Howell Petroleum Corp. v. Holliman

This is a deed construction case. The only issue is whether the trial court erred in construing a 1924 deed from J.M. Holliman to the Citizens Bank of Fayette to effect a mineral exception for the benefit of the grantor.

In 1917, the United States granted a land patent for the subject property to William Aldridge; the patent reserved to the United States all the coal in the described property. Aldridge mortgaged the property, without mineral reservation, to the Citizens Bank of Fayette. In 1923, the mortgage was foreclosed, and the property was conveyed to J.M. Holliman, the highest bidder at…