Court Opinion

ID: 9768763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 13:47:42.785099+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:44.473100
License: Public Domain

CALVERT, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I join in the dissenting opinion filed by Justice Walker. I append the following comment.
The holding of the court is that the filing of suit by Montgomery on May 12, 1964, constituted a ratification of the lease. The parties stipulated that a well was completed as a producer pn the Crutchfield Unit on October 9, 1956, and that shut-in royalty was paid from that date until May, 1958, when actual production was begun. The record reflects that Montgomery knew as early as July, 1957, that the well had been completed. The record thus reflects that Montgomery waited nearly seven years before he ratified the lease.
By agreeing that ratification has been effected by the judgment herein, I do not wish to be understood as agreeing that a non-participating royalty owner, with full knowledge of his rights, cannot lose his right to ratify through laches. See Nugent v. Freeman, 306 S.W.2d 167 (Tex.Civ.App.—Eastland 1957, n. r. e.). There was no plea of laches in this case.