Body v. Skeen

Under an agreement dated July 14, 1960, Bernie H. Body (the defendant) agreed to pay to Bertha H. Skeen and others (the plaintiffs) a royalty of 5^ for each ton of coal mined on land not owned by the plaintiffs and transported over land owned by the plaintiffs (which we will refer to as the “Hamm property”). The plaintiffs brought this action on January 10, 1964 to recover a judgment in the amount of the agreed royalty for coal transported by the defendant over a certain road on the Hamm property.

The defendant asserted that because the road in question was a public road, he owed nothing to…