I recently attempted to sell my minerals through a local guy here in OKC. He and I have done business before and all went well. This time we exchanged deeds for cashiers check as usual but he wanted me to sign a contract stating that I would defend and uphold title. I signed it. About an hour after we closed at the courthouse he calls me telling me he needs another deed signed and notarized but this one is deeding minerals from my step mother to me and he said he would go file it. I wanted some time to check it out and he didnt like that. I got uneasy and tried to give his money back and just back out of the deal but he refused. The next afternoon I was served with papers for a lawsuit by his attorney. The man claims that he originally gave me this deed with the others and that our whole deal pivots on this deed and by not getting it signed that I have failed to uphold title which entitles him to the return of his money plus $10, 000. He claims I tried to defraud him but wasnt it me that was defrauded since he waited until after close to add this extra deed? He ran title on it his self and I didnt understand a lot of it but the way hestated it in the lawsuit wasnt at all how it went down. He froze my account and now im stuck. I need an attorney if anyone can help, I would appreciate it
Brad, from your description you have been scammed. It was never about the minerals that evidently you didn't own it was about getting you to sell minerals that you didn't own so that the guy could extort $10,000 and maybe get the minerals as a bonus.
Sorry I can't recommend a lawyer in OKC. I would retain an attorney as soon as possible.
I would report him to law enforcement, he may have a history.
In the future I would not sell minerals that I do not know are mine.
This reminds me of someone who had leased their minerals and even told the landman offering to lease their minerals that they were already leased and the landman still insisted on leasing the minerals, with a lease that contained the clause to warrant title and defend. I told them not to lease the same minerals with a lease in force to another lessee. Shortly after they turned from a happy person to a very sour one. Started calling landmen wolves, and hasn't been heard from for some time. I wonder how much it cost them?
Just curious Brad, how much did you receive for selling the minerals?
Id have to look. I think about $129, 000. I had inherited a bunch of minerals, sold some and he told me this was what I had left. I had someone else run title since then and without that extra deed he threw in after the fact, I only own about 13 acres, not 90.
It is a little more difficult to draw conclusions without the full story and from your opening statement, the whole story is not told. Is your step mother still alive and was he wanting your stepmother to sign a conveyance to you so they'd get the after acquired title to her minerals? Was it Huna? They were able to freeze your bank account? Is the lawsuit filed in Guthrie? Do you have any kind of written agreement?
There always is more to the story, but if the call came 1 hour after the closing, how much title search could you do in an hour that would not have shown up in your search to establish "buy title"? And it would have been very near to the end of the chain of title, not at the dawn of time, and with the landman buyer telling the seller he owned it before the sale? I do think Mineral Joe has an excellent point and I hope you have something in writing somewhere, e-mail, something where the buyer told you you own it. It could make a big difference in how pleasant your immediate future goes.
I have the deed that was given after we closed. Im sure there are particulars that I should be aware of here that I am not. And I probably put way too much blind faith in this landman. As for naming names, that really wasnt the purpose of my question. It was to find out what I do next. Hopefully we can get this resolved and move on to do business with someone else. Ive never had these issues dealing with Ferrell Oil or any of the bigger companies
And to answer you Mineral Joe without naming names, yes my stepmother is still alive and yes, it appears that the purpose of the last deed would pass my stepmothers mineral interest to me. As for running title myself, I never did because I never have in the past. Ive always let the purchasing company run title. Is that a bad move on my part? And even though our deal was in Logan Co and thats where we closed, the lawsuit was filed in OK Co. There again, something I dont understand. As for telling the whole story, this is it. Or at least I think it is
Brad, I would say yes, that you should have run title to the extent to know what you recieved. Probably not wise to warrant and agree to defend title because if you didn't run the chain of title yourself, you are guaranteeing someone elses work, all the peoples work in your chain of title going back a long ways. Brad, when I said I hoped you had something in writing, I did not mean the deed. For purposes of defending yourself, I doubt that the deed will be of any value because if the purchaser asked you to sign a document to warrant and defend, I doubt there is any language in the deed where he said he told you you owned all the minerals.
About all I could think of that would make this even worse drama, but possibly better for you is if they had tried to buy the minerals from your stepmother and she wouldn't sell. It's probably a longshot but I would check with your stepmother to see if they had been trying to buy her minerals.
Lastly, you might check with your stepmother to see if she wanted to sell her minerals for the price already agreed. I don't think you will come out ahead even if you successfully defend yourself. To negotiate a deal that allowed you to walk away may be the best you can do. I wish you luck.
Thanks RW and Mineral Joe for your feedback. I am going to attempt to hash all of this out. It sounds like I need to better educate myself in the business before I attempt any more transactions in the future. I thought it was as simple as selling surface. Its more complex than I had ever imagined since I dont know the first thing about running title. And I feel like by not understanding it then that means I get to lose if ever there is a dispute
I find it hard to believe they could get a court order to freeze your bank account, this is the account you are referring to? Short of the IRS doing it that doesn't happen often. No one needs to run title themselves but be prepared to refund if you agree on a net acreage sale and less is found later and be willing to give up more than you got paid for if you sell all your interest without a set net acreage. If you have no contract, verbal or written, and you sell all your interest for a set amount then I see no way one could have a complaint against you. I knew Ferrell may take forever like 3+ months to close and maybe even back out but wouldn't cheat you. Doesn't make sense that they wouldn't just let you give the money back or to tell you to make your step deed her interest.
I would consult an attorney and counter sue for $100,000.00 for grief and loss of income and possibly credit rating. This is ridiculous if you sold to an active mineral buyer. It seems he is trying punishing you because he did not use due diligence.
Many buyers do not properly run the title in order to quickly lay a claim. Whoever it ii should be happy to get 13acres and you refund the difference.
Tom, [email protected]
It wasnt Ferrell I was refering to, Joe. They ARE slow to close however they have always done me right. And the contract didntHave acreage specifics. It only states ALL interest in those sections.
Also, dont know if it matters or not but I met my buyer AT the Logan Co courthouse so he could file the deed immediately. However, we made our exchange in the hallway outside the county clerks office. I left and he said he was going in to file the deeds but I checked and nothing was ever filed that day or since then
And I agree, it doesnt make sense. If it did, I wouldnt be searching so hard for answers. I wasnt trying to mislead or defraud anyone. I just want to sell my minerals and invest in other ventures that are more in line with my scope of expertise. I know zero about oil and gas.
Brad you might better post all of the deed and anything else you have, leaving out names, because it sounds like they did it to themselves and then panicked. If you sold them all your interests and you actually had 13 acres they massively overpaid for what they actually got. The error was theirs. I would say that with that language you have no responsibility to defend title to acres that you never said you owned. If you tried to give the money back as you said, I would say they were fools not to take you up on it [ knowing what we know right now ] because if I had to go to court, I would keep the money and seek more in damages.
Of course, this opinion is going to be wrong also when something else surfaces like the legal description or the net acres appears on the agreement to warrant title and agree to defend but all I can comment on is what you tell me. It's garbage in-garbage out syndrome.
Brad Cordis said:
It wasnt Ferrell I was refering to, Joe. They ARE slow to close however they have always done me right. And the contract didntHave acreage specifics. It only states ALL interest in those sections.
Sounds like he forgot or found out later another deed was needed. An oil and gas litigator may be preferable, but most commercial litigators could handle this case.
While I was overseas for ten weeks last fall, my wife executed a lease from Continental. It was already leased by them a few months earlier. They wanted a refund. Bottom line, my wife bought a late model Mercedes for our son's graduation with the bonus and my "Exhibit A" does not warrant leases.
Tom
Brad,
They actually were able to get a judge to put a freeze on your bank account? You never did say and it is rare a judge would do so.
Yes they did. Not all of my accounts though. Only the one I deposited their cashiers check into.