Elliott v. Crystal Springs Oil Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Dawson, J.:

The plaintiff brought this action to cancel an oil and gas lease on his property. He charged the defendants with failure to pay rent, with nonproduction, abandonment of producing operations, and failure of defendants to drill “offset wells” as provided in the lease. Plaintiff prayed also for an attorney’s fee and $100 as statutory damages.

Issues were j oined, and the cause came on for trial, but after hearing the opening statements of counsel for plaintiff and defendants and the evidence of one witness for defendant who explained why the gas…