Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-07-08 | Page 12 | Important Decision Made in Oil Case

important Decision j MADE IN OIL CASE! , 1 r.eeent deeis'on of Federal J-.idge T-an ' or Portland. Ore., sitting at Los Angeles. pdverte to t p. e government in its suit at- j tacking titles to 160 acres of oil lands: o. iginally under the mineral lands loca - t'on la'. bars direct' on fo'irteen other ; suits affecting 21 "0 acres of similar lands, valued at ?150f,0.0ft0 to JC5.CH3u.Oon. Ciller, .- interested among ti:e defen'lants is Associated Oil company, which ow-ns, I beelde3 l;g acreage Inv olved in the test case 1440 acres attacked on similar, pr-iurtds in other suits. Standard Oil of 1 California owns 640 acres, Union 0-0 acres I and United Oil 320 acres. All these lands ar producing oil and have been operated for several years by tV.e owners. In addition to loss of titles, companies would bo subject, in the event of an unfavorable decision, to damages fur o'i removed. On conservative valuation valua-tion of $5000 an acre for land of this .laractr he'd In fee, total acre-age would ; be w.i,h 514,400,000 and Associated's $;.2('0.Onj. While it Is expef,ted thar. tlie government govern-ment wid appeal, atio'revs believe decision de-cision vM'.l result in congressional legislation legis-lation to prevent this form oi litigation. lioylon Nevis Bureau.