## Facts

- Alexander Gilmer conveyed Texas land to W. J. Duhig, reserving an undivided one-half mineral interest; Duhig took the surface and the remaining one-half mineral interest.
- Duhig later conveyed the same land to Miller-Link Lumber Company by general warranty deed that stated the grantor “retains an undivided one-half interest” in all minerals.
- The deed did not disclose Gilmer’s prior one-half mineral reservation.
- Peavy-Moore Lumber Company later acquired Miller-Link’s interest.
- A dispute arose over ownership of the one-half mineral interest not held by Gilmer: Peavy-Moore claimed it under Duhig’s deed; Duhig’s successors claimed Duhig’s reservation preserved it for the grantor.

## Issues

1. How should a general warranty deed be construed when the grantor purports to reserve a one-half mineral interest but a prior one-half mineral interest is already outstanding and not mentioned in the deed?
2. Does the general warranty estop the grantor and successors from asserting a reservation that would reduce the mineral estate the deed purports to convey to the grantee?

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Texas affirmed the court of civil appeals and ruled for Peavy-Moore.
- The deed was construed to pass to the grantee the one-half mineral interest necessary to satisfy the estate the deed purported to convey, given the outstanding prior reservation.
- Duhig and those claiming under him were estopped by the deed and its general warranty from asserting a retained one-half mineral interest against the grantee and successors.
- As between the parties to the deed and their successors, the attempted reservation failed to the extent needed to make the conveyance conform to the warranty.

## Legal Principles

- A deed purporting to convey a definite estate and containing a general warranty estops the grantor, as against the grantee and successors, from asserting an interest that would defeat the estate the deed purports to convey.
- In a warranty deed that, on its face, conveys the land while reserving a specified mineral fraction, an undisclosed outstanding mineral interest is allocated first against the grantor’s attempted reservation so the grantee receives the warranted mineral share.
- The warranty does not enlarge the title conveyed, but it fixes the grantor’s risk as between grantor and grantee when the deed’s reservation and the state of title cannot both be given full effect.

## Conclusion

The court held that when a grantor with only a one-half mineral interest gives a general warranty deed reserving one-half minerals without disclosing a prior outstanding one-half mineral interest, the grantor is estopped from enforcing the reservation against the grantee; the grantee receives the one-half mineral interest required to fulfill the deed’s warranted conveyance.


Duhig v. Peavy-Moore Lumber Co., 144 S.W.2d 878 (Tex. 1940)