News & Analysis as of

Contract Interpretation

McGinnis Lochridge

Who Owns the Empty Space? Texas Supreme Court Affirms Surface Ownership of Salt Caverns in Landmark Ruling

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In Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 4356581 (Tex. May 16, 2025), the Texas Supreme Court resolved two significant issues affecting mineral owners and surface owners: (1) who owns...more

Warner Norcross + Judd

Michigan Court of Appeals Splits with Federal Courts and Holds Standard Stellantis Contract Terms Enforceable

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Earlier this week, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued its opinion in FCA US, LLC v. Kamax Inc., et al., the latest in a string of court decisions interpreting the enforceability of supply chain contracts in the wake of the...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Write it Down or Forever Hold Your Peace: Texas Supreme Court Rejects Fraud Claims Based on Oral Representations in Mineral Deals

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On Friday, May 9th, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed important issues regarding the enforcement of written contractual representations in its per curiam opinion styled Roxo Energy Co., LLC et al. v. Baxsto, LLC, ---...more

McGinnis Lochridge

All Depths or Just One Formation? Court Clarifies Royalty Conveyance in Rock River v. Pioneer

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This recent case (Rock River Minerals, LP v. Pioneer Nat. Res. USA Inc., No. 08-23-00216-CV, 2024 WL 4528917 [Tex. App.—El Paso Oct. 18, 2024, no pet. h.]) explored whether an assignment of an overriding royalty interest,...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

From Court to Contract: Navigating Recent Supreme Court and Appellate Decisions

Recent Canadian case law is reshaping how legal drafters should approach contractual clauses. Key decisions, including rulings from the Supreme Court of Canada and appellate courts in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Urges US Attorney General to Unilaterally Override Biden-Era NLRB Decisions

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The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) – an association of several hundred employers and employer associations – sent letters to US Attorney General Pam Bondi to direct the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to...more

Robinson+Cole Construction Law Zone

The Importance of Indemnification Clauses in Managing Post-Completion Project Risk

Claims against design professionals often pose unique challenges when such claims are dually rooted in both tort and contract theories, and therefore subject to competing time limitations. In order to reconcile these...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

The Importance of Having an Up-To-Date Employment Arbitration Agreement

Until the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana in 2022, California law had established that Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims could not be subject to binding arbitration....more

Gray Reed

Uri Force Majeure Cases Still Percolating

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Thought you’d heard the last of force majuere cases arising from Winter Storm Uri? Think again. In Marathon Oil Company v. Koch Services LLC. the question was how to measure damages suffered by Koch for Marathon’s...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Affirmative Defenses Are Insufficient to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption

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Under Van Dyke, deeds with double-fraction royalty reservations referencing “1/8” are presumed to reserve a floating royalty interest unless clearly contradicted. Defenses like waiver, ratification, and limitations cannot...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Fifth Circuit: "Manifest Disregard of the Law" Cannot Be Grafted to FAA as a Basis for Vacatur of Arbitration Award

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In affirming a district court’s denial of a petition to vacate an arbitration award, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently rejected the argument “that manifest disregard of the law remains viable as an...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Commercially Reasonable and Diligent Efforts at the Earliest Possible Date: A Novel Contract Clause

The recent case of Epix Developments Ltd. v. Bonnis Development Union Street Limited Partnership (Epix) addressed the interpretation of a novel compound contractual clause following the termination of an agreement due to a...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Can "Free of Cost" Term Achieve Point-of-Sale Royalty Base?

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A lessee who halts production for less than 40 days and resumes without drilling or reworking does not terminate the lease. The continuous development clause keeps the lease active, and the cessation clause allows resumed...more

Conn Kavanaugh

Update Your Construction Contract! Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Holds that Breach of Contractual Indemnity Provision is...

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Under the Massachusetts statute of repose, tort claims involving improvements to real estate generally must be initiated within six years of the improvement’s opening to use. So, for example, if a worker suffers a jobsite...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Texas Supreme Court Rules on Modification of NPRIs

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In this recent case, the Texas Supreme Court resolved whether ratification of a lease or signing of a stipulation agreement could transform a fixed non-participating royalty interest (NPRI) into a floating NPRI....more

Gray Reed

Geophysicist’s Claims Turn on Definitions

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Sewak v. Sutherland Energy Co. Ltd. is of interest for how the court defined terms commonly used in consulting contracts in the oil and gas industry, and how difficult it is to foresee all contingencies when negotiating a...more

Clark Hill PLC

California Supreme Court holds that limitations of liability provisions are unenforceable for willful conduct under Civil Code...

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In response to a request from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to interpret the scope of California Civil Code section 1668 and its rule that parties may not contract away liability for “willful injury to the person or...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Allows a Claim for Contract Reformation to Proceed Based on Alleged Mutual Mistake

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Kingfishers L.P. v. Finesse US, Inc., C.A. No. 2024-0344-SG (Del. Ch. Oct. 30, 2024) - In this decision, the Court of Chancery held that the plaintiffs failed to state claims for fraud and equitable fraud, but pled...more

Marshall Dennehey

General Contract May Be Entitled to Award of Attorneys’ Fees Against Subcontractor, Despite Jury’s Apportionment of Damages

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Babin Builders and Development Inc. v. Quinones, Fla. 1st DCA, No. 1D2022-4103, February 12, 2025 - For construction defect litigation, many times we are called into action to defend a subcontractor who has been included as a...more

BCLP

"Battle of the Forms” in the Hong Kong Construction Industry

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What lawyers call a “battle of the forms” occurs when two parties, negotiating a contract, exchange conflicting standard terms during the contract negotiation and formation. This leads to the obvious and not uncommon dilemma:...more

BCLP

Does “Back to Back” Mean “Pay When Paid” in Construction Contracts?

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In Sze Fung Engineering Limited v Trevi Construction Company Limited [2025] HKCA 278, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal (“CA”) ruled that the “back to back” wording in that case was not a “pay when paid” clause, but governed only...more

Bennett Jones LLP

ONSC Denies Claim for Acceleration of Earn-Out Payment

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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently released its decision in Project Freeway Inc. v ABC Technologies Inc. (2025 ONSC 1048), addressing whether certain post-closing transactions triggered the acceleration of an...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Termination Provisions and the Perils of Imprecise Drafting: Key Lessons from De Castro v Arista Homes Limited

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The Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent decision in De Castro v Arista Homes Limited, 2025 ONCA 260 (De Castro) provides Ontario employers with yet another reminder about the importance of clear and concise drafting in...more

Allen Matkins

Nevada Supreme Court: Judge, Not Jury, Decides Unambiguous Contract

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In 2011, a local water district in Nevada entered into a lease agreement with Paradise Canyon, LLC to provide shares of water for irrigating the Wolf Creek Golf Club.   The lease agreement granted Paradise Canyon a right of...more

Oliva Gibbs

Reservation or Limitation on Warranty? Navigating the Fine Line — Lessons from Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson

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In Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson1, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana addressed whether the provision, “all Oil, Gas and other Minerals have been excepted and reserved by former...more

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