Pope v. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co.

RHONDA K. WOOD, Judge.

11 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company owns the timber rights to 179 acres in Hot Spring County. Its rights are recorded in a timber deed, which incorporates an underlying agreement of sale. Hancock’s rights to the timber were set to expire at the end of 2010. By December 2010, Hancock had yet to cut down any trees, then valued at $750,000. Hancock decided to extend the lease another year as provided in the agreement and deed.1 To that end, it researched the land records and discovered that Ricky and Christine Pope were the surface owners of the property.2

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