18 Ohio C.C. Dec. 119 | Oh. Circ. Ct., Wood | 1905
This case comes into this court by appeal and is an action that was brought in the court of common pleas for the purpose of declaring-
The plaintiff comes into a court of equity and asks that this lease be terminated; that the property is very poor paying territory and there is no probability of oil being found there. The plaintiff offers no testimony whatever that there.is any probability that it is paying territory, that wells ought to be found upon the territory; in other-words the whole drift of the testimony is that the territory is poor and that the wells, if producing, would be very light, and that a prudent man would not be warranted in drilling a well with the expectation of ever getting his money back, so that, so far as the outcome is concerned, the plaintiff is suffering no injury so far as we can see. So far as the defendant is concerned, he seems to be trying to make his living out of'
It is said that there has been an omission for some time to operate.. The testimony of the defendant shows that he has been in a condition physically for some time, where he could not carry forward the work. He gives what we deem good and fair reasons for allowing the wells to remain idle that are now on the lease. There was a storm and the derricks were blown down, — a very heavy storm; and while in this situation the derricks were burned, and the man seems to have had one trouble upon another, and yet he has been fighting along against these difficulties and doing the best he can under the circumstances, and we think the court ought to permit him to hold the premises and continue to operate the wells, so long as he, in his judgment, thinks it profitable, and without further discussion we hold that the petition should be dismissed and judgment awarded the defendant for his costs in the case.