Court Opinion

ID: 9829500
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 19:21:48.156572+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:02.016709
License: Public Domain

On Motions for Rehearing.
Appellant, Clifford Mooers, in his second motion for a rehearing, has furnished us with a schedule which enables us to here render judgment without the necessity of remanding the cause to the trial court. Accordingly; this motion will be granted, the judgment of this Court affirming the judgment of the trial court, heretofore rendered on June 26, 1946,- will be set aside, and likewise the -judgment of this' Court reversing and remanding the cause heretofore rendered on September 25, 1946, will be set aside, and the judgment of the trial court will be amended so as to permit a recovery by appellant against Richardson Petroleum Company in the sum of $91,320.-21, together with interest at the 'rate of 6% per annum from September ■ 25, 1946, until paid, as actual damages instead of $32,002.38, and as thus amended the judgment of the trial court will be in all. things affirmed. ■ - '
The sum. of $91,320.21 is ¾6 of the value of the oil run to pipe lines from tanks connected to Quiros Well No. 2, from December, 1935, to September, 1936, from tanks connected to Harrell Well No. 1, from March, 1936, to January, 1937, from tanks connected to all of the wells on the Sed-wick lease producing low gravity oil, from April, 1935 to January, 1937, computed at the sum of $1.22 per barrel, being the highest intermediate price of oil of 25-26 gravity then being produced from Erigan well No. 1 and ¾6 of the value of all oil run to pipelines from tanks connected to Harrell Well No. 1, from February, 1937, to March, 1941, from tanks connected to Sedwick Well No. 7/ from June, 1938, to May, 1939, and from tanks connected to all the wells producing low gravity oil from' the Sedwick lease from February, 1937, to March, 1941, computed at $1.40 per barrel, being the highest intermediate price paid for oil produced from Erigan Wells Nos. 2 and 3, the first of which began producing both legal and illegal oil on the 1st day of February, 1937, plus interest at the rate of six per cent from the 20th day of the month following the month 'in which the oil was produced to the 25th day of September, 1946.
At the request of appellant, the Court makes the following additional findings of fact, to-wit:
1. That appellee Richardson Petroleum' Company and its predecessors, immediately upon coming into possession of the Erigan lease and reconditioning Erigan well No. 1 into a fine oil well, began laying a network of hot oil lines from the wells and tanks on thé Erigan lease, the first being -a line connecting the manifold of Erigan well No. 1 with the manifold of Quiros well No. 2 late in December, 1935; that later, in March, 1936, a line was-laid from the tanks on the Erigan lease to the gun barrel connected to Harrell well No'. 1, and in April a line was' laid connecting the wells and tanks on the Erigan lease to the wells on the Sedwick lease; that as new wells were drilled on the Erigan lease these were connected to such hot oil line by the use of bleeder lines on the storage tanks and also by the use of direct connections between *143the flow lines of Erigan well No. 2 and Erigan well No. 3; that these lines were later connected to a large Mud Hog pump situated about the boundary line dividing the Quiros and Erigan leases, and that excess oil produced on the Erigan lease could be and was transferred through the use of such Mud Hog pump and hot oil system to the three wells on the Harrell lease, all of the wells on the Sedwick lease and wells Nos. 2 and 8 on the Quiros lease; that such line was so constructed that by the use of various valves and cut-offs oil could be transferred from any one of the three wells on the Erigan lease to any of the wells above enumerated, and that such line was maintained until December, 1941, when the same was discovered for the first time and dug up and broken out under the direction of the authorities of the Federal Petroleum Board; but that the use of such line for running oil from the Erigan lease was discontinued the latter part of March, 1941, when the officials of the ap-pellee company became frightened and switched their illegal operations to other leases.
2. That appellee Richardson Petroleum Company, immediately upon coming into possession of the Erigan and Quiros leases in December, 1935, began the practice of laying secret lines from the Erigan lease to other leases owned by such company and of running indeterminate amounts of liot oil from the Erigan lease to such other leases in the vicinity owned by appellee ■company and its predecessors in title.
3. That appellee Richardson Petroleum Company supplied Quiros well No. 2 with ■all of its oil from December, 1935, to April, 1936, and that in May, 1936, Quiros well No. 2 began making a small amount of oil in the form of a fine spray, and the remainder of its allowable and pipe line runs was supplied by Erigan well No. 1 through September, 1936, through the use of secret underground lines connecting the manifold of Erigan well No: 1 and Quiros ■well No. 2.
4. That upon Harrell well No. 1 coming into production in March, 1-936, appel-lee Richardson Petroleum Company or its predecessors laid a secret hot oil line from Erigan well No. 1 to Harrell well No. 1, and continuously supplied such Harrell well No. 1 with large and indeterminate amounts of illegal oil stolen from the Erigan lease and this appellant from March, 1936, until the latter part of March, 1941, when appellee company became frightened and . ceased taking oil from the Erigan lease and switched its ■ illegal operations to other leases owned by appellee company.
5. That upon Sedwick wells coming into production in April, 1936, appellee Richardson Petroleum Company and its predecessors immediately laid a secret hot oil line from Erigan well No. 1 to the wells then producing on the Sedwick lease, and from that time forward continuously and secretly moved large amounts of oil from the Erigan lease to the wells on the Sedwick lease until the latter part of March, 1941, when appellee company became frightened and ceased taking oil from the Erigan lease and moved its illegal operations to other leases owned by such company.; that large amounts of oil were moved through this secret underground hot oil system, but that no records were kept thereof, and that it is impossible to determine how much oil was so moved, but that such operations were continuous and were done without the knowledge or consent of appellant, Clifford Mooers; that as new wells were drilled on the Sedwick lease they were connected with this secret hot oil line and supplied to some extent with oil stolen from the Erigan lease and appellant-; that the only well on such lease not continuously connected with such hot oil line was Sedwick well No. 7.
6. That it was the general practice, of appellee company, as shown by the undisputed testimony in the' record before this Court, to make up the deficiency in any of its wells óñ ⅜ the Quiros, Harrell and Sed-wick leases from -excess oil produced by wells on the Erigan lease, in which appellant had and has an interest, and that this practice was generally followed and was continuous from the time appellee took pos- . session of the Erigan lease in December, 1935, until March "of 1941. ,
. 7. That^ in 1939 the only low gravity wells on the Quiros lease, being -wells.Nqs. 2 and 8, fell off in production and during the period from January, 1931, to Decern-*144ber, 1940, oil from the Erigan lease was transferred both by the use of the Mud Hog pump situated between the two leases and by a process of equalization and siphoning to make up the deficiency in such wells, and that such practice was continuous from January, 1939, to December, 1940.
8. That Harrell wells Nos. 2 and 3, being high gravity wells, became deficient in the last year of their life, to-wit, June, 1938, to May, 1939, and that during such period large amounts of oil were transferred from the Erigan lease to Harrell wells Nos. 2 and 3 and run to the pipe line from such wells as if produced by them.
9. That Sedwick well No. 7, being the only high gravity well on the Sedwick lease, became deficient the last year of its life, to-wit, June, 1938 to May, 1939, and was unable to make its allowable as set by the Railroad Commission of Texas, and that continuously during such period large amounts of oil were, transferred from the wells and tanks on the Erigan lease to the gun barrel, and thence into the tanks supposedly connected only to Sedwick well No. 7, and run to the pipe line as if produced from Sedwick well No. 7.
The motions for rehearing by appellees will be overruled. Appellant’s motion for a rehearing is granted in part as above shown.