Recording of Oil and Gas Lease in Only One of Two Counties Where Leased Premises Lie Provides Constructive Notice

摘要

Aston Meadows, Ltd. v. Devon Energy Production Co., No. 02-10-00370-CV, 2012 WL 254088 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Jan. 26,2012, no pet. h.), affirmed a summary judgment in favor of Devon Energy Production Co. (Devon), the holder of an oil and gas lease, against a subdivision developer and lot owners who claimed that they had purchased their land without notice of Devon's prior lease.Aston Meadows, the developer, had purchased its 182.024-acre tract of land located entirely in Tarrant County in 2001. Un-beknownst to Aston Meadows, the land was subject to a 1977 oil and gas lease that also covered other land. The larger leased tract out of which Aston Meadows' tract had been carved straddled the boundary between Tarrant and Wise Counties and embraced land in both counties. The lease had been recorded only in Wise County, however, not in Tarrant County. The lease was not shown as an encumbrance in the title insurance policy Aston Meadows obtained when it bought the land, and it and the buyers of lots in its subdivision apparently were completely unaware of it at the time of their purchases. In 2007, after Devon drilled horizontally under the land, they sued Devon for a declaration that the lease was invalid against them because it was not recorded in Tarrant County when Aston Meadows purchased the land and that they were therefore bona fide purchasers for value free of the lease. Id. at*l.