News & Analysis as of

Mineral Leases Contract Terms Deeds

McGinnis Lochridge

Affirmative Defenses Are Insufficient to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption

McGinnis Lochridge on

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

Gray Reed

Defense of a Deed Signed by a 12-Year-Old Fails

Gray Reed on

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

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

The Strip and Gore Doctrine - Who Really Owns The Oil and Gas Under Roads and Highways?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume your grandfather owned 99 acres in Washington County. In 1955, he sells a small portion of the farm to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to facilitate the construction of new State Route 39. This acreage...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Supreme Court Rules That 1924 Deed Conveyed One Half Of The Oil and Gas Estate

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

The calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs remains a controversial topic here in Pennsylvania. As we have written before, there is another frustrating and often confusing...more

Gray Reed

The “Greatest Estate” Doctrine Impacts a Lease Assignment

Gray Reed on

Let’s begin with some Texas law on what a seller sells when he executes a deed: Generally, a Texas real property deed will confer upon the grantee the greatest estate as the terms of the instrument will permit. This...more

Gray Reed

Texas Correction Deed Statute Revisited … Again

Gray Reed on

You might recall this post on Broadway National Bank, Trustee v. Yates Energy Corporation. We now have Yates Energy Corporation et al v. Broadway National Bank, Trustee, the court of appeals’ ruling after remand. Recall the...more

Gray Reed

Texas Correction Deed Statute Revisited

Gray Reed on

Those who continue to be horrified by Broadway National Bank, Trustee v. Yates Energy Corp. should be relieved that the result in Endeavor Energy Resources, LP v. Anderson was more equitable. In Yates, the Texas Supreme Court...more

Gray Reed

Were the Mineral Deeds a Gift or a Sale? It Made a Difference.

Gray Reed on

The question presented in Aaron v. Fisher et al: Did mineral deeds bestow separate property upon the grantees by gift, or did they convey a community property interest to the grantees and their spouses by sale for...more

Gray Reed

The Meaning of “Subject To” in a Deed

Gray Reed on

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. International Development Corporation resolved the question, In a 100 year old Pennsylvania deed is a “subject to” provision an exception to a grant or a warranty disclaimer?...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Postproduction Cost Decision

Gray Reed on

It was jurisprudential Groundhog Day as the Supreme Court of Texas handed down Nettye Engler Energy v. Bluestone Natural Resources, another in a series of postproduction cost disputes, only two days after Puxsutawney Phil...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Rules on Correction Deeds in a Case of First Impression

Gray Reed on

What if you pay good money for a mineral interest and record the deed in the official public records, thereby securing your title? What if your predecessors-in-title decide among themselves they made a material mistake in a...more

Gray Reed

What Did the Mineral Deed Convey?

Gray Reed on

WTX Fund, LLC v. Brown, is Texas mineral deed construction case. In the same year that crazy thing happened at Coogan’s Bluff, the Roaches executed a Mineral Conveyance to the Holts. Let’s review the transaction and ask...more

Gray Reed

Surrounding Circumstances Don’t Always Inform Deed Construction

Gray Reed on

Here we continue our discussion of the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in Piranha Partners et al. v. Joe B. Neuhoff et al. determining that an assignment of an overriding royalty in minerals unambiguously conveyed the override...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Rejects “Rigid Rules” of Deed Construction

Gray Reed on

The question for the Texas Supreme Court in Piranha Partners et al. v. Joe B. Neuhoff et al. was whether an assignment of an overriding royalty in minerals conveyed the override only in production from the identified well...more

Gray Reed

A Lesson in Property Stipulations

Gray Reed on

Marsha Ellison v. Three Rivers Acquisition, LLC, et al. reminds us what is required for an instrument to be a conveyance and what is required for a stipulation to be effective....more

Hogan Lovells

The Efficacy of Using Independent Experts in Dispute Resolution Clauses – Are they Practical for Complex Disputes?

Hogan Lovells on

In the recent decision of Onslow Salt Pty Ltd v Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation [2018] FCAFC 118 (‘Onslow v BTAC’) the full bench of the Federal Court dismissed an appeal regarding the Federal Court’s first...more

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