Fagin v. Quinn

BRYAN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree dismissing a bill of complaint, and raises the question of the right of appellants to recover 13.8 acres of land situated in the Spindletop oil field in Texas.

The Federal Crude Oil Company, a Texas corporation, acquired title to the land in question in 1901, and proceeded to drill oil wells, but later abandoned its activities in the belief that oil under the land in paying quantities had been exhausted. In 1906 its right to do business was forfeited by the state for failure to pay a franchise tax. The value of the land depended almost…