Background

Endeavor Energy Resources, L.P. sued Ryan Alan Brown and Hunter Brent Brown seeking to recover overriding royalty interest payments that Endeavor claimed it had made in error. The dispute centered on a 1998 assignment from the Browns' father that purported to convey ORRI to Endeavor. The critical feature of this assignment was that it was expressly made "subject to the terms and conditions" of a separate letter agreement that was never recorded in the county real property records.

The Chain of Title Dispute

Endeavor moved for summary judgment, asserting it had established superior title to the ORRI as a matter of law and was therefore entitled to recover payments mistakenly made to the Browns. The Browns contested Endeavor's ownership claim, arguing that without production of the unrecorded letter agreement referenced in the 1998 assignment, Endeavor could not prove its chain of title. The trial court granted summary judgment in Endeavor's favor.

The Appellate Court's Analysis

The Eleventh District Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Endeavor failed to establish chain of title as a matter of law. The court focused on the express language in the 1998 assignment making the conveyance "subject to the terms and conditions" of the unrecorded letter agreement. Because Endeavor never produced this letter agreement—despite the assignment's explicit incorporation of its terms—the court concluded that a fact issue existed regarding ORRI ownership. The appellate panel determined that when an assignment expressly conditions a conveyance on the terms of an extrinsic document, the party claiming under that assignment must produce the referenced document to prove the scope and nature of the interest conveyed. The ruling establishes that the burden of producing all documents necessary to establish chain of title rests with the party asserting superior ownership, even when those documents were never placed in the public records.