Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp. v. Nortex Oil & Gas Corp.

CALVERT, Chief Justice.

Nortex Oil & Gas Corporation sued Schlumberger Well Surveying Corporation for damages alleged to have been sustained as a result of a fraud practiced upon it by the sellers of certain oil and gas leasehold estates. Schlumberger was not one of the sellers of the leasehold estates and owned no interest therein; its liability was asserted on the ground that it had participated in a conspiracy to commit certain unlawful acts which made the fraud possible.

Trial was begun to a jury, but at the conclusion of Nortex’s evidence, the trial judge withdrew the case from the jury…