Alfrey v. Ellington

GRISSOM, Chief Justice.

This is a suit by Neville Alfrey against Dr. E. O. Ellington for a declaratory judgment construing a mineral deed. Al-frey alleged there was a bona fide dispute as to whether said deed conveyed to him an oil payment “attributable to the mineral interest covered by the deed or whether said oil payment was effectively reserved to defendant.”

In April, 1953, Dr. Ellington executed an oil and gas lease on the 320 acres later described in the mineral deed in question. Said lease, which was in the usual form, provided that Ellington, in consideration of $10 and the royalties…