## Facts

- In 1950, W. C. and Iva Jack Wylie conveyed about 223.385 acres in Freestone County, Texas, reserving “a one-fourth (¼) undivided interest in and to all oil, gas and other minerals on and under” the land, with rights of ingress/egress to mine and remove minerals.
- The grantee’s interest later became owned by Bette Reed, Trustee, as surface owner and holder of the conveyed mineral interest (subject to the Wylies’ reservation).
- A dispute arose over whether the Wylies’ reservation included a one-fourth interest in coal and lignite, and whether the surface owner owned coal/lignite recoverable by strip or open-pit methods.
- Reed sued for declaratory relief, relying on the rule that near-surface minerals that can be obtained only by surface-destructive methods belong to the surface estate.
- The trial court granted summary judgment for Reed, declaring her the owner of all coal and lignite that may be mined by open-pit or strip-mining methods.
- The court of civil appeals reversed and remanded for trial, concluding the summary-judgment proof was insufficient.
- On rehearing, the Texas Supreme Court withdrew its earlier opinion, affirmed the remand, and clarified how the governing standard should be applied.

## Issues

1. Whether a reservation of “oil, gas and other minerals” includes coal and lignite.
2. Whether the surface owner is entitled, as a matter of law, to all coal and lignite that can be removed by strip/open-pit mining.
3. Whether fact questions about the necessity and surface impact of mining methods preclude summary judgment under the surface-destruction rule.

## Decision

- The Texas Supreme Court affirmed the court of civil appeals’ judgment remanding the case for trial.
- The Court held summary judgment for the surface owner was improper because material fact issues remained about whether recovery of coal/lignite would necessarily and substantially destroy the surface.
- The Court stated that the controlling standard is the surface-destruction rule as applied to coal and lignite.
- The Court rejected the trial court’s approach awarding the surface owner all coal/lignite that could be strip-mined, clarifying that the inquiry is whether strip/open-pit mining is necessary to recover particular deposits.

## Legal Principles

- A general deed clause reserving or conveying “oil, gas and other minerals” ordinarily includes coal and lignite absent limiting language.
- Near-surface substances belong to the surface estate only when they must be recovered by methods that, in effect, consume or substantially destroy the surface.
- Minerals that can be produced without substantial surface destruction, using only reasonable surface use, remain in the mineral estate.
- Whether particular coal/lignite deposits can be recovered only by surface-destructive methods is typically a fact question and may defeat summary judgment.

## Conclusion

The court required a fact-specific determination of whether coal and lignite on the land could be extracted only through surface-destructive methods; because that necessity was not conclusively established, summary judgment for the surface owner was reversed and the case remanded for trial under the surface-destruction standard.


Reed v. Wylie, 554 S.W.2d 169 (Tex. 1977)