Reformation of Grant Deed to Reserve Oil, Gas, and Mineral Rights Upheld

摘要

The court in Weyandt v. Dillett, A104548, 2004 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 8936, at *1 (Cal. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2004) (unpublished) affirmed the judicial reformation of a grant deed. The reformation had the effect of deleting a limited reservation in favor of the grantor/plaintiff, Shirley Weyandt, of the right to drill and remove any oil or gas below a depth of 500 feet below the surface of the property. The grant deed, as reformed, provided that the plaintiff reserved all oil, gas, and mineral rights to the property. The land purchase agreement (pursuant to which the grant deed was given) executed by the grantee/defendant (Fred Dillett), stated that "Buyer is aware that mineral rights do not transfer with the sale." Id. at *4. The appellate court stated that the intent of the parties to the purchase agreement, which was signed before the grant deed, was to exclude mineral rights from the sale of the property. Fred Dillett knew from the promotional brochure for the property, his discussions with the real estate broker, and plaintiff's response to an inquiry on the subject, that the grantor did not intend to include mineral rights in the sale. Substantial evidence was presented to support the reformation of the grant deed based on mutual mistake. The plaintiff was not bound by her allegation of "unilateral mistake" in her first amended complaint. Furthermore, her failure to discover the description of the mineral rights in the grant deed did not preclude her from obtaining a reformation of the contract. She was entitled to rely on the terms of the prior land purchase agreement which preserved her mineral rights to the property, particularly because she had consistently reasserted those rights after the agreement had been executed.