Cities Service Oil Company v. Estes

The issue presented in this case is whether the right of first refusal to purchase certain property granted to Cities Service Oil Company under a lease applies to a public judicial sale so that Cities Service may acquire the property at the price offered by the highest bidder.

On October 5, 1954, O. H. Mull and Elsie H. Mull, his wife, leased certain property in Chase City, Virginia, to Cities Service for use as a gasoline filling station for a term of fifteen years with an option to renew the lease for an additional five years. The lease was duly recorded in the clerk’s office of the Circuit…