Landowner and mineral owner (that includes you, lessee): Under ETC Texas Pipeline, Ltd. v. Ageron Energy, LLC, your right to sue for damages for tort or trespass could pass into history before you even know you have a claim....more
2/29/2024
/ Article III ,
Damages ,
Energy Policy ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Land Owners ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Standing ,
Tort ,
Trespass
According to Darkhorse Water LP v. Birch Operations Inc. et al., the form of an instrument affecting real property in Texas does not affect the interest conveyed by the instrument. It’s what the document says about the...more
Antero Resources Corp. v. C & R Downhole Drilling, Inc. et al, proves again the extreme risk when one bites the hand that feeds him (shoutout to Greek poet Sappho, 600 BCE). Antero sued former employee Kawsak and his...more
A lot, it turns out. The Biden Administration, bending the knee to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, has paused approval of new LNG export facilities. (In terms of influence on the President, this “wing” is...more
2/7/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Policies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Natural Resources ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Agenda
The Department of Labor recently made key changes to its rules in a way that will affect the oil and gas sector. The new rule rescinds a Trump Administration rule that had simplified the process of classifying workers as...more
2/2/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Oil & Gas ,
Wage and Hour
In Texas, no. Read on to learn why. In Nortex Minerals LP v. Blackbeard Operating LLC et al, the question was the meaning of this limited assignment provision in the “Alliance Leases”, oil and gas leases covering 27,000 acres...more
We haven’t presented 2023’s Bad Guys in Energy, but we have SEC v. Bowen, Baker, Cannon Operating and others as an example of garden variety securities fraud. The opinion addresses a defendant’s effort to defeat the SEC’s...more
Contacted at his seaside villa, Captain Renault said he was shocked that Elsie and Adrian Opiela are asking the Texas Supreme Court to review questions surrounding the Railroad Commission’s approval of a drilling permit for a...more
In re Luminant Generation Company LLC et al is a bitter pill for the litigation hangover from Winter Storm Uri. Takeaway: Texas does not recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide...more
1/3/2024
/ Cause of Action Accrual ,
Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Electricity ,
Gross Negligence ,
Infrastructure ,
Negligence ,
Oil & Gas ,
Power Grid ,
Public Safety ,
Retail Market ,
Severe Weather ,
Supply Chain ,
Texas
About the same as what happened at COP27.
The 70,000+ fabulists, opportunists, and assorted acolytes comprising the congregation of the Church of Our Holy Mother of the Suffering Planet celebrated another high mass in,...more
12/21/2023
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
COP ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Environmental Summit ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas
Parkman v. W&T Offshore, Inc., et al features two contractors playing hot potato over liability for a company man’s alleged negligence. The takeaway: Write your Master Service Agreement to address your liability concerns, and...more
The outcome of a multimillion-dollar suit was in the hands of a jury of 12 good and honorable citizens. The question: Was a certain party an agent, consultant, contractor, or none of the above? One side wanted the jury to be...more
See yesterday’s post on Iskandia Operating, LLC v. SWEPI, LP -
SWEPI’s motion for summary judgment alleged that Iskandia presented no evidence of one or more elements of its trespass claim, noting that the Supreme Court of...more
Iskandia Operating Inc. v. SWEPI, LP d/b/a Shell Western E & P reversed summary judgment for the defendant in a subsurface trespass claim involving injection of large amounts of produced water....more
A quiz: What do Big Oil and Galileo, and maybe you, have in common? Answer is...
...more
The Duhig Rule is back, this time in Echols Minerals LLC, et al v. Green et al.
Framing the discussion, Duhig v. Peavy Moore Lumber Company and Trial v. Dragon -
In Duhig the grantor in a general warranty deed...more
Fletcher v. Merritt resulted in several rulings on the proof required to prevail in a property dispute. Merritt filed a trespass to try title suit (actually a quiet title, which the court construed as TTT) against Fletcher...more
Securities and Exchange Commission v. The Heartland Group Ventures LLC et al. explains what a receiver under federal law has the right to do. Much like Nick Saban’s offense against a certain team, she can do just about...more
So, you found all the heirs and you have an agreed judgment stipulating title. Time to pay royslties? Maybe. And you have signed division orders. Surely, you can pay now? Maybe. These were the questions facing the parties in...more
Most states call it a third-party beneficiary contract. Leave it to Louisiana to be different. In Adams v. Chevron USA Inc., the plaintiffs claimed that oilfield pipe-cleaning activities of Chevron and others contaminated...more
Foreshadowing a grim future for family weddings and funerals, Bell and Petsch v. Petch is a property dispute over five tracts of land in Gillespie County, Texas, in which siblings are the combatants. The events are less...more
The question in Self v, BPX Operating Company is how to balance the Louisiana Civil Code Art 2292 principle of negotiorum gestio against Louisiana’s conservation statutes....more
Barkley v. Connally, a “bet-the-farm” case if there ever was one, invokes the merger clause, a basic principle of contract law. Clients and lawyers: Read this analysis so as to avoid boundless grief and disappointment for...more
Parish of Plaquemines v. Northcoast Oil Co. is yet another remand of yet another of the 43 suits filed in state courts against a legion of oil and gas companies under the Louisiana’s State and Local Coastal Resources...more
Can the Texas lessee perpetuate his oil and gas lease by “constructive participation” in wells drilled by another? Under the facts in Cromwell v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, the answer is no....more