Taylor v. Bradford

CLAY, Commissioner.

This suit was brought by appellant to recover damages for the removal of coal from a 125 acre tract of land in which she owns a l/16th interest. The jury awarded her an amount approximating the customary tonnage royalty on the coal produced. On this appeal appellant directs her main attack at the instructions, but her basic contention is that the measure of her damages, after July 15, 1948, should have been the gross value of the coal on the surface rather than its royalty value.

In 1947 appellees, by virtue of purchase and lease, had acquired what they thought were all of…