Sirtex Oil Industries, Inc., Petitioner v. Thelma Erigan, Respondents

Summary

The Texas Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Civil Appeals, holding that the surface lease did not terminate automatically for Sirtex's failure to pay rent and that Sirtex was not entitled to make a rent tender as a matter of law. The court construed the lease's election clause as requiring an express notice and treated the rent provision as a covenant, not a condition precedent.