Welsch v. Trivestco Energy Co.

Greene, j.:

Dean D. Welsch, successor in interest to the lessors in an oil and gas lease, appeals the district court’s refusal to grant summary judgment cancelling the lease, as well as the court’s award of summary judgment to Trivestco Energy Company, the successor in interest to the lessee in that lease, thus preserving the lease on the basis that the shut-in royalty provisions of the lease created a covenant with entitlement to money damages rather than a condition with entitlement to lease termination. As alternate bases for its decision, the district court relied on a construction and…