Trailsend Land Co. v. Virginia Holding Corp.

This is a dispute over the ownership of a 623-acre tract of land in Portsmouth, Virginia. On October 17, 1974, Virginia Holding Corporation (VHC) sold the land to Trailsend Land Company (Trailsend) for approximately four million dollars. The deed contained a repurchase option which reads in pertinent part as follows:

It is mutually agreed between the parties hereto, that the property hereby conveyed and described in Exhibit “A,” is to be used for any one or more of the following purposes: the production, handling, processing, distribution or storage of petroleum and other hydrocarbons.

If…