Sparks v. Midstates Oil Corp.

PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

The defendants are the owners of an oil and gas lease on a 70 acre farm in Section 30, Township 2 South, Range 2 West, Carter County, Oklahoma. The plaintiffs, as owners of the mineral rights, brought this action to cancel the lease on the ground that the lessees had not diligently developed and operated the leased premises. Ten acre units were established, and commercial wells have been drilled to the shallow sands on six of the seven tracts. The principal question arose due, to the failure of the lessees to test the deeper sands. The trial court held that, except for…