Sartor v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation

HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge.

The suit as originally brought in 1933 was for the value of gas (calculated at the market price) taken by defendant from wells in the years 1927 to 1933, inclusive, under an oil and gas lease in what is known as the Richland Field. The claim was that though the lease secured to plaintiffs, payment at the market price for all gas taken, defendant, during the years in question, had paid them only 3 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, which plaintiffs alleged was much; less than the market price.

The defenses were: a denial that the market price was as claimed by plaintiffs, and…