## Facts

- In 1961, Lewis Joseph Scully and Judith K. Scully purchased real property in Anderson County, Kansas from Cleve Buford Overall and Judy A.C. Overall under a contract that reserved the oil and gas in place to the vendor, separating the mineral estate from the surface estate.
- The Overalls retained title to the severed mineral interest, while the Scullys owned the surface estate.
- The mineral interest was not used for more than 20 years.
- Kansas’s Mineral Interest Lapse Act, K.S.A. 55-1601 et seq., provides that a severed mineral interest may lapse after 20 years of nonuse unless the mineral owner records a statement of claim; it also provides that failure to file during the 20-year period “shall not” extinguish the interest if the owner files a statement of claim within 60 days after publication of a surface owner’s notice of lapse.
- In 1991, after the period of nonuse, the Scullys published a notice of lapse of mineral interest in a local newspaper and also sent a copy of the notice to the Overalls by mail.
- Two days after receiving the notice, the Overalls recorded a statement of claim to the mineral estate with the Anderson County Register of Deeds.
- The Scullys filed a quiet title action seeking a declaration that the mineral interest had lapsed and vested in them as surface owners.
- The district court granted the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, and the Scullys appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether, under K.S.A. 55-1601 et seq., a mineral owner whose severed mineral interest has been unused for more than 20 years may prevent extinguishment by recording a statement of claim within 60 days after the surface owner publishes a notice of lapse.
2. Whether judgment on the pleadings was proper where the relevant dates and nonuse were not disputed and the dispute turned on statutory interpretation.

## Decision

- The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment on the pleadings for the Overalls and the other mineral-interest defendants.
- The court held that the Mineral Interest Lapse Act’s text gives mineral owners a post-notice 60-day period to preserve the interest by recording a statement of claim, even if no claim was filed during the preceding 20 years.
- Because the Overalls recorded their statement of claim within the statutory 60-day period following publication of the notice of lapse, their mineral interest was not extinguished and did not vest in the Scullys.
- Judgment on the pleadings was appropriate because the case presented a legal question about how the statute operates, not a dispute about material facts.

## Legal Principles

- Under K.S.A. 55-1601 et seq., a severed mineral interest that has not been used for 20 years is subject to lapse procedures, but the statute contains a saving provision allowing preservation through a timely recorded statement of claim after notice.
- The statute’s clause providing that failure to file within the 20-year period “shall not” extinguish the interest if a statement of claim is filed within 60 days after publication must be given effect; it creates a real opportunity to preserve the interest once notice is published.
- A surface owner’s published notice of lapse functions as a statutory trigger for the 60-day filing period; it is not merely an announcement of an already completed forfeiture.
- When pleadings show no dispute about operative dates and statutory steps, and the outcome turns on the meaning of the statute, judgment on the pleadings is a proper method of disposition.

## Conclusion

*Scully v. Overall* holds that Kansas’s Mineral Interest Lapse Act does not automatically wipe out a severed mineral interest at the end of 20 years of nonuse; instead, once the surface owner publishes a notice of lapse, the mineral owner may keep the interest by recording a statement of claim within 60 days, which defeated the Scullys’ attempt to quiet title to the minerals.


Scully v. Overall, 840 P.2d 1211 (1992)