Navigator Group v. Susan Davis Van Dyke

Opinion filed February 27, 2026

In The

Eleventh Court of Appeals
__________

No. 11-24-00030-CV
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NAVIGATOR GROUP ET AL., Appellants
V.
SUSAN DAVIS VAN DYKE ET AL., Appellees

On Appeal from the 118th District Court
Martin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause Nos. 6848

MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter involves a dispute over a mineral reservation in a 1924 deed in
which George H. Mulkey and Frances E. Mulkey conveyed a property to G.R. White
and G.W. Tom while reserving to themselves “one-half of one-eighth” of the
“minerals and mineral rights” therein. The parties are divided into two sides.
Appellants are the successors to G.R. White and G.W. Tom (the White successors).1
Appellees are the successors to the Mulkeys (the Mulkey successors).2
In their first issue, the White successors argue that the trial court erred when
it rendered a judgment declaring that the Mulkey successors hold title to an
undivided one-half of the entire mineral estate.
We have today issued an opinion in Navigator Group v. Susan Davis Van
Dyke, No. 11-24-00007-CV, (Tex. App.—Eastland 2026, no pet. h.) (Van Dyke III),
in which we affirmed the judgment of the 118th District Court, which declared that
the successors to the Mulkeys hold title to an undivided one-half of the entire mineral
estate. Although the identities of some of the parties in this matter are different, the

1
Appellants are Blake Oil & Gas Corp.; Jack E. Blake, Jr.; Rick Ybarra, as Trustee of the Logan
Lee Blake Trust; Betty Lou Angelo; Ernest Angelo, Jr.; S. Javaid Anwar; Brendan J. Fikes Family
Partnership, Ltd.; Navigator Oil & Minerals, Inc.; Viper Energy Partners LLC; Michael J. Daniel; Dingus
Investments, Inc.; Discovery Exploration Partnership; MTX Interests, L.P.; Kennedy Minerals, Ltd.; The
Ninety-Six Corporation; Keith M. Skaar; Blake Wood (the “Navigator Group”); JPMorgan Chase Bank,
N.A., as Trustee of both the G.R. White Charitable Trust and the Joy Lina White Ubina Trust; H & S Farms,
Inc.; Phyllis Sayre; Jarvis Haynes; Gretchin McDonald; Amber Lynette Stroup Rich as Trustee of the
Amber Stroup Rich Trust; and Kayne Stroup as Trustee of the Kayne Stroup Trust.
2
Appellees are Susan Davis Van Dyke; Estate of Stephen L. Davis, Deceased; Sheryl Ann Huttner,
f/k/a Ann Mulkey Bell; Estate of Kay Elaine Keys, Deceased; Jill Marie Stuckert, a/k/a Jill Marie Walker;
George Dan Mulkey and Thomas J. Mulkey, Trustees of the Mulkey Family Mineral Trust; Arthur B. Davis;
Boyd Enterprises, Inc.; The Huffington Foundation; Bishop-Windham Family Limited Partnership; The
Dillon Fund; Terry S. Key, Trustee of the Terry S. Key Non-Exempt Trust; Roger A. Key, Trustee of the
Roger A. Key Non- Exempt Trust; Pam Stribling and John V. Price as Heirs and Successors of Interest to
Noble H. Price; Preston Bridgewater, Jr.; James G. McClellan, Ind. Executor of Estate of Hayden J.
Upchurch, Deceased; Deborah L. Alexander, Trustee of the DLA Child’s Trust; Amanda Kay Livingston,
Trustee of the AKL Child’s Trust; Culley Ingram, Trustee of the CI Grandchild’s Trust; Kerry Kantman,
Trustee of the KK Grandchild’s Trust; McKenzie Ciliberto, Trustee of the MC Grandchild’s Trust; Ryedale,
LLC; Jane R. Lancaster; Raymond James Trust, N.A., Trustees of the Edith Elizabeth Brasher 1986
Management Trust; William Marsh Rice University; Howard W. Key, Trustee of the Howard W. Key Non-
Exempt Trust; Charles E. Key, Trustee of the Charles E. Key Non-Exempt Trust; G&R Carr Enterprises,
LLC; Dorchester Minerals, LP; Deutsche Bank Trust Company, N.A. and Irving Sitnick, Trustees of the
Lucy G. Moses 12/24/58 Trust; Deutsche Bank Trust Company, N.A., Trustee of the Henry & Lucy Moses
Foundation Trust; Deutsche Bank Trust Company, N.A. and William H. Hernstadt, Trustees of the William
H. Hernstadt, Estate Trust; Deutsche Bank Trust Company, N.A., Trustee of the William L. Hernstadt 1937
Trust; Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC; PXP Producing Company LLC; Renee Brunson; Gary
Covington; Kyle Covington; Lisa Graham; Kirk Covington; Earmark Enterprises; Dela Minerals, Inc. by
and through Covington Minerals, LP; Endeavor Energy Resources, LP; Dave Michael McCullar; Frederick
Bartlett Wulff, Sr.; Richard W. Winters, Jr.; and Kathleen M. Winters.
2
issues that are presented in Van Dyke III are identical to the contested issues and
judgment in this matter in all other material respects. Accordingly, for the reasons
that are stated in Van Dyke III, we overrule the two issues raised by the White
successors.
We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

JOHN M. BAILEY
CHIEF JUSTICE

February 27, 2026

Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J.,
and Marion, S.C.J.3

Trotter, J., and Williams, J., not participating.

3
Sandee B. Marion, Senior Chief Justice (Retired), Court of Appeals, 4th District of Texas at San
Antonio, sitting by assignment.

At the time of submission on oral argument, Jim R. Wright, Senior Chief Justice (Retired), Court
of Appeals, 11th District of Texas at Eastland, sat on the panel by assignment. Unfortunately, he passed
away before the issuance of this opinion.

3