Iddings v. Equitable Gas Co.

Citations

• 8 Pa. Super. 244
• 1898 Pa. Super. LEXIS 51

Syllabus

<p>Oil. and gas lease — Failure to sink well.</p> <p>A supplemental agreement, based on a valuable consideration, bound the lessee to sink a third well and to pay a fixed sum or rental therefor, provided gas was found in paying quantities. Held, that this was the test of liability, and not the relative production, or the effect of the work on wells already sunk.</p> <p>Gas lease — Default by lessee — Damages.</p> <p>Where under the lease the presence or absence of gas in paying quantities may be determined by the convincing method of sinking a well as thereby called for, upon failure to sink the well the defaulting party becomes liable to pay the actual damages sustained.</p> <p>Gas lease — Failure to sink well — Measure of damage.</p> <p>Where by not sinking a well as stipulated in a contract the defendant lessee has by his default deprived the lessor of this test, the value placed upon success may properly be deemed, prima facie, the just measure of compensation for the default.</p> <p>Evidence — Effect of suppression by a party — Presumptions.</p> <p>Upon the suppression or spoliation of evidence by a party or the failure to produce it when within his control, the jury may pi’esume that its effect had it been produced would have been unfavorable to him.</p> <p>The individual who wilfully refuses to fulfil his contract if he alleges any extenuating circumstances must prove them. No presumptions arise in his favor.</p>