Mullinnix LLC, Appellant (plaintiff) v. Hkb Royalty Trust, C/o H. Kirk Brown, Iii

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed judgments quieting title to gas rights, including coalbed methane, in the appellees, holding that reservations of "oil rights" in 1940s Campbell County warranty deeds did not include gas because appellants failed to meet their burden of proving a trade usage of the term that embraced gas. The court reaffirmed that even facially unambiguous deed terms may be interpreted with extrinsic evidence of surrounding circumstances and trade usage at the time and place of execution, expressly declining Pennaco's invitation to adopt a strict plain-meaning rule for unambiguous deeds. It further held that the 1968 Declaration of Interest signed by the Parnells lacked words of conveyance and could not operate as a waiver or estoppel, and that Mullinnix failed to prove detrimental reliance because it paid the $24,000 draft before the declaration was signed.