Mobil Pipe Line Co. v. Smith

OPINION

OSBORN, Chief Justice.

In what appears as a ease of first impression, this Court must decide what right an owner of a pipeline right-of-way has to enter upon farmland and lay a pipeline when there is no agreement with, but objection from, the tenant who farms the land under a lease at will. Mobil, as owner of the right-of-way, was denied access by the tenant, and the trial court denied a temporary injunction to permit access to the land being farmed by Dane Smith. We reverse and remand.

Facts

For more than ten years, Dane Smith has farmed a quarter section of land in Gaines County, Texas.…