Cleary Petroleum Corp. v. Harrison

OP ALA, Justice.

The issues to be dealt with on certiorari are: (1) Is a corporate oil-and-gas lessee “aggrieved” by a judgment which, while quieting its title to the leasehold, also declares its lessor’s interest in the demised land to be but a right-of-way easement rather than a mineral estate or a fee? (2) Did the trial court correctly construe the deeds in question when it adjudged that they convey but an easement interest? (3) Was the quiet-title decree in favor of the fee claimants contrary to law?

We hold: (1) The trial court’s decree reducing lessor’s estate to a mere easement so…