Dietz v. Mission Transfer Co.

Citations

• 95 Cal. 92
• 30 P. 380
• 1892 Cal. LEXIS 791

Syllabus

<p>Lease — Option to Purchase—Purchase of Part by Lessee — Rights of Other Purchasers from Lessor. — Where, by the terms of a lease, the lessee had. the option to purchase the laud within thirty days after notice by the owners of the land, and while he was in possession of the land under the lease, and entitled to purchase, the owners of the land, by a deed of grant, bargain, and sale, conveyed a part of the land to him, the fact that the grantors had, prior to the deed but subsequent to the lease, entered into an agreement for the sale of the property to other parties, could not deprive him of the benefit of his agreement and conveyance, or entitle them to any greater rights in the portion of the tract sold to him than those named in the exceptions and reservations contained therein.</p> <p>Id.—Exceptions in Deed — Right to Bore for Oil.—Where the deed to the lessee of part of the tract expressly excepted from its operation “all oils, petroleum, asphaltum, and other kindred mineral substances,” and contained a reservation of “the right to erect machinery, sink wells, bore, tunnel, dig for, work on, and remove the same from the premises,” etc., a purchaser of the rights of the grantor, although not having the right to use the land conveyed to the lessee for the purpose of pumping or storing oil found in other portions of the tract, has the right to go upon such part of the tract to develop it, and to tunnel and dig to ascertain whether any oil croppings exist, although there are none on the surface, being held to a reasonable exercise of the right to develop the oil.</p> <p>Id. — Ejectment — Judgment in Prior Action against Lessee — Res Adjudicata ■— Different Subject-matter. — A judgment for the plaintiffs in an action between the grantors of the lessee and their other grantee on the one part, and the lessee and others on the other part,' wherein the plaintiffs alleged that the lessee’s rights under his lease had ceased by failure to purchase within the time provid