HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge.
The suit as originally brought in 1933 was for the value of gas (calculated at the market price) taken by defendant from wells in the years 1927 to 1933, inclusive, under an oil and gas lease in what is known as the Richland Field. The claim was that though the lease secured to plaintiffs, payment at the market price for all gas taken, defendant, during the years in question, had paid them only 3 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, which plaintiffs alleged was much less than the market price.
The defenses were: a denial that the market price was as claimed by plaintiffs, and an affirmation that defendant had for all the years in suit paid plaintiffs the full market price for all the gas it had taken under the lease; a plea of prescription as to all gas produced and sold prior to March 21, 1930; and pleas in reconvention. Plaintiffs' exception of vagueness to defendant's reconventional demand was sustained, and there was a trial to a jury on the theory advanced by plaintiffs that what in these litigations has come to be known as pipe line contracts were in and of themselves proof of market price. There was a verdict and judgment rejecting defendant's plea of prescription, a finding based on the pipe line contracts, awarding plaintiffs a substantial recovery of a market price considerably above 3 cents for the whole period in suit and a judgment for them.
Appealed to this court, the judgment was reversed
Also, the Supreme Court of Louisiana in Sartor v. United Gas Public Service Co., 186 La. 555, 173 So. 103, 107, held in full accord with our opinions in the two earlier Sartor cases, that the pipe line contracts did not represent, and were not admissible to prove, the market value at the well under a lease providing for the payment of market price. Saying: "The theory that royalty owners should receive settlements based upon pipe-line prices has been rejected by the federal court in two recent cases. Arkansas Natural Gas Co. v. Sartor [5 Cir.], 78 F.2d 924, 928; and Sartor v. United Gas Public Service Co. [5 Cir.], 84 F.2d 436, 440", the court declared
The decisions, state and federal, standing thus, the defendant filed its motion in this cause for summary judgment. Averring in it that for the years in question remaining in the suit, there was a prevailing market price of 3 cents or less at the well and there was, and could be, no genuine issue of fact to the contrary for trial to a jury, it supported the motion by numerous affidavits to that effect. Plaintiffs, insisting that in former trials of this case a jury had found for plaintiff a market value in excess of 3 cents, and arguing as they have consistently done, exactly contrary to the decisions of this and the state court, supra, that the pipe line contracts were evidence of, and determined, this market value to be more than 3 cents, offered neither affidavit nor proof of any kind rebutting the effect of the affidavits filed in support of defendant's motion that, as to the years in question in this suit, there was a market value at the well of 3 cents, and, therefore, resort to proof of actual value was neither necessary nor proper. The district judge, holding, that under the law, as established by Federal and state decisions, evidence of pipe-line prices was inadmissible if the evidence showed that there was a market price at the well, and that it appeared without contradiction that there was such a price, granted the motion for summary judgment and entered judgment accordingly. We think it clear that in so doing, he was right. We have written often
The judgment is affirmed.
FootNotes
"In the case presently under consideration, the testimony shows that natural gas has a `market value' at the wells of 3 cents per thousand cubic feet. The defendant called numerous witnesses, all engaged in the business of producing and selling natural gas in the Ouachita and Richland fields. These witnesses without exception testified that the market value of gas at the wells in the field was 3 cents. * * * Innumerable lease contracts * * * were introduced in evidence, practically all of them showing that the lessors were to be paid royalties based upon the value of the gas at 3 cents per thousand cubic feet.
"A detailed review of the testimony introduced by defendant to show the market value of the gas at the wells in these fields would serve no useful purpose. It suffices to say that defendant proved conclusively that the market price in these fields does not exceed 3 cents per thousand cubic feet.
"As we have already stated, plaintiff offered no testimony as to the value of gas except that stipulated in the so-called pipe-line contracts. Having rejected the theory that the prices stated in these contracts should be accepted as a basis for settlements with these royalty owners, we must rely upon the testimony introduced by defendant to show the market value of gas at the wells or in the fields where it is produced."
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