Nevin, et al. v. Kennedy, et al.
Docket Info
- Title
- Stanley R. Nevin, Plaintiff
and
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., Plaintiff, Intervenor and Appellant
v.
Helen L. H. Kennedy; Gena Baker f/k/a Gena
Kennedy; Nona Kennedy; Jason Craig Newburn,
as personal representative of Maura Kay Newburn,
deceased: Keira Kennedy Adams; Jess Anne Knutson;
Charles Herbert Jacobson; Miles G. Johnsrud
and Marlene Kay Johnsrud, as Co-Trustees of
the Miles and Marlene Johnsrud Family Mineral
Trust under Agreement dated July 13, 2011;
JoAnn Kennedy; Scott Cameron, as Trustee of the
Scott Cameron Trust dated June 13, 2013;
Shannon Kristine Dusek and David Alan Dusek,
as Trustees of the Shannon and David Dusek
Family Revocable Trust; Tiffany Papagno,
as Personal Representative of the Estate of
Thomas W. Kennedy, deceased; Robert W. Kennedy;
Michael Kennedy; Lisa Marie Kennedy; Lisa Marie Kennedy;
James M. Kennedy; Jodie Thompson Woroniecki, as
Personal Representative of the Estate of
Barbra Kennedy Johnson a/k/a Barbara Kennedy Johnson,
deceased; Michelle Grass; Colleen Zychowicz
f/k/a Colleen Kennedy; Debra Kennedy Griffie;
Benjamin J. Larson; Rainbow Energy
Marketing Corporation; Northern Energy
Corporation; Landmark Oil and Gas, LLC,
Missouri River Royalty Corporation; Spartan
Minerals & Royalty LLC; Sven Resources,
LLC; Continental Resources, Inc.; Burlington
Resources Oil & Gas Company LP; Defendants and Appellees
and
XTO Holdings, LLC; PetroShale , Inc.;
Bole Resources LLC; Brooks Energy Inc.;
CJC Energy Inc.; KT Energy Inc., Mel Energy Inc.;
Noble Royalty Access Fund 12 LP; Noble Access
Royalty Fund 13 LP; North Fork AD3, LLC;
Outdoor Entourage Inc.; G. William Hurley Revocable
Trust; Hurley Oil Properties Inc.; Wind River Resources
Inc.; WHC Exploration LLC; Dakota West, LLC; Marvin
J. Masset; Avalon North, LLC; Peter Masset;
Newport Minerals, Ltd.; Deep Rock Resources, LLC;
Donald James Kennedy, Jr.; Steven Shannon Kennedy;
and all other persons unknown claiming any estate
or interest in or lien or encumbrance upon the property
described in the Complaint, whether as heirs,
devisees, legatees, or personal representative
of any of the above-named persons who may
be deceased or under any other title or interest, Defendants
- Case Type
- CIVIL APPEAL : OIL, GAS AND MINERALS
- Appeal From
-
Case No. 2018-CV-00097
Northwest Judicial District, McKenzie County
Robin Ann Schmidt
Parties' Statement of Issues
-
Appellant
1. Whether the trial court erred when it ruled that two March 10, 1960 Warranty Deeds (“1960 Deeds”) did not vest Lois Kennedy with 1/2 of Angus Kennedy’s mineral interest in the lands covered therein despite the plain and unambiguous reservation in the 1960 Deeds and the rule stated in Malloy v. Boettcher, 334 N.W.2d 8 (N.D. 1983).
2. Whether the trial court erred in reforming the 1960 Deeds when no Defendant pled reformation and whether it also erred by admitting and relying upon incompetent and otherwise inadmissible evidence to reform the 1960 Deeds.
3. Whether the trial court erred in applying res judicata and collateral estoppel based on the probate of Angus Kennedy’s estate. -
Appellee 1
1. The district court did not err in concluding that the 1960 Deeds were ambiguous.
2. The district court’s determination that Angus did not intend to reserve any mineral interest in the Property to Lois was not clearly erroneous.
3. The district court did not err in determining that res judicata and collateral estoppel prevented the Plaintiffs from bringing their claims to quiet title in this action.
4. The district court’s determination that the 1960 Deeds did not reserve any interest to Lois was not clearly erroneous.
Summary
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., appeals from a district court quiet title judgment deciding Northern Oil did not own mineral interests in certain property.
Angus Kennedy owned real property, including minerals, in McKenzie County. In 1960, Kennedy and his wife, Lois, executed two deeds conveying the surface and reserving the minerals. Angus Kennedy died in 1965, and Lois Kennedy died in 1980. In 2018, Stanley Nevin, the successor in interest to Lois Kennedy, and Northern Oil sued the successors in interest to Angus Kennedy, alleging Lois Kennedy owned one-half of the minerals reserved in the 1960 deeds. In response, the Angus Kennedy heirs claimed Angus Kennedy did not intend to reserve any minerals to Lois Kennedy because she did not own an interest in the property conveyed in the 1960 deeds. After a 2021 bench trial, the district court ruled Angus Kennedy did not intend to reserve minerals to Lois Kennedy on the basis of events that occurred after the execution of the 1960 deeds. The court ruled Nevin and Northern Oil do not own mineral interests in the property.
On appeal, Northern Oil argues the district court erred in deciding Angus Kennedy did not intend to reserve minerals to Lois Kennedy.
Counsel
Party | Type | Name |
---|---|---|
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | James Espy Dallner - 07003 |
APPELLANT | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Nick Andrew Swartzendruber - 06983 |
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Not Licensed in ND - 00002 |
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Lawrence Bender - 03908 |
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Jonathon David Bergman - 07745 |
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Trevor A. Hunter - 07959 |
APPELLEE | PRIVATE PRACTICE | Spencer Douglas Ptacek - 08295 |
(Note: Attachments may not be available for recently filed cases and/or confidential documents.)
Seq. # | Filing Date | Description | Attachment |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 05/12/2022 | NOTICE OF APPEAL : 05/12/2022 | |
2 | 05/12/2022 | ORDER FOR TRANSCRIPT | |
3 | 05/12/2022 | ANNOUNCED DISQUALIFICATION : VandeWalle, Gerald W. | |
4 | 05/19/2022 | NOT. OF FILING NOT. OF APPEAL AND PROOF OF SERV. | |
5 | 05/19/2022 | Notice Served on Nick A. Swartzendruber, Harry M. Pippin, Trevor A. Hunter, Lawrence Bender & | |
6 | 05/19/2022 | James E. Dallner, Jonathon D. Berman, Michael J. Mazzone, Ryan Geltel, Paul G. Yale, | |
7 | 05/19/2022 | G. William Hurley Revocable Trust;, Hurley Oil Properties Inc., Wind River Resources Inc. | |
8 | 05/19/2022 | WHC Exploration LLC/Dakota West, LLC, Marvin J. Masset, Avalon North, LLC | |
9 | 05/19/2022 | Peter Masset, Newport Minerals, Ltd., Deep Rock Resources, LLC, Donald James Kennedy Jr., | |
10 | 05/19/2022 | Steven Shannon Kennedy | |
11 | 05/19/2022 | AMENDED ORDER FOR TRANSCRIPT : 05/20/2022 | |
12 | 05/24/2022 | Affidavit of Jennifer S. Allen in support of Admission to Practice Pro Hac Vice | |
13 | 06/13/2022 | ELEC. RECORD ON APPEAL DATED JUNE 12, 2022 (ENTRY NOS. 1-918) | |
14 | 07/11/2022 | All Transcripts Filed in Record | |
15 | 08/22/2022 | APPELLANT BRIEF | View |
16 | 08/22/2022 | Oral Argument Request by Appellant | |
17 | 08/23/2022 | Rec'd Service for ATB | |
18 | 08/24/2022 | Rec'd 3 copies of ATB back from CD | |
19 | 09/12/2022 | Returned Mail from Wind River as Undeliverable and Unclaimed (new PO Box found - resent) | |
20 | 09/12/2022 | Returned Mail from Wind River as Undeliverable and Unclaimed (new PO Box found - resent) | |
21 | 09/15/2022 | MOT. EXT/TIME APPELLEE BRIEF FILED BY Helen L. H. Kennedy; Gena Balcer f/k/a Gena | |
22 | 09/15/2022 | Kennedy; Nona Kennedy; Jason Craig Newburn, as personal representative of Maura Kay Newburn, | |
23 | 09/15/2022 | deceased: Keira Kennedy Adams; Jess Anne Knutson; Charles Herbert Jacobson; Miles G. Johnsrud | |
24 | 09/15/2022 | and Marlene Kay Johnsrud, as Co-Trustees of the Miles and Marlene Johnsrud Family Mineral | |
25 | 09/15/2022 | Trust under Agreement dated July 13, 2011; JoAnn Kennedy; Scott Cameron, as Trustee of the | |
26 | 09/15/2022 | Scott Cameron Trust dated June 13, 2013, Shannon Kristine Dusek and David Alan Dusek, | |
27 | 09/15/2022 | as Trustees of the Shannon and David Dusek, Family Revocable Trust; Tiffany Papagno, | |
28 | 09/15/2022 | as Personal Representative of the Estate of Thomas W. Kennedy, deceased; Robert W. Kennedy; | |
29 | 09/15/2022 | James M. Kennedy; Jodie Thompson Woroniecki, as Personal Representative of the Estate of | |
30 | 09/15/2022 | Barbra Kennedy Johnson a/k/a Barbara Kennedy Johnson, deceased; Michelle Grass; Colleen Zychowic | |
31 | 09/15/2022 | f/k/a Colleen Kennedy; Debra Kennedy Griffie; | |
32 | 09/15/2022 | Continental Resources, Inc.; Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP | |
33 | 09/16/2022 | ACTION BY CLERK - Granted : 10/05/2022 | |
34 | 09/19/2022 | MOT. EXT/TIME APPELLEE BRIEF by Benjamin J. Larson, Rainbow Energy Marketing Corporation, | View |
35 | 09/19/2022 | Northern Energy Corporation, Spartan Minerals & Royalty LLC, & Sven Resources, LLC | |
36 | 09/19/2022 | Landmark Oil and Gas, LLC, and Missouri River Royalty Corporation | |
37 | 09/19/2022 | ACTION BY CHIEF DEPUTY CLERK - Granted : 10/05/2022 | |
38 | 09/23/2022 | NOTICE OF ORAL ARGUMENT SENT | |
39 | 09/26/2022 | SITTING WITH THE COURT : Hagerty, Gail H. | |
40 | 09/30/2022 | Returned Mail from Wind River as Undeliverable and Unclaimed | |
41 | 09/30/2022 | Returned Mail from Wind River as Undeliverable and Unclaimed | |
42 | 10/05/2022 | APPELLEE BRIEF | View |
43 | 10/05/2022 | Oral Argument Request by Appellee | |
44 | 10/05/2022 | Joinder of Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP with Appellee's brief | View |
45 | 10/05/2022 | Joinder of Continental Resources, Inc. with Appellee's brief | View |
46 | 10/05/2022 | Joinder of Benjamin J. Larson, Rainbow Energy Marketing Corporation, Northern Energy Corporation, | View |
47 | 10/05/2022 | Landmark Oil and Gas, LLC, Missouri River Royalty Corporation, Spartan Minerals & Royalty LLC, | |
48 | 10/05/2022 | and Sven Resources, LLC with Appellee's brief | |
49 | 10/06/2022 | Rec'd corrections to AEB | |
50 | 10/06/2022 | Rec'd Joinder of Continental back from CD | |
51 | 10/06/2022 | Rec'd Joinder of Burlington back from CD | |
52 | 10/06/2022 | Rec'd Joinder of Benjamin J. Larson, Rainbow Energy Marketing Corporation, | |
53 | 10/06/2022 | Northern Energy Corporation, Landmark Oil and Gas, LLC, Missouri River Royalty Corporation, | |
54 | 10/06/2022 | Spartan Minerals & Royalty LLC and Sven Resources, LLC back from CD | |
55 | 10/11/2022 | Rec'd 3 copies of AEB back from CD | |
56 | 10/19/2022 | Rec'd non-compliant RYB (length); given until 10/21/22 by 10 a.m. to revise | |
57 | 10/20/2022 | REPLY BRIEF | View |
58 | 10/21/2022 | Rec'd 3 copies of RYB from CSD | |
59 | 10/25/2022 | APPEARANCES: Nick A. Swartzendruber/Trevor A. Hunter/James E. Dallner | |
60 | 10/25/2022 | Jonathon D. Bergman & Jennifer S. Allen | |
61 | 10/25/2022 | ARGUED: Nick A. Swartzendruber/Trevor A. Hunter | |
62 | 10/25/2022 | ORAL ARGUMENT WEBCAST |