Eastland Court of Appeals Construes Double-Fraction Royalty Reservation as Floating Interest, Rejects Multiple Estoppel Defenses

The Eastland Court of Appeals held that a deed provision reserving "an undivided one-fourth (1/4th) of the usual one-eighth (1/8th) royalty" created a perpetual floating 1/4 royalty interest rather than a fixed 1/32 interest, applying the presumption that 1/8 reflects the entire mineral estate in double-fraction provisions. The court rejected Fasken's affirmative defenses of quasi-estoppel, contractual estoppel, division order estoppel, and judicial estoppel, though it reversed the trial court's determination that the royalty owners could bring a breach of contract claim.