T. W. Phillips Gas & Oil Co. v. Manor Gas Coal Co.

Citations

• 68 Pa. Super. 372
• 1917 Pa. Super. LEXIS 134

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Oil and gas lease — Drilling well through coal — Relative rights of owners — Equity.</p> <p>Where coal under land is sold with right to mine out all the coal without liability for damages to the surface, and the owner of the surface subsequently executes an oil and gas lease to another person, the lessee has a right to drill a well through the coal to reach the oil and gas. It is his duty, however, to make a proper effort to agree with the owner of the coal as to the site of the proposed well. If he makes such an effort, without success, he may file a bill in equity, and the court may then in the exercise of a sound discretion, determine the location and the fair terms upon which the well may be drilled.</p> <p>If, in such a case, a bill has been filed, and it appears that the owner of the coal, through all his dealings with the owner of the lease had stood upon his supposed right of preventing any drilling whatever, and the owner of the lease has made some, but not an adequate effort to reach an agreement, and the court below dismisses the bill, the appellate court will direct that the bill be reinstated, with directions that the plaintiff shall make an effort to reach an agreement upon fair terms within a time staled but that if he does not succeed, the court shall from the testimony already taken determine where the well may be located, and the terms upon which it may be drilled.</p>