Howard v. Hoffeld

Headnote

Howard v. Hoffeld, 166 App. Div. 908 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered December 15, 1914, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiffs entered upon a verdict directed by the court. Plaintiffs leased to defendant natural gas underlying their properties with the privilege of drilling therefor, defendant agreeing to -compensate the owners for the lease by furnishing free gas and laying down the

pipes to carry such gas to the houses of the owners, or within twenty feet therefrom, and by paying a royalty on gas sold. Defendant entered upon plaintiffs’ premises, drilled a well, found gas, but not in sufficient quantity for commercial purposes. He thereupon abandoned the premises. Plaintiffs insisted, under the lease, that it was the duty of the lessee to pipe the distance from the well to their respective houses so that they might use the gas which was in the well, which the lessee refused to do; whereupon the owners did it themselves and brought this action to recover the expense. Defendant contended that the lessee had the right to abandon the well and the lease upon discovering that he could not get gas enough to sell; that the construction, of the contract, which required him not only to drill the test well, but to pay for piping gas to the houses of the owners, is unfair and unjust, and that the contract, fairly construed, gave him the right to abandon, at the time he did abandon, without making any compensation either in form of free gas, or free piping, or royalties to the owners.