Clark v. Elsinore Oil Co

In Clark v. Elsinore Oil Co. (1934) 138 Cal.App. 6, the pertinent oil and gas lease contained a provision. similar to those described above. The provision stated in pertinent part: "'The lessee may at any time quitclaim to the lessors this lease in its entirety or as to part of the acreage covered hereby. . . . All lands quitclaimed shall remain subject to easement for rights-of-way necessary or convenient for lessee's operations on land retained by it.'" (Clark v. Elsinore Oil Co., supra, 138 Cal.App. at p. 8.) After the lessee executed a quitclaim deed that conveyed "all right, title and interest" in the leasehold, with the exception of a parcel of property on which the lessee operated some oil wells, the lessee continued to maintain a pipeline on the property returned to the lessor. (Id. at pp. 9, 17.) The appellate court concluded that the lease provision authorized the lessee's pipeline, notwithstanding the quitclaim deed, stating: "The surrender . . . did not operate to return to the lessors that full and unqualified use of their land which they had enjoyed prior to the execution of the lease contract. Their land was returned to them, but it was returned burdened with certain restrictions." (Id. at p. 17.)