Slant Operating, LLC and Slant Holdings, LLC v. Octane Energy Operating, LLC, reveals the benefits and purposes of the Texas Business Court in resolving complex energy disputes (such as convincing businesses to abandon Delaware). The parties were presented with three detailed written opinions spelling out the Court’s rulings and the reasons
It is often an attractive political gambit for legislative bodies to pass laws of doubtful constitutional validity in order to please their constituents. It can be a two-fer; when the court rules as expected the vanquished politicos then execrate the “activist judge”, securing even more votes and campaign contributions from said constituents owing to the
It’s hardly a win for the little guy against The Man, but in San Patricio County Appraisal District v. Gunvor USA LLC (consolidated with a similar suit against Devon Gas Services, agent for Glencore Ltd.), a Texas court declared that inventories of crude oil stored in coastal tank farms were exempt
In SM Energy Company v. Buzzard Roost Farms, Inc. a Surface and Subsurface Use and Compensation Agreement between operator SM and surface owners included a right of first refusal (ROFR) relating to placement of saltwater disposal wells drilled within five miles of the “Surface Lands”. Failing to notice the ROFR, SM
Last year we reported on Steelhead Midstream Partners, LLC v. CL III Funding Holding Company, LLC, where the Texas Supreme Court held that a pipeline owner’s breach-of-contract claim was not an impermissible collateral attack on a foreclosure judgment. The case went back to the Fort Worth Court of Appeals for a
The Collins mineral lease covers 1131.5 acres in Bienville Parish spread across 10 semi-contiguous tracts.
The lease
Provision 6 of the form lease provides: In the event of cessation of production for any cause following expiration of the primary term, the lessee would be entitled to continue the lease in force by restoring production
In Ageron Energy LLC v. ETC Texas Pipeline, LTD Justice Busby authored a concurring opinion in the denial of a petition for review to the Supreme Court in which he criticized the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals saying it undermines important protections afforded mineral rights owners. To understand this case, see the COA’s
North Dakota surface owners defeated the carbon-storage lobby’s effort to steal their interstices.* In Northwest Landowners Association, et al, v. State of North Dakota et al, a district court declared a portion of the CO2 underground storage statute (NDCC 38-22) unconstitutional because it provides for a government-authorized physical invasion of property, which constitutes a
In Endeavor Natural Gas III, LLC v. Comanche Maverick Ranch Investments, L.P., a Texas court held that operator Endeavor could not conduct seismic operations on lessee/surface owner Commanche’s ranch because the parties’ surface-use agreement allowed such operations ” … only after first entering into a mutually agreed-upon seismic surface use permit
Other than almost burning down the pavilion as a preview of the warmth of collectivism, and constructing a new highway through the diminishing Brazilian rain forest so as to hurry the attendees on to the heavy hors d’ouevre table and the open bar, nothing much, which means a lot. Minor dignitaries, self-congratulatory platitudes, and