264 S.W. 718 | Tex. App. | 1924
This action was brought by appellant against appellee to have an oil lease, under which he had developed certain lands described by him in his petition, declared superior to one under which appellee was holding the land. He alleged that he had developed the land under his lease by drilling seven wells, and that appellee was in possession of the land and operating his *719 wells to his great damage. He closed his petition with the following prayer:
"Premises considered, plaintiff prays that this honorable court grant a temporary writ of injunction restraining defendant from producing oil from said four (4) wells above described, and restraining defendant from using the casing, tubing, and rods owned by plaintiff in said wells in the production of oil therefrom, and restraining defendant from hindering, interfering with, or preventing the plaintiff operating said wells and producing oil therefrom, and from removing the casing, tubing, and rods owned by plaintiff from said premises; and on final hearing that defendant's lease be held inferior to plaintiff's, and that as between plaintiff and defendant that plaintiff be adjudged the right of possession in and to the four (4) wells described above and the lot upon which they are located, and that defendant be perpetually enjoined and restrained from hindering or preventing plaintiff operating said four wells for oil, and preventing defendant from using plaintiff's property in producing oil on said premises, or from removing or from interfering with plaintiff removing any property of plaintiff's from the premises, for all costs, and general relief."
Upon a hearing the trial judge refused the injunctive relief prayed for, and appellant has brought this appeal.
(1) Equity will not protect one in a legal right in the absence of a showing of injury. When appellant failed to show that he could salvage the property claimed by him at a reasonable profit, he failed to invoke the equity jurisdiction of the trial court. Pomeroy's Equity Jurisprudence (4th Ed.) § 1347.
(2) Under article 4643, §
(3) Appellee was an innocent purchaser of his lease. Presumptively the piping, rods, and tubes in the wells were a part of the realty — permanent fixtures therein. This presumption could be rebutted only on a showing that appellant, under his special contract with the owners, had the right of removal. He admitted that his lease rights were forfeited, and that he no longer had any right on the land, nor to operate the wells. There being nothing in the record to visit appellee with notice of any of the terms of appellee's lease, and as all his rights on the land had been forfeited, and there being nothing on the land to give appellee notice that appellant was asserting any rights to the property, the court's judgment should be sustained on the presumption that he found that appellee was an innocent purchaser.
(4) The clause in appellant's contract giving him the right to remove his casing, pipes, and rods "at any time" should be construed as giving him only a reasonable time to remove them after the expiration of his lease. It certainly was not within the contemplation of the parties to the lease that appellant could incumber the land with his fixtures, machinery, piping, and tubes, and, after the expiration of his lease and abandonment of all of his rights thereunder, hold possession of the land by willfully failing and refusing to remove his property. The right to an indefinite possession of the land for the purpose of claiming his fixtures now asserted by appellant would not be to his advantage, because his property would necessarily deteriorate, but would result in great hardship to the owner of the fee. Under appellant's construction of the contract, he could withhold from the owners of the fee the possession of the land to the extent covered by his improvements for an indefinite time, though all his rights under the lease were forfeited. If we are correct in this construction of the lease, the failure of appellant to remove his fixtures within a reasonable time resulted in a forfeiture, making them a part of the realty and vesting the owner of the fee with title thereto. Wright v. Macdonnell,
(5) The doctrine of "balance of convenience" should control in cases of substantial doubt as to whether the relator is entitled to a temporary injunction. Cartwright v. Warren (Tex.Civ.App.)
"We quote from Joyce on Injunctions (volume 1, § 25): `Where the rights of the parties are at all doubtful, the court applied to for an injunction should look at the balance of convenience, and act upon the consideration of the comparative inconvenience which may arise from granting or withholding the injunction. In this connection it is said in a recent case: "In a doubtful case, where the granting of the injunction would, on the assumption that the defendant ultimately will prevail, cause greater detriment to him than would, on the contrary assumption, be suffered by the complainant, through its refusal, the injunction usually should be denied. But where in a doubtful case the denial of the injunction would, on the assumption that the complainant ultimately will prevail, result in greater detriment to him than would on the contrary assumption be sustained by the defendant through its allowance, the injunction usually should be granted. The balance of convenience or hardship ordinarily is a factor of controlling importance in cases of substantial doubt existing at the time of granting or refusing the preliminary injunction. Such a doubt may relate either to the facts or to the law of the case, or to both."' And it has been held in this connection that damage to others, not parties to the suit, may be considered in a doubtful case."
Now, under the facts of this case, as we have said, it is doubtful that appellant would suffer any injury whatever if he were never permitted to remove his casings, tubes, and piping from the wells. Even if the injunction were granted, it was not made to appear that he could secure permission from the Railroad Commission to remove his casing. Discussing this proposition, Judge Cobbs said, in Southwestern Oil Gas Co. v. Kimball Oil Development Co. (Tex.Civ.App.)
"The petition presents such a case as guarantees the right to bore the hole deeper. If the appellee be allowed to remove the casing, appellant's opportunity to go deeper because of the mandatory requirements of the law passed by the Thirty-Sixth Legislature (Laws 1919, c.
Construing the facts in the light of the law discussed by Judge Cobbs, we think the injunction was properly refused, under the doctrine of "balance of convenience." *721