Flying Diamond Oil Corp. v. Newton Sheep Co.

STEWART, Justice:

Flying Diamond Oil Corporation 1 appeals a trial court judgment declaring that, as the surface owner of certain lands, it is entitled to only one-quarter of 2½% payments based on the value of all oil and gas produced from Champlin Petroleum Company’s (“Champlin”) mineral estate that underlies Flying Diamond’s lands. Flying Diamond contends that Champlin’s promise to pay the 2½% payment to the surface owner is a covenant that runs with the surface of the land to which Flying Diamond is exclusively entitled. It also asserts that the trial court erred in ruling that Flying…