Phillips v. Harris

Linda Kay Jones Phillips sued Edgar E. Harris and other property owners, seeking to have the trial court determine the ownership of minerals found within 160 acres of real property.1 The defendant property owners moved for a summary judgment, arguing that the deed under which both sides claimed their interests unambiguously reserved the minerals at issue for them. In her response to the motion, Phillips presented affidavit testimony from a linguistics expert who testified that the language of the deed was ambiguous. The trial court determined that, as a matter of law, the deed was not…