Kidd v. Hoggett
Texas Court of Civil Appeals
331 S.W.2d 515 (Tex. Civ. App. 1959)
The Hoggetts (plaintiffs) owned land subject to a Kidd and Cherry (defendants) oil-and-gas lease with a shut-in royalty clause allowing the lease to continue, without production, if there was a producing well but no market for gas. The defendants falsely claimed their well was producing with no market, when in fact it wasn't producing and a nearby gas company desperately needed gas; when the Hoggetts tried to enter a new lease with Albaugh contingent on release of the old lease, the defendants' continued refusal to release caused Albaugh to back out, and the Hoggetts sued for damages from the lost Albaugh lease, arguing their suit was merely to clear title and required no showing of malice.
Whether a plaintiff who sues to remove the cloud of an unreleased oil and gas lease and also seeks actual damages occasioned by the loss of a specific sale of an oil and gas lease is suing for slander of title.