Lightcap v. Mobil Oil Corporation

The following opinion was prepared by Foth, C., prior to his becoming a member of the Court of Appeals, and is now ordered filed as the opinion of the court:

In these six cases, consolidated for trial, the plaintiff-appellees are royalty owners and lessors under various natural gas leases in the Hugoton field now held by the defendant-appel'ant, Mobil Oil Corporation, as lessee. We are told that there are nearly three hundred similar cases pending in the district court whose outcome will be largely determined by the decision here.

Plaintiffs sought and received judgments for additional…