seems clear that this operation could not have been carried on profitably and there is no prospect that the present normal conditions will change for the better in the near future, in the coal business. It is a known fact that coal mines operated under the most favorable conditions are thé only ones that can be operated at a profit at the present time.
I cannot agree that the clause in the original lease should be given an interpretation not in accord with the plain meaning of common words so as to change the evident intent of the parties to the lease, when it was first executed.
I am of the opinion that the decree of the court below should be reversed as to the interpretation of the withdrawal clause in the lease.