Phillips v. Coast

Citations

• 130 Pa. 572
• 18 A. 998
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1071

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. If a person, while in possession of oil land, believing he has a valid title thereto, in good faith drill an oil well thereon, he has the right, if the land be afterwards recovered from him in ejectment, to retain out of the proceeds of the oil produced during Ms occupancy a sum sufficient to reimburse him for the cost of drilling the well.</p> <p>2. In such case, if, pending the action of ejectment brought, the court issue a writ of estrepement and appoint a receiver under the act of June 5, 1883, P. L. 79, the defendant is entitled to compensation for the cost of putting down the well, out of a fund in the receiver’s hands arising from the sale of the oil therefrom produced.</p> <p>3. A general notice to an occupant under color of title that the land in his possession belongs to another, does not as matter of law render his subsequent possession mala fide, even though he fail to inquire of the claimant for the facts upon which his claim rests, if such inquiry would not disclose facts inconsistent with a reasonable belief in his own title.</p>